Just Another Day In Hope County
by KannonballKing
Summary: Junior Deputy Benjamin Rook thought the Seed warrant would be a quick in out job, but instead he finds himself leading the charge against Eden's Gate. Scared and unprepared, he and his new found friends take it one day at a time.
1. Chapter 1

Fear is a funny thing, To Benjamin Rook, he always believed it as black or white, your either afraid or you're not. But in reality, its shades of terrifying grey, he first really felt it when the peggies swarmed him and his co-workers as they tried to flee Joseph's compound via the helicopter, only to have one member throw themselves in the propeller blades to halt the aircraft. To Rook, it was like he didn't exist, nor did Whitehorse, Burke, Pratt, and Hudson. Not as real people but road blocks, a gate preventing the peggies from fulfilling their goal. Rook felt this fear again but more intense, more real, when he fled the downed helicopter to escape the burning wreck and the angry cultists. How they wanted to kill him for doing his job, for being in Hope County, for merely existing. He was not with them, so he had to be against them, for that all their hate and ire was forced all into Rook. His death would be much more personal and intimate like a knife to the gut if they ever caught him.

But the worst fear Rook felt was when Burke and Rook were launched off the bridge and into the river, it was like time slowed as they descended into the water. One part of Rook's brain said "go limp, it will make death less painful, it will be worse if you live" but another part of him screamed to keep fighting. Even with his body still pumped with adrenaline, the cold water was a shock to his system, he desperately struggled to break free as burke escaped the vehicle and swam to the surface. He was running out of air fast and the water slowed his movements. As he slammed on the passenger window for the umpteenth time, the window finally gave way allowing him to escape. With his final few breaths Rook broke the surface and kicked himself to shore, by the time we was able to make it to shore he was completely drained, all the adrenaline had been burned up escaping the sinking car and the lack of air left him lightheaded, Rook dragged his soaked body along the shore praying that he wouldn't be spotted by the cultists on the bridge above, there flashlights shining down into the river, trying to see where the sinners ran off too. With whatever energy Rook had left, he rolled himself over onto his back, the peggies where shouting something but he couldn't make it out what over his ragged breathing. Before Rook could even begin to think about what to do next, he could see something shifting in the corner of his vision, moving towards him, he could feel his heart pick up again as the shadows crept closer, Rook didn't know what to hope it was, some coyote or other predator looking for a meal, or some peggie looking for a promotion.

And that's when Rook saw it, the moon light glinting off metal, a long object in the hands of someone, a man with a shotgun. The stranger paused for a second then walked right up to Rook.

"this is it, I'm going to die on a river bank, I'm going to die I'm going to die'' rook thought as the stranger lazily raised the shotgun to Rook's face.

The next thing rook new he was indoors, lying on his back, his mind couldn't comprehend how he got here, just a few seconds ago he was about to die on a riverbed, within those few seconds of realizing what had happened, he shot up from where he was laying and tried to stand up, but a blanket that had covered him tripped him up and kept him in a seated position, Rook quickly whipped his head around to take in his surroundings, then it dawned on him. He was lying on a cot in the small room in the Spread-Eagle bar that Mary May lets him sleep in when he needed to crash, Rook grimaced as he stood up, acknowledging that this has happened several times before, fighting seemingly endless waves of cultists hellbent on killing him, has left his downtime rather sleepless and eerily quiet. Rook removed his shirt and wipe himself down as he was drenched in a cold sweat from the nightmare. Once he was done, he grabbed a red and white flannel shirt, he left on a chair next to the cot, he slipped it on and retrieved his firearms. He pulled is sawed of shot gun from under the bed and holstered It to his left leg, then pulled out his AR and slung the strap over his shoulder, then lifted his pillow to retrieve the silence pistol he kept there just in case and holstered it to his right leg. Rook inhaled deeply and exited the room and descended the stairs.

"Morning Deputy" Mary May hollered as Rook reached the bottom of the stairs. `Good morning, Mary` Rook said, approaching the bar.

"You sleep ok, the usual crowd got a little rowdy last night, hope it didn't bother you much" Mary asked

"It`s alright, I got used to the noise a while ago, thanks again for letting me use the room" Rook replied.

"that's good to hear, we don't want the peggies getting the drop on you sleeping out god knows where" Mary said placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Rook. He thanked Mary and happily ate the food, very rarely does Rook ever get to eat an actual meal, he can't eat to much without throwing up with all the running and gunning and running some more. The last week and a half have been helping the citizens of Hope County, by rescuing loved ones, reclaiming outposts and finding prepper stashes in Falls end. And when Rook's antics finally grabbed the attention of John Seed, John had sent out his hunting party to capture him, and dragged him to a baptism, a torture more like it, if it weren't for Jerome and the freedom fighters, Rook would have died, but the experience put a fear in so now when John calls to say another party his coming, Rook would run to the Whitetail Mountains and continue helping citizens there until the heat died down, or until Jacob Seed grew tired of him as well and sent his hunting party to capture him.

When Rook finished his meal, he thanked Mary again and left the bar, Rook walked down the street to the auto shop to retrieve his pickup truck and climbed into the driver's seat. Rook had a feeling it would be a long day as he turned the key in the ignition.

* * *

Nick Rye lifted his hat and wiped his brow then readjusted his hat back on his head with pride, he had just spent the last hour fiddling with his pride and joy "The Carmina" his seaplane, his work horse and second love, the engine had been making an odd clicking noise for the past few days, normally he would have taken care about the afternoon it started to act up, but his first love needed him more, his wife Kim, the only woman he would ever need, and pregnant and due any day now, he needed to keep an eye on her first and the plane second. But as much as he loved his plane to death, he would throw them away for his wife in an instant, and as much as it hurt, that was the plan with Nick Jr. on the way, Hope County was no place to raise a child, so the plan was to get Carmina taken care of then he would fly himself and his wife somewhere safer.

"Nick, we're out of carrots again!" Nick heard his wife yell from the back porch of their house.

Nick swore and exited his hanger, he was hoping the supply of carrots he bought the other day would be enough to hold her over till he would be able to get her out of the county, but all the stress eating and wanting to give the baby healthy food was emptying the fridge faster then Nick could fill it.

"OK, give me a minute and I'll run to the store and get you more" Nick yelled back. As much as Nick would love to sit and fix the seaplane making a store run would be a good idea to get out and stretch the legs and mind, he needed to come up with some way to convince Kim to flee the county with him. But she was as stubborn as she was beautiful to him, she wanted to stand her ground and fight the cultists, but how could she, she was due any day now, but she wanted to stay and make sure her home was still her home.

As Nick walked around the side of his hanger and towards his car, he heard multiple car engines moving quite close to his house. Nick swore a second time and prayed it wasn't peggies weren't coming by to take what they wanted to prepare for "the great collapse" what a load of horse shit. Once his pickup truck was in view Nick began to fish around in his pockets for his keys for a few moments before pulling out his key ring, but before he could select the right key, he saw multiple vehicles pull up the road towards his home. He could see it clear as day, the Eden's gate logos on the side of the trucks. Nick swore a third time, he turned and sprinted to the house, he could see Kim inside doing something by an open window, thank god they were trying to save money by cutting down on the A/C.

"Kim, lock all the doors, the peggies, they're a'comin!" he screamed.

Kim froze for a second then ran out of view from Nick, he prayed for her safety as he ran to the hanger turned man cave he set up a while ago complete with bar stocked with booze and a big screen with his childhood SNES plugged into it, god he hoped the automatic rifle he left there was still back there. Nick ran faster then he ever thought he could, clearing the hanger in record time. He used his momentum to vault over the bar he had tucked in the far-left corner of the hanger and slammed into the cabinet on the other side, he ignored the pain as he hastily dug through the shelfs on the back of the bar, pushing a few bottles of alcohol to aside to retrieve the firearm that rested behind them. Nick quickly checked the clip to see just how much self defence he could doll out. He laughed when he saw the full clip that still sat inside, the gears in his mind turned just a bit faster as he remembered he left three extra clips next to the bottles of Captain Morgan, as he grabbed them, he thought maybe next time he shouldn't store the highly dangerous firearm next to an abundance of alcohol, but as he pocketed the clips peggie vehicles pulled up in front of the hanger and a few dozen angry looking peggies came pouring out, guns in hand. Nick's blood ran cold, there had to be around fifteen of them, Nick needed a miracle to make it out of this one, he was no sharpshooter. Just then what appeared to be the leader of the bunch stepped ahead of the group.

"Nick Rye, it has been declared that you carry the sin of greed, surrender now so we may take all that you have so we can prepare for the great collapse and I'm sure Joseph will find you a place in his flock" the man shouted.

Nick knew if he surrendered, they would take his plane, if they did that then he and his wife really were dead.

"tell ya what, bring ol' Joseph down here and I'm sure I can find him a place in hell!" he shouted back.

For a moment the leader didn't say anything.

"So be it, as Joseph would say, souls don't harvest themselves "the man said, and with a wave of his arm the rest of the peggies raised their rifles and began firing. Nick ducked below the bar again hoping to hatch some miracle of a plan, but nothing came, Nick really began to sweat as he then realized that he needed to get out of this little corner he put himself in. so he poked his AR up and began blind firing, after the sixth burst the peggie fire slowed, it was the opportunity he needed and jumped out from the bar and behind the couch to his left, as he hit the floor the firing picked back up, but it was then he realized he had jumped out of the pan and into the fire, his previous cover was made entirely out of thick wood and quite sturdy, and the couch however was far less sturdy, bullets came tearing through the back rest of the couch as the peggies really began to turn up the heat. Nick swore loudly as the couch offered as much protection as a pillow fort, Nick was lying on the floor in between the coffee table and couch, he was really beginning to freak the fuck out.

"This is it, I'm going to die, I should've gotten Kim and me outta here weeks ago, I'm a pilot not fuckin' Rambo, I got me, and my family killed, Fuck Fuck, Fuck" he thought.

"well this is it" Nick thought as he laid down on the ground, utterly defeated, he was surrounded as his one way to save his family was about to be taken, with a despairing sigh he rolled over to face the coffee table, and that's when he saw it, the old beat up spare CB radio he used to talk to airborne pilots was tucked under the coffee table. Maybe there was a god after all, maybe he could call some one to at least save his wife and Nick Jr. Nick grabbed the mouth piece and turned the out going signal to all channels, as he flipped the switch the old thing crackled, whirled, and fizzled. By the sounds of it, it didn't sound like it was transmitting anything, but he had to try.

"Dammit! Hello!? It's Nick Rye. The cult is at our doorstep, And I think they're here for my plane, we can't hold out for long! Nick yelled.

"please my wife is pregnant, and we need help, anyone please" he cried then prepared for a third wave of begging but the peggies began to move in, he had to return fire, all Nick could do now was hope and wait.

And that's when he heard it, the sound of his pride and joy starting up.

"No, No, No, No, come on No, Fuck please!" he cried as he tried to return fire, somehow hoping to stop them from stealing Carmina. But his gun clicked empty.

"shit god damn come on" he yelled as he switched clips but by then the Carmina was beginning to leave the ground.

"Fuck no, stop god damn it" Nick shouted again as he tried to shoot the peggies again.

* * *

Rook released a sigh of boredom as he ejected the magazine from his AR and slotted it back in for what felt like the thousandth time. Rook had parked his truck on the side of a road, deep in Falls End hours ago, waiting for a van to roll on by, Pastor Jerome called him hours ago to inform him of some info that came through the grapevine, it was rumored to be peggies were transporting people to God knows where down this road Rook sat on at some point during the day. If Rook was lucky, he'd be able to pop the driver before he realized what was happening. If the info was even correct.

Rook thought about turning on the radio, but it was all static and cult hymns.

"Would It kill them to mix it up a bit, is a little Rolling Stones, or Pet Shop Boys too much to ask, hell I'd take steely Dan at this point!" Rook growled to himself, trying to relieve the boredom, god how he regretted leaving his phone at the station before leaving to arrest Joseph.

Rook began to run his hands through his dark brown hair, he had been sitting there for the last two hours, it had all been a waste, he could have helped people in that time, he was at his wits end, but before he could reach for is walkie talkie to let pastor Jerome that the van info was a bust he heard it, the sound of a lone vehicle in the distance.

With that Rook immediately perked up, this was it, show time, he quickly exited the vehicle and hid behind the hood of the van and crouched down to get the jump on the enemy, the van was approaching fast and Rook debated on aiming at the driver or the tires. But before he could make a decision the van sounded like it was right around the corner.

Rook jumped up from his hiding spot, seeing the Eden's gate logo imprinted on the van, raising his rifle at the unaware driver and fired, the first few bullets pierced the windshield and sunk into the dashboard, scaring the driver causing him to swerve, but it didn't save him in time as more automatic fire plunged itself into his chest, killing the man.

The car skidded to a halt somehow without careening off the road. Rook had to be careful, he was so focused on the driver he didn't see if there was a person in the passenger seat, that would explain how the van made a swift recovery.

Rook began to slowly creep out from behind the truck ready for any more trouble, he slung his AR over his shoulder and pulled his sawed off from its holster.

The van came to a halt thirty feet from Rook, but as he got within ten feet the passenger door kicked open and a Peggie jumped out, pistol in hand and scared out of his mind, he jumped out ready to fire with the gun raised as he climbed out of the vehicle.

The Peggie whipped around to his right side, presumably he must have saw Rook stand and fire at his buddy, but before he could even train his gun on Rook, Rook fired his gun, effectively ending his foe.

Rook paused for a moment to listen for anything that may pose a threat, be it an immediate threat or off in the distance, When Rook deemed it clear he approached the back doors of the van and opened them to find four people, two men and two women hands bound and scared out of their minds.

"Everything is going to be alright now folks, the authorities are here" he said with pride.

Rook was washed with a chorus of gratitude and thank yous as he freed there hands.

"Thank you deputy, you are a true hero, Hope County is getting safer because of you" one of the men said one final time as the other captives picked up the weapons dropped by the dead.

"Hey Jerome, Rook here, I finally got that you van told me about, I got four people here, two are armed" Rook said into his walkie talkie.

For a moment there was silence then the talkie crackled.

"Roger that Dep, I'll send some guys down your way to pick them up" the pastor responded.

"Roger Dodger, we'll stay put" Rook said, clipping the talkie back to his shirt's breast pocket.

Rook began to reload all his weapons and do a bullet count to kill time when his radio sputtered to life again.

"Hey kid, are you there?"

It was Dutch, Rook was surprised as Dutch only called him when John or Jacob called off the hunt on him or if something particularly serious was going down.

"I hear you Dutch, what's up?" Rook asked.

"I'm picked up a transmission just now from Rye and sons, it's real bad down there, peggies are steal fuel and plane crap, if someone doesn't stop them the air space of Falls End will become a real shooting gallery for the chosen" Dutch responded.

"Shit, the roads are bad enough as is, I can't let them get there hands on that's stuff, where's Rye and sons, I've never heard of hit before?" Rook replied.

"It's south west of you if your still waiting for that van" Dutch said.

Rook didn't respond as he look at the people he had just saved, he didn't want to leave them, who knows who might come along before the cavalry arrived.

"Go on deputy, get outta here"

Rook turned to face the voice, it had been the male captive who gave him the final words of praise.

"Go, you've already done so much for us, someone else needs help, don't worry about us, this time we are ready to fight" the man said with a cocksure grin and brandishing the pistol one of the peggies had.

'Hey kid" Dutch called out again.

"Kid, I don't mean to rush your decision, but there is a pregnant woman down at Rye and Sons, I doubt she can protect herself when things get violent"

"shit, I'll get there as soon as possible" Rook quickly replied, he then turned to the people he saved and gave them a nod then he ran to his car.

Rook adjusted his rear-view mirror as he tore down the road as fast as he could. He had to make sure no peggies gave chase, he couldn't have any of them tail him to Rye and Sons, from what Dutch told him it was getting bad down there. He wasn't exactly sure where Rye and Sons was located but as he approached it`s general location he could hear the gunfire through the trees to guide him in.

* * *

Rook parked his truck by the Rye and Sons sign and dropped to a crouch, he had to be careful with all the gunfire it sounded like there had to be at least twenty peggies. As rook crept around the side of a hanger, he could hear shouting through the gunfire, he could not discern whether it was friend or foe.

Rook tried to poke his head out to see the commotion only to have a hail of bullets implanted themselves into the wall behind Rook, missing his head by a few inches.

The sudden hail of bullets made Rook fall back in surprise, landing on his ass. He cursed then jumped back up and aiming his AR, returning fire and forcing the peggie into cover and alerted the others to his location.

"There he is, the sinner, get him!" a peggie shouted as many of them lost interest in what they where dealing with and shot at the junior deputy.

"oh, come on, one at a time please" Rook yelled as he killed two men with shotguns, charging him before having to take cover by crouching behind some blue barrels on a pallet.

Rook took a deep breath and stood up to take out another peggie, he aimed his rifle but before he could pull the trigger blood flew from the peggies chest and collapsed, dead.

Rook dropped down behind the barrels again pressing his back on the barrels, confused about what just happened, he didn't pull the trigger so why was he dead?

"Hell yea man!" Rook heard someone shout, he looked up to the hanger he snuck around and a saw a bearded man wearing a blue tee shirt, an unbuttoned red flannel shirt and jeans situated between a large wooden crate and a torn-up couch.

"Let's do this man, fuck these peggies up" the yelled with a smile as he fist pumped the air.

Rook smiled and gave him a thumbs up and stood up again and the two returned fire.

As the fire fight carried on Rook jumped from cover to cover and laid into the enemy while the man in the hanger picked off all those whole focused on the deputy, this tactic made short work of the cultists.

As Rook finished off the last peggie he heard the man cheer, Rook sighed in relief and turned and walked to the man. The man really wanted to talk to the deputy because he ran up to Rook

"hey! HEY! I need to talk to you" he yelled.

"What can I do to help, sir?" Rook asked.

"We're trapped. We're fucking TRAPPED!'' the man yelled.

''I'll do whatever I can to help you sir, but I need you to calm down and tell me what happened'' Rook said with a voice of concern.

''I swear to god I'm going to kill that son of a bitch John Seed, you see them peggies take off with my plane? I need it back. That was our ONLY chance of gettin' out. I'd go myself but my wife's pregnant and due and second and… I just don't know what I'm supposed to do… I mean without that plane we're fucked'' the man ranted.

''ok I'll see what I can do sir, just tell me the make and model is the plane and what direction did it go?'' Rook asked.

''I'm sorry. I don't like getting' emotional… Name's Nick by the way, Nick Rye, Look, if I know the cult, they've taken my plane to John Seed's ranch. It's got the only other airstrip big enough to land the thing, I know its a lot to ask, but… I'm desperate, partner.'' Nick said.

''ok, I'll head down to the ranch and see what I can do about getting it back to you, and if you need anything happens while I'm gone radio Mary May Fairgrave at the Spread-Eagle bar and she'll sort you out'' Rook said.

''thank you, man, pull this off and you save my family'' Nick says placing a hand on Rook's shoulder, the two men gave each other a nod and ran their separate ways, Rook back to his truck and Rye to his wife.

Rook got in his truck and took off down the road, The Seed Ranch, Rook knew where it was, he had been told about it many times in the Spread-Eagle Bar, how it had been John's home at one point, how those who are willing to fight would love to take that place but couldn't due to sheer numbers and air support that could be deployed. There was no way Rook could take it by himself.

Rook knew that he was terrible at sneaking, he learned that on his first few outposts raids he would be spotted within two minutes of infiltration, but stealth was his only option, the thought of having to sneak into a pseudo-Fort Knox. It put a fear in Rook that made the trip a lot faster then he anticipated.

The ranch was within sight, and so were the dozens of peggies, a few on the ground fiddling with crates of ammo, snipers on the roofs and a mounted LMG. This was going to be rough.

The only upside was that there was one hanger and one runway, so there was no need for searching.

Rook dropped down into some tall grass and crept to the edge of the overgrowth to see two guards lined against either side of the wide hanger doors fifty sixty feet away from him, even if they were facing the door the sniper would see him. Rook paused to concoct a plan of action for a moment, he crept to the far side of the tall grass and tossed a stone over the heads of the men handling the ammo crates, causing them to turn around to investigate the noise of the rock hitting the wall behind them. When their backs were to the crate Rook gently through a remote explosive at the base of the crates, then returned to his first spot in the tall grass to see the two men at the hanger.

Rook took a few deep breathes before scavenging the ground for another rock, then throwing it dead center of the hanger doors, causing the two men to look at the door in surprise. In the moment of confusion Rook withdrew his silenced pistol and shot one of the guards in the head, dropping him to the floor, the second guards head snapped to his buddy stunned for the briefest on moments before scrambling for the radio strapped to his belt, but the attempt was useless as Rook shot him in the neck before he could alarm anyone.

Rook rubbed his forehead in relief, phase one went off without a hitch, Rook felt a lot of moisture in his hand, confused he looked at his palm, it was covered in sweat, it had taken him almost three hours to realize how hot it had been and how much he had been sweating, baking for two hours in a car, running and gunning, fear of the helpless dying on his watch, the fear of himself dying. He needed a hat to keep the sweat from getting in his eyes.

Rook took a few more deep breathes as he pulled out the detonator, he took more deep breathes and pushed the button, detonating the bomb he threw and the ammo next to it, creating an impressive two story high deadly fireworks display. Rook could see everyone scrambling, and running, including the sniper that could pick him off if he left his cover.

Rook took one final deep breath and sprinted to the hanger door, praying it was not locked, as he approached the doors, he could see no door handle or any way to open it from the outside.

''shit, shit, shit, come on'' Rook cursed under his breath.

''I don't suppose you guys know how to get in?'' Rook said looking at the bodies of the guards.

Rook ran his hands through his hair repeatedly trying to think of something, looking at the doors, it was clearly thick, no explosives. Rook analysed the door for any weakness or give.

That's when he saw his answer, there was four large windows he could easily smash one and climb in, upon this thought Rook smacked his head and shook his head.

''Of course," he said to himself as he used his pistol to put four rounds into the window, causing most of the window to fall out, Rook pulled the AR off his shoulder and grabbed it by the barrel and using the butt of the gun to clear the remaining glass.

With the AR back on his torso he jumped up, crabbing the window sill, lifting himself up and in, hoping to god no one was in. with a less the elegant landing, Rook was in the hanger, it was obvious the big yellow crop duster was Nick's. Rook made a quick check to see if anyone was in the room, thankfully he was the only one, just him and the plane, Rook reached for his walkie talkie and called up Nick.

''Hey man, Deputy Rook here, I found your crop duster, ok so how should we get it back to you?'' Rook said quietly.

The radio crackled to life.

''Well your gonna have to fly it over here, buddy'' Nick replied.

Rook didn't respond, he heard what nick said, but it didn't settle with him, sneak into cultist infested fortress, sure, shoot tons of bad guys, ok, but heights? No way, Rook always had a fear of heights, just the thought of sitting in the cockpit made him nervous, he still remembered how weak his knees felt when Dutch told him he had to climb the seemingly infinitely tall radio tower, how he needed ten minutes to conjure up the courage to even approach the ladder, and another ten to even look at the zip line down…

''OK Nick then we have a multitude of problems, one, I don't know how to fly a plane, two, I don't know how to land, and three…'' Rook said before pausing briefly.

''And three, I can't really handle heights'' Rook said embarrassed.

There was no response for a moment

"Don't worry buddy, you got the best pilot in all of Hope's County coachin' you on this, just do what I say, and you'll be fine" Nick said confidently.

"Are you absolutely sure there is no other way to get your plane home? I don't wanna smash it into the ground" Rook pleaded.

"It's the only way pal, it's not a car so you gotta fly, its all or nothing" Nick returned.

Rook screwed his eyes shut, trying not to too imagine crashing in a burning wreck, or at the very least existing at such a immense height.

"Ok, Ok, Ok, fine, but you have to walk me through, real simple, I really don't know what I'm doing" Rook said nervously.

"Ok give me a minute, I got to open the hanger still" Rook said while looking for a way to open the doors.

"There's usually a big switch by the door" Nick called out.

And sure enough there was a switch, Rook pressed the green glowing button, slightly grumpy there was no switch on the outside.

The door retracted, and Rook could hear voices close by, the window the diversion created was closing and fast.

Rook ran to the plane, wrenched open the door and climbed in and fastened himself in.

"Ok Nick, I'm in and ready to go" Rook said, scared.

"OK, sweet, you got this man!" Nick said excitedly.

"there are three throttles on the center dashboard, crank the far left one back and forth till a red button lights up beneath it, then press it" Nick instructed.

Rook did what Nick told him with great trepidation. As the red button was pushed, the propeller began to spin up and the plane slowly rocked forward out of the hanger.

"Oh shit, ok, ok, ok, ok, Nick, Nick we're moving what do I do!?" Rook said, voice raising in fear.

"step two is stay calm, always stay calm, everything is ok, now push the middle throttle all the way up, count to ten, then slowly raise the left throttle up as your speed increases" Nick instructed.

"ok, I hear you" Rook breathed, trying to keep cool. Then Rook pushed the middle throttle up and took several quick controlled breaths as the planes speed increased and began down the runway.

"One… two… Three" Rook counted.

As the plane built up speed the noise it created was sure to attract attention.

"four… Five… Six"

That only fueled the fire that was his fears.

"Seven… Eight… Nine"

The plane was about half way down the runway when the peggies saw the plane, they couldn't let it get away so they did the only thing they could, they opened fire on it.

Rook could hear the bullets land on the plane, causing him took choke on is spit, his fear was getting the best of him, is hands started to shake and he could feel his knees getting weak.

"TEN" he shouted as he pushed up on the left throttle, causing the plane to lift off the ground, his heart beating like a jackhammer.

"OK Nick I'm off the ground!" Rook shouted, afraid to shout any louder as if it would cause his heart to leap out of his chest.

He heard Nick cheering for a moment before returning to instructor mode.

"see I knew you can do it buddy, how you feeling?" Nick asked happily.

"Like I'm about to piss myself!" Rook shouted.

He heard Nick laugh again, but Rook guess it was for a different reason then before, making him feel embarrassed again.

"It happens to a lot of first-time flyers, just keep flying north east and line up with my runway and I'll get you home safe" he said trying to reassure the terrified deputy.

"But god damn. Breakin' into John's ranch of all places and makin' it out in one piece. Way to show those fuckers." Cheered Nick.

Rook wanted to respond but he was to afraid to open his mouth, he felt if he did, all that would come out would be screams.

"Man, what I'd give to have seen the looks on their faces, stupid peggies." Nick laughed.

"that's all they do around here. Show up at your door like they did to me and take whatever the hell they want" Nick continued.

Rook just nodded and made noises of agreement as he poured all his attention on what was ahead of him, Nick's voice went in and out of his head half scanning for anything that can improve his chances of living. But all he could do was stare straight ahead and keep the steering wheel steady. He was to afraid to do anything else, looking down at the expanding vista of Montana made it hard to breathe and the tips of the trees out of the bottom of his vison looked like deadly spikes from some childhood videogames to him. Then his heart rate jumped up for a moment as Nicks voice exploded from the walkie talkie again.

"You know, I shoulda figured everythin' would be alright. That plane's never let a single one of us Rye's down. Don't know what we would've done if we lost that plane. But it takes a certain kinda man to defend his home, between you n' me. I'm not sure I fit the bill. I don't know if you got any little monsters of your own, but I'm tellin' ya – the thought of leavin' mine fatherless puts the fear of god in me. And mine ain't even born yet." Nick carried on.

Rook respected that, Nick was willing to uproot his home and leave everything behind for his family. Rook was only twenty-four years old and the prospect of have a family was still just an idea to him. So, he wouldn't truly no the fear that Nick was feeling.

"If runnin' means I can protect my family at the cost of losin' my home, so be it. That's the right move, ain't it?" Nick asked.

By the sounds of things, Nick was contemplating his grand plan.

"But still, makes my goddamn blood boil that I gotta uproot from the place my family worked so hard to put together. They earned every inch of this land with blood and sweat, and now I gotta lose it to some man-bunned little twerp and his posse of inbreeds? Fuck it! You don't mess with a Rye without it leavin' a scar, let's give 'em a long kiss good bye partner! Let's do something before I get my family outta here" Nick shouted in defiance.

"when you get back here, let's go fuck 'em up! Oh, shit your getting close now, I can hear you commin' from here, ok im going to teach you how'd to land so don't crap yourself ok?" Nick stated.

The prospect of landing was pure joy to Rook, it was like a weight was being pulled off him.

"Now people say landing is the hardest part, but I'll show ya do it right. Just get lined up with the runway while lowering your altitude then when you're on the ground slowly lower that left throttle" Nick instructed.

Whatever joy Rook felt was whisked away when Nick said it was the hardest part, but he trusted Nick, he was a good man, he believed in nick's instructions. Rook sucked in air has he slowly descended onto the runway, as the plane kissed the ground Rook emitted a small squeak of fear as the dirt runway was uneven and bumpy. Rook pulled the throttle faster then he probably should have, and the plane slowed.

"Awesome landing partner! Bring the plane over to me. You'll see me wavin' you in" Nick cheered.

The plane slowed to a halt as it skidded across the runway, the slower it moved the happier Rook got.

The second the plane came to a stop Rook pushed open the door to escape the flying death trap, Rook was about to jump down on his hands and knees to kiss the ground he missed so much, but Nick came running up to the deputy, grabbing his hand to give him a hearty handshake.

"You did it! Thank you." Nick praised with joy.

He released Rook's hand and spun around to examine his precious plane for a moment before shouting at his house to inform his wife the plane had been returned. She shouted something back, Rook wasn't listening, he was too focused on enjoying the feeling of the ground beneath his feet. Then Nick turned back to the deputy.

"Hey, come on, let's turn it around. Come on!" Nick said turning away to pushed one of the plane's pontoons.

Rook joined in and grabbed the left pontoon and pulled so the force of the two men caused the plane to rotate on the spot.

"you know this is the first time in a long time I feel like shit's actually going my way. Those damn peggies" Nick said before yelling for his wife to hurry.

"Y'know this plane's been in my family for three generations, can you believe that?" Nick asked.

"She looks real good for being so old" Rook said looking up at there plane.

Nick opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by his wife yelling something.

"Kim, would you just hurry up!" Nick yelled back.

"Nick, the peggies are on there way!" Kim yelled.

"What!? Those mother fuckers just won't give up!" nick said getting riled up.

"OK listen up partner, I'm better in the air but you're a fucking beast on the ground. I'll hit 'em high, you hit 'em low, what do you say partner?" Nick asked Rook as he held out a fist hoping his new friend wouldn't leave him hanging.

"let's make them regret messing with anyone in the county" Rook smiled as he extended his fist to fist bump Nick

"Oorah!" Nick shouted in righteous defiance before climbing into his plane.

* * *

The ensuing battle had been chaotic, not for Rook or Nick but for the peggies. As the deputy tore the peggies apart with bullets and explosives, Nick destroyed them with strafing runs and explosive payloads raining from above, Rook didn't have to leave the Rye's front porch as all enemies were destroyed. The skirmish barely lasted hardly ten minutes, Nick landed and disembarked his aircraft and ran to his wife.

Rook followed to make sure the expecting mother was alright, but before he could enter the house, Nick swung the front door open and he left the house in a hurry with a suitcase in hand.

"come on, Kim. We're leaving." He said sternly.

"No" she said defiantly

"No?" Nick echoed in surprise.

"No. this is our home." Kim argued.

Nick dropped the suitcase on the front porch and turned back to face his wife.

"C'mon Kim. You just don't understand—"

"Don't understand what? That they're stealing our land and kidnapping our friends and doing god knows what else?" She yelled as Rook entered the house, not daring to interrupt the couples quarrel. Nick ignored Kim as he picked up another suitcase and handed it to Rook, before he could do anything Kim ripped it from his hands and placed it back on the ground, Rook had handled a few domestic disputes as a cop, but this was different, he didn't know what else to do so he kept his mouth shut.

Nick placed another suitcase on the porch then came back inside, his wife in between him and the final case.

"Nick. Your grandfather built this place. You really want to turn your back on that? And what about the times you talked about handing the business to our daughter?" she pleaded.

"I talked about handing off the business to our son." Nick said.

"You've seen the ultrasound. It's a girl" Kim refuted.

"that was on a messy black and white tv screen. You know them things ain't reliable." Nick said looking at Rook hoping he would back him up, but Rook shrugged and hoped Nick wouldn't be offended he stayed silent.

"Nick" Kim said quietly.

The two stared at each other for a moment as Nick thought over his situation and all its consequences it entailed, before placing a hand on his wife's swollen stomach.

"I love you" he said, just as quiet.

"Me too" she said.

Nick swallowed the spit in his mouth and turned to retrieve the cases on his porch.

"Well, Deputy. Looks like the Rye's are digging in. If you ever need anything, you gimme a holler. You and me will be like Butch and Sundance." He said as he placed the cases in the living room.

"Nick… They both die at the end" Kim said with great concern.

Nick looked at the deputy and with a shrug he blew off the fact of with an uncaring "nawh" as if his wife was incorrect.

Kim approached the deputy and rested a hand on his forearm.

"please take care of him." She begged him.

With a single laugh Rook stood up straight and gave the worrying wife a salute.

"yes ma'am" he said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for reading this far, if you want, let me know what you think, if you think it's just shit, please let me know I appreciate all feedback.**

* * *

The sun had set hours ago as Rook and Nick left the spread eagle bar, they had spent the last few hours talking, joking, and telling stories over a few cold ones to celebrate their recent victory over the peggies and to their new found friendship.

Nick would tell stories of near crash landings and half botched take offs due to a third party's lack of safety or concern, or crashed by Nick's over confidence. Rook would laugh at the stories when Nick interjected a joke or two into them, but was in silent terror as Nick's stories reaffirmed his fear of heights and would fight to never step foot in an aircraft again.

Rook would tell stories of his weeks in Hope County, about how he took back outposts, and how his need to help led him to meet people that would later become his friends like Nick had, how he helped Grace defend a graveyard of war heroes from peggies, he and Hurk went on an misadventure to reclaim Hurk senior's truck, and how he saved a very good boy at Rae Rae's pumpkin farm just the other day, and was at the vet's for a few days as Boomer had gotten a small shard of glass lodged in his paw when the two had cleared the pumpkin farm.

As the night wore on, the two men departed the bar at half past midnight.

"So I tells her; if you don't like it, you can throw it back over the fence." The two men laughed at the story as Nick sauntered towards his car.

"Hey you sure you ok to drive?" Rook said, concerned.

"Of course, of course if I can fly a plane buzzed, I can drive buzzed, I got this" Nick said trying to reassure his friend.

"Just because law has gone down the drain, doesn't mean I still won't give you a ticket dude" Rook said.

"You wouldn't ticket a brother like that man, I could use that money for like, diapers or something" Nick said fishing for his keys.

"Then when the lawman tells you to do something, you should do it" Rook said pointing a thumb at himself to highlight the word; lawman.

"Don't worry partner I'll take it easy, and if it will make you feel better I'll give ya' a call if I see any jay walkers" Nick joked as he climbed into his truck.

"Drive slow" Rook commanded as Nick rolled down his window to hang his arm out.

"Yea, Yea, see you around Ben, don't cause to much trouble, ya' hear?" Nick said as he started the truck and made for the driveway.

Rook gave a disapproving sigh as his friend rolled down main Street, Rook thought about retiring to his room, but that past few weeks had taught his body to live with very little sleep, he wasn't to tired so he'd thought maybe to swing by the church.

Thankfully the church was not even two hundred feet from the bar, so the walk over was quick.

Rook pushed open the door and entered the building to see Pastor Jerome tending to people who had come to him for help, Jerome had offered to let people who had lost their homes to spend the night in the lord's house. A few people had come to the church, a young couple had a sleeping bag rolled out in the far-left corner of the room, they were crouched next to it going through what little belongings they had left. And a man who looked absolutely exhausted resting on a pew, his head tilted back, resting his head on the backboard of the pew. Jerome then entered Rook's vision and handed a sleeping bag to the exhausted man, he thanked the pastor and walked off to an unoccupied corner to set up.

Jerome heard the door swing open and turned to greet the new arrival and smiled when he saw it was Rook.

"Deputy, it's always good to see you, how are you?" he said smiling.

"Hey Jerome, I'm fine, thanks, I was just in the neighbourhood as I just wanted to see if you needed anything" Rook asked.

"We're doing fine here, but we could always use more, our rations are looking good and we have enough firepower to protect ourselves" Jerome said.

"Well if you ever need anything, just give me a call, I'll do whatever I can to help" Rook offered.

"But what about you Deputy? You've been leading the charge in this fight, you've been going for the last two and a half weeks, I've spoke to Mary on a few occasions, she says you don't eat or sleep a lot, there is no shame on taking a day off, you need to take care of yourself too" the pastor offered.

"I can't just yet, I've already promised people that I'd help them, I can't just leave them hanging" Rook refuted.

"If you won't take care of your body, maybe at least take care of the mind" Jerome offered.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked.

Jerome looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"Ben, Mary has also told me about how a handful of times you looked like you've seen a ghost first thing in the morning, you're not the only one who has that look these days" Jerome said quietly.

Rook didn't say anything, he just rubbed his neck, looking away from the pastor.

"why don't we talk about it" Jerome said, motioning his hand to an empty pew, hoping Rook would sit.

Rook still didn't say anything but moved to sit down, Jerome followed, sitting next to him.

"So, what's on your mind?" Jerome asked.

Rook didn't say anything for a moment, but the look on his faced showed that he was trying to pick his words just right.

"I… I'm just afraid I guess, of dying, getting someone killed, of failing I guess" He muttered.

"No one expects you to be perfect, your just one man" Jerome consoled.

"But so many people depend on me, just today a man begged me to retrieve his plane so he can get his pregnant wife out of the county, I don't know how to fly a plane, what if I crashed, I would have doomed them and myself" Rook said.

"But yet you didn't, your still here, I'm sure that family must have been grateful, and now there free from this place" Jerome offered.

But Rook shook his head.

"my heroism or whatever helped inspire them to stay and fight, they're still here." Rook said.

"That was they're choice, you didn't make them stay" Jerome countered.

"But what if something happens?" Rook asked.

"Then we deal with it together, as a community" Jerome stated.

Rook didn't say anything for a moment, thinking about what the pastor had said.

"I was in the whitetail mountains, for a bit, did some work there, things are so much worse up there, they are using animals and brainwashing them or something just as insane, and things are a lot different, I know John isn't staying silent I'm sure he's talking to Jacob, Faith, and Joseph, while I help people here, the other regions are being fortified, waiting for me, I know I cant be everywhere at once, but I know people's lives are getting worse from my actions" Rook said, when he finished he realized just how tired he really was.

"But there are people who's lives have gotten better since you came here, you gave them hope" Jerome restated.

"Yea" Rook muttered.

"Your just one man, you can't be everywhere, you don't have to do this alone, you're not the only one fighting, please, get some rest deputy" Jerome said, rising from his seat.

"Yea" Rook muttered again.

Rook sat there for a moment before rising as well, before turning to leave the building and to return to the bar for some much-needed sleep.

* * *

The Baron lumber mill buzzed with life, the peggies had taken it over a long time ago, they had established procedures to keep the sinners out, if they got control of the mill, they could use the wood to rebuild what they lost, to rebuild morale. That can't be allowed.

Jess had been watching the mill for a few hours now, watching through the trees from the other side of the road, she had a good four-hundred-feet between her and the mill, she watched the peggies routines, learning their patterns, looking for an opening to sneak in.

Her walkie talkie then crackled to life

"Hey kid, you there?" a voice asked.

"Yea I'm here, what's up?" She said.

"Where are you kid?" the voice asked, carrying concern.

"I'm at the old lumber mill" she replied.

"Kid, you shouldn't be alone out there, its too dangerous" the voiced returned.

"I don't give a fuck Dutch, I need to kill this son of a bitch" She said, her voice raised slightly.

"And then what, what are you going to do after you kill him?" Dutch asked.

"I kill all the fukin' peggies" She yelled again.

"Jess, when they're all gone then what?" Dutch asked, getting angry.

"I don't give a fuck!" Jess yelled again before clicking off the talkie in anger.

Jess couldn't understand why uncle Dutch didn't want the Cook dead as soon as possible, he killed her parents, Dutch's brother, the Cook could die tonight but he didn't care.

Jess tugged on her quiver strap and huffed in anger. She was about to creep closer, but a snapping of a twig behind her made her jump, perhaps yelling this close to a peggie outpost was not the best idea, before she could spin around to face whatever made the noise, she felt a hard force hit the back of her head. Jess fell forward, losing consciousness fast.

"Stupid bitch can't keep her mouth shut" She heard a voice behind her say as she blacked out.

* * *

Rook woke with a groan, he was sore, and didn't want to leave the bed, but his priorities said otherwise. He retrieved his fire arms and changed his clothes and left his room. Upon opening the door Rook could her no noise come from below meaning that most likely no one was in the building except Mary and Casey.

Descending the stairs proved his theory right, no one was in the bar besides Mary who was working away cleaning the bar with a rag, her eyes flicked up in Rook's direction for a few seconds before looking back down again before tossing the rag down and called out to the deputy.

"Morning dep" Mary called as he approached the bar.

"Good morning, Mary" Rook returned.

"So, looks like you made a friend last night" Mary said, placing a cup of coffee

"Yea, Nick's a pretty cool guy, it was nice to sit down and not be in a life or death situation" Rook replied with a smile.

"Well when everything settles down you can do that every night and I can start charging you for rent" Mary teased.

"You're already taking my money with all the food and drinks I buy so what makes you think I'll stay here, I'll just bunk with Nick or something"

"What and deprive yourself of the simple charm and class of the finest bar in all of Hope county" Mary said waving her arm to gestured to the empty establishment.

Rook rolled his eyes with a smile at her joke.

So, have you heard anything while I was sleeping" Rook asked, eyeing the clock, it said nine fifteen, he felt that he slept in too much.

"I haven't heard anything out of the ordinary" Mary admitted.

Rook grumbled something as he took a swig of his coffee.

"Hey, don't forget to eat later ok, I don't want you falling over from lack of energy" Mary instructed while wagging her finger at him.

"Yes mom" Rook joked as he finished his coffee.

"I mean it, take care of yourself" She warned.

Rook tried to reassure the bartender then bid her farewell and left the bar. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the fresh clean air as it was a beautiful morning, everything felt normal. But the peace was interrupted by the sound of his walkie talkie crackling to life.

"Hey kid, you there, I need your help" It was Dutch.

"Hey, Dutch what's up?" Rook asked.

"Listen, I got a pretty big favour to ask you, it's my niece, Jess, she went off to kill some peggies at the Baron Lumber Mill last night, I haven't been able to get a hold of her since, She can be pretty short tempered and she got a little pissed when I talked to her last, so she may have done what she wanted and got out and is somewhere safe, but I don't know, so I would really appreciate it if you can head up there and take a look around, I'd really owe you one" Dutch beseeched Rook.

"You got it Dutch, I'll head there now" Rook said confidently.

"Thanks kid, god's speed" Dutch said graciously.

Rook fished his keys out of his pocket and headed for his car, he was familiar with the general area of the lumber mill, he saw a few maps when he was in the mountain area.

* * *

The drive through falls end was near flawless, maybe once or twice he was shot at but once he crossed into the whitetails, everything changed, the peggies where more intense, more, accurate. The truck made it ten minutes into the mountain before a peggie road block slowed him just enough for a peggie to shoot out of his tires, forcing him to abandon his car and taking the fight to them, Rook dove from his truck and into the woods for cover, but the peggies keep the heat on, peppering the tree with a hail of bullets, Rook had to return fire or they would get him.

Rook inhaled deeply as he threw a grenade, the explosion causing the gunfire to stop for a moment, that moment is all he needed, he jumped out, firing his AR dropping three disoriented peggies before getting himself behind another tree, the peggies started to shout something, but was cut off by Rook firing his sawed off, the peggies began to fall back behind whatever cover they could find, Rook had thinned the herd, but then one of them fired a flare into the sky, calling for back up.

Rook swore, he couldn't take this, he had to get out of here, it was getting to intense. Rook was then shaken out of his thoughts as a hail of bullets planted itself into his cover. Rook made up his mind he dropped to a low stance and took off running into the trees.

He could hear the peggies firing and shouting into the woods, by the sounds of it, only a few men gave chase, but he kept a good distance on them as he knew the trick to running from armed threats. Bob and weave through the trees, break line of sight. Rook was really regretting not eating before heading out as he could feel himself begin to run out of energy already. But before he could really mentally kick himself the ground began to give out beneath him, the landscape turned to a slope as the ground lowered, he was running into a riverbank. Rook had very few showers since he arrived too the county, this was the only way he could turn this into a good situation.

Rook half jumped, half stumbled into the river, fighting the stream as he tried to pull himself up onto the opposite shore, the weight of his firearms and lack of stamina from running, combined with dragging himself out of the river gave him flashbacks to how he met Dutch.

As Rook stood up on the other side of the river, he looked back at the way he came, from the looks of things the peggies gave up the chase, Rook thought it was best not to wait around to test the theory and trudged on.

Rook broke out into a jog and headed towards the mill's general direction, through more woods, after a few minutes of jogging through the open fields of Montana made him realize how quiet everything was, all Rook could hear were the sounds birds and rustling fauna in the wind. It was almost like all the fight that had happened ten minutes prior was a bad dream.

But then it was all ruined by the sounds of gun fire in the distance, Rook shuttered at the thought of another fire fight out here in the of nowhere. The best he could do is keep his head down and don't go looking for trouble.

After about twenty minutes of wandering through the whitetails, Rook finally made it to a road that lead to a four-way intersection with roads that seemed to stretch on forever in each direction.

Rook sighed, he was lost, he only had a cursory knowledge of the mountains. With no options left, he called Dutch in hopes of him knowing better.

"Hey Dutch, I kinda need some help" Rook said sheepishly.

"What's going on kid?" Dutch asked.

"I'm lost, I have no idea where I am or where to go" Rook admitted.

Dutch was silent for a few moments before responding.

"Do you see any signs or post markers?" Rook asked.

"Hold on, give me a minute" Rook said before looking around looking for anything to give him a sign. And there it was, seventy feet down the road just before the intersection '_F.A.N.G. Center 1.5 KM'_

With an arrow pointing right.

"I see a sign that says there's something called a fang center one point five clicks north" Rook relayed.

"OK kid, you're in luck, I actually know where you're at, just follow that road east and you'll get there" Dutch replied.

"Rodger Dodger, Rook out" Rook said as he headed east.

After a twenty-minute walk down the side of the road, give for take ten minutes due to hiding in the ditch on the side of the road, Rook made it to the Lumber Mill, he could see the place was swarming with Peggies.

Rook swore as he ran his hands through his hair, trying to figure out a plan that won't get him spotted with thirty seconds. But to create a feasible plan he had to get closer and get some info.

Rook crouched down and crept towards the mill, hoping no snipers were lining up a shot, he could hear pre-reordered tapes of John's rants, if he had better timing, he could use john's loud rantings to cover any noise he might make.

Rook crept up to the side of the large warehouse like building attached to the mill, this was Rook's best chance to get in, He pushed himself against the wall of the warehouse and slide along the side to the back end of the mill, hoping there was an entrance, but all there was to be found was an elevated metal walkway, one way lead to a staircase up to the second floor of the warehouse, the other led deeper into the mill, Rook was about to pull himself up onto the walkway, but was dissuaded when to men descended the staircase, Forcing Rook to drop down and crawl under the elevated walkway and crawled into the mill's heart.

The walkways was thirty feet long and meshed, Rook prayed no one above saw him below, when Rook reached the end, he very slowly poked his head out to make sure his exit was clear, Once he designated it to be clear he emerged, taking in his surroundings, the area was full of saw dust, woodworking tools, and rows of cages big enough to hold large animals, or people.

Rook crouched slightly as he crept down the rows of cages, keeping his eye out for any peggies.

"Psst, hey" a voice whispered.

But Rook didn't hear it, he was to repeatedly looking over his shoulders to make sure no one got the jump on him as he pressed on.

"Hey over here" the voice said a little louder.

Again, Rook did not hear it as he was shuffling down towards the far end of the cages, looking noticeably concerned, he had no idea what he was doing, he had no idea how to sneak himself and another person out of an enemy compound, he was a Junior Deputy not a soldier.

"Hey asshole" the voice shout whispered.

The insult made Rook jump in fear, then whipped his head around to look for the origins of the voice, after a few seconds his eyes settled on a woman, locked in a cage. Rook crept over to her, hoping she knew something that could help him, as Rook got up to the cage, he got a better look at the woman hailing him over, he was taken aback for a second, she clearly stood out from anyone he's seen since he arrived in the county.

She looked about Rooks age and rather angry looking, she wore a large green jacket covered in white graffiti, she seemed to have a few bruises and scars on her face, which took a little bit for Rook to realize that might attribute to her current mood.

"The fuck you looking at?" she asked angerly.

"You tell me, you called me over" Rook said, trying to keep his voice down.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She asked, her mood not changing.

"I'm looking for a lady named Jess, are you Jess" rook asked.

"Why you looking for her" the captive woman replied.

"Jess's uncle Dutch sent me out here to make sure she is alright" Rook stated.

"OK, yes I'm Jess, get me out of here so we can kill these fucking peggies" Jess said.

"Wait, no, I'm here to get you out of here and back to Dutch" Rook said, shaking his head in disagreement.

"I ain't going anywhere until I kill these motherfuckers" Jess argued.

"Lady, I was asked to get you home safe, that's what I'm here to do" Rook said trying to reassert himself.

"Then open the damn cage and fuck off, shit heel'' Jess hissed, flipping him off.

Rook sighed in frustration, this woman was far to stubborn for his liking, she was going to get herself killed, regardless of what she was going to do, he had to let her out, but Rook could see the large lock hanging of the door clasp.

"OK fine, do you know where your key is?" Rook asked.

"I have no idea, but I bet one of these pieces of shit have it" Jess replied.

Rook groaned, he was afraid she would say that, he really didn't want to go loot several if not dozens of corpses for a key.

"OK, I'll be back in a bit, just uh, stay put, yea?" Rook said trying not to cringe up at his poor choice of words.

"Oh yea, you got it, totally" Jess said rolling her eyes.

Rook turned away, crouching down, hoping to get the drop on a peggie, he took a few steps before Jess called out to him again.

"Hey, bend your knees more" she said.

"what?" Rook asked, turning back to the woman.

"Bend your knees more, it reduces noise" Jess said.

"Really? Oh cool, thank you" Rook said turning around again, testing out what he had learned, it was a bit difficult due to the AR strapped to his back, but she was right he did sound more quiet, Rook smiled at his new found knowledge, as he crept away, Rook held his arm out to the side to give Jess a thumbs up as a silent thank you as he crept back to the far end of the rows of cages and around a corner.

"he's going to get himself killed" Jess thought.

Rook crept through and open gate with green tarps strapped to the bars, poking his head out to view his left; metal containers, lumber and a few peggies talking to each other, to his right a more lumber, a mobile office and best of all, a single peggie, stationary, writing something on a clipboard.

Rook checked his left again, making sure no one would see him, after a moment before making his move, approaching the peggie, Rook flexed his right arm, preparing to take out the man, Rook got right up behind him then sprung up, wrapping his right arm around the mans neck, choking him, the man fought, and struggled for a few moments before dropping limp, Rook used his other hand to grab the mans belt and lifted him over his shoulder and carried him back to Jess, hoping he had the key.

Rook rounded the corner entering the row of cages, he saw Jess's head snap to him, she raised her hands to do something but Rook just assumed she was flipping him off again so he ignored it and checked over his shoulder, making sure no one was coming, not seeing what Jess was doing, Rook dropped the peggie's body at the foot of Jess's cage then dropped to his knees to go through the mans pockets, Jess also dropped to her knees, waving her hands franticly trying to grab the deputy's attention.

Rook snapped his head up from the unconscious man to look at Jess, she looked visibly frustrated, Rook was expecting her to lambast him with insults, but instead of swearing at the deputy, she started violently pointing to his immediate left, down the rows of cages where he had first entered from, Rook was confused at what she was doing, he sat there for a moment before it clicked in his head, he followed her finger to where she was pointing.

Rook turned his head to see clear down the rows to see thirty feet down the path, three peggies standing shoulder to shoulder, backs turned to him, pouring over papers and blueprints on a table, discussing plans to re-enforce the mill.

"Oh shit" Rook muttered in fear, sitting there on his knees, watching the men, Jess slammed her face into her hands, trying not to yell or swear at this stupid, stupid idiot just sitting there staring at the peggies, not moving.

Jess inhaled deeply before heavily gesturing to the men, hoping the deputy would take the hint and take them out.

"Oh right" Rook breathed before adopting his new sneaking position and crept up to the men, Rook inhaled steadily through his nose, try to keep calm, Rook closed in on the men, he could now really hear what they were discussing, building walls to re-enforce the compound and where the compound's cook went off to, Rook was ten feet away from the men as he retrieved his silenced handgun and trained it on the center mans head, but he was to late, the three men finished their meeting and turned around to be faced to face with the deputy, the three men still stood shoulder to shoulder, their guns holstered, the three men and Rook all froze, both parties frozen in fear, the three seconds that rolled by felt like an eternity.

"Fire!" yelled just quiet enough that all frozen parties could hear. And that was all it took to get the ball rolling again, Rook fired his gun dropping the man in the middle, causing the two others to run off yelling in opposite directions.

"What the fuck was that!?" Jess yelled.

"I locked up" Rook said embarrassed.

"Well you kicked the fucking hornet's nest now, dickhead" Jess yelled back.

And with that the mill stirred to life as angry yelling could be heard from all direction, Rook and Jess were in the heart of the base and hopes of survival were dropping.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Jess screamed.

Rook nodded and took off sprinting, looking for something to help him win this fight.

Rook had not even the beginnings of a plan, well besides shoot peggies, but beyond that he was up a creek. Rook swore as nothing of real use came to his mind, as he rounded the corner of the rows of cages that one of the peggies had run too hoping he could get him in his cross hairs but was met with five very angry looking men and woman advancing towards him with various firearms in hand and raised them to fire as the deputy came around the bend. Rook swore again as he jumped back around the corner and readied his AR and took a deep breath before poking out and returned fire, hoping that would discourage them from pushing up on him. As he poked out, he could see a load of lumber strapped down to a sheet of metal set off to the side, pressed up of the side of a mobile office, it looked about five planks wide and ten tall, more then thick enough to be used as cover.

The deputy pulled back a moment, ceasing fire, to wait for the peggies to think it was safe to come out only to poke back out and open fire again scaring them back into cover, he could see he landed a few hits but nothing battle changing as he only grazed two of the peggies making them stumble and falter as the other three scurrying behind a pickup truck for protection. With that he had made an opening and broke out into a sprint for the timber, not wanting to really test how far back he scared the enemy, he dove for the timber, landing on his stomach. He could hear the peggies shout all kinds of things at him as he reoriented himself into a crouch. But was quickly drowned out by the sound of a truck starting up, Rook tried to poke out to see what they were trying to do but was pinned by gunfire, he could hear the truck accelerate and draw near, Rook was confident that they were going to try to ram the lumber.

Rook remained crouching behind the wood, his right-side pressed against the cover, breathing through his nose trying to stay calm, he had some half-baked plan for this exact scenario, but terrified of actually following through, with a final breath he fished out a remote explosive from his belt and stuck it to the lumber, then tried to crouch run away from the lumber and around the side of the mobile office praying he wouldn't catch a bullet in the back as he could see two men advancing on with the truck, thankfully the truck driver decided to try to swerve around the lumber erratically to try to run him down making it difficult for his allies to get a clean shot, making it easy to scurry to the opposite side of the building.

He heard the truck's bumper slam into the lumber, the head light shattering, and the metal lurching to a sudden stop, the sounds of wood snapping filled the area, Rook knew it was now or never and pressed the detonator, the explosion launched splinters everywhere, embedding themselves everywhere, there was a second near instant explosion as the truck exploded as well. It was a perfect time to take a quick breather. The deputy pressed his back up against the wall, breathing heavily trying to catch his breath, the last two hours had been one desperate scramble to avoid death after another. He stared down at his feet trying to figure out what to do next, he looked to his right and saw a large white propane tank sat next to him. The deputy rested him arm on the tank and leaned on it trying to bring his breathing back to normal, watching the left to make sure no one followed, the gears in his mind spun as he schemed, what he needed was to get high up on something to get a clear look at the warzone he was in, getting up on the mobile office would be great but it was to tall to scale by himself and there was no ladder so getting on top would be a no go. The deputy growled in frustration as things were getting to out of control, at least the tank he was leaning on was cool to the touch making him feel a little better.

the tank, that was it, maybe it had the key to victory as Rook's mind spun with possibilities as he pulled himself off the tank to examine it; it was a basic propane tank that fueled the mobile office's heating system, it was a large white cylindrical tube that was six feet in length and four in height, Rook then looked up at the offices roof, if he climbed up onto the tank then jumped he could totally get onto the roof. Rook brought his hand up to his face as it was apparent if he spent ten seconds examining his environment, he could have solved this basic problem.

The peggies looked around, shouting at each other, trying to find out what happened to the sinner, a few had knelt to check the two comrades that fell when the explosions happened, but it was evident they were dead as the explosion sent hundreds of splinters and wood chips flying in all directions, the recently fallen had been hit with a barrage of splinters, killing them instantly.

"We got three dead, two on the ground, one in the truck" one of them yelled.

"Hit the alarm!" another screamed.

"On it!" a man in a black trench coat bellowed as he ran to the alarm system. But before he could reach the alarm box, a single gunshot echoed throughout the mill and the man fell over dead. Watching the man drop dead sent the rest of the peggies into a yelling frenzy, some where trying to coordinate, others talked about pulling the lever again, others wanted to run out of the mill to get help. No one could see the sinner, it was putting them all on edge.

"up there!" a peggie yelled. Pointing up to the roof of the mobile office where Rook had been hiding, he was lying on his stomach on the edge of the roof picking them off with his AR. He could see twelve of them, they all must have had to be from the other side of the mill drawn in my gunshots and explosions, he couldn't take them all by himself.

The peggies all looked up to see the deputy and raised their guns to shoot the sinner.

"Now this is a real piss off" Rook muttered to himself as he rolled away from the edge of the roof, now with some breathing room he could think of something that could help, he paused for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

"oh duh" he said shaking his head as he withdrew a grenade, pulled the pin with his teeth and chucked it off the roof with a limp throw. There were a few brief yells before the boom, a few had clearly perished, before the deputy could peek over the edge, he could hear the sounds of light thumps on metal, coupled with sounds of struggled grunts, confused and alarmed, Rook followed the noise to the far side of the office, he could see fingers peaking up over the lip of the roof, someone was trying to pull themselves up on to the roof as he had, and failing miserably. Rook retrieved the sawed off from its holster and crawled over the roof's lip and peaked over the edge and saw the peggie looking up at him, the two locked eyes, they both froze for a moment before Rook aimed and fired, blowing the man off the side of the building, splaying him out onto the ground like a bloody snow angel.

Rook stood up on the roof, the yelling was getting quieter, either he killed the majority of them or they were trying to get the jump on him, Rook walked over to the edge of the roof where he threw the grenade and peeked over, he could see a few peggies crouched down behind waist high cover, silent to not give away there location, but due to the sheer height the deputy stood at, the cover gave them no protection.

He could see another two behind a stack of cut trees and another two behind a pickup truck, though he could see them, shooting them would be near impossible due to the angle they were on, Rook trained his AR and quickly dispatched the two behind the trees as his elevation made it very easy to kill the men, scaring the other two, one ran out from cover yelling angrily, hurling a torrent of harsh words at the deputy as if that would bait him off the roof. The remaining peggie called for his friend to return, but his plea fell on deaf ears as his frantic man was in a frenzy over the death of everyone else. But all the enraged peggie was focused on was getting up to the roof where the deputy was based upon.

The peggie charged the mobile office but was quickly cut down by Rook for the attacking peggie ignored cover and beelined for the office as he tried to get to the roof. With the man dead there was just one left, still positioned behind the truck, silent and unmoving. In a way Rook was both relieved and anxious as the fight was just about over but the final man was a scared animal trapped in a corner, he was more dangerous then ever.

Rook waited a few moments to see what the lone peggie would do, but he just crouched there. Rook blew air out of his mouth in annoyance and slowly backed away without breaking eyesight on the man. If he could jump down the back he could get the final baddie, Rook took a quick glance and saw if he could hang over the edge so he could lower himself down to the ground, Rook took one last double take on the peggie and the ground before dropping back down on his stomach to hang himself over the edge and dropped down onto the ground, landing on his feet with a quiet thud, the deputy hissed in pain as it was higher then he expected and hurt is ankle as he landed, almost falling over when he landed, he hissed in pain again as he shook his left foot a few times before carrying on.

Rook straightened himself out and crept back around the side of the building by taking a large arc around the building to get an angle on the truck, as he near finished the arc, he got a good look at the truck, the peggie was gone.

"Aw, son of a bitch" Rook groaned in frustration.

The deputy sighed, where could he have possibly gone?

Rook crawled up to the truck to get a better look at the hiding spot in hopes of finding some sort of clue. he got up behind the truck, taking the position of the peggie, Rook sat there for a moment scanning the area, looking for the man before being slammed into the side of the truck, the slam knocked the wind out of the deputy, causing him to be open to a follow up attack as he was grabbed and forced to the ground, Rook felt a man climb on top of him and wrapped their hands around his throat.

Rook wrapped his own hands on his attacker's wrists in an attempt to remove his hands of his throat, Rook's eyes adjusted as the attacker choked the life out of him, he could see it was the final peggie.

"I got you now sinner" The peggie hissed, tightening his grip.

Rook was struggling to pull off the hands off his neck, but to no luck, his vision was starting to fade, with what strength he had left, he began rocking to his left and right, like an upside-down turtle trying to flip itself, in hopes it would knock over the peggie, with each individual rock caused him to build up a little more momentum, Rook could feel the grip on his throat lighten as the peggie fought against the rocking.

Rook seized the opportunity to grab the man's wrists again and pulled them to right at the same time as he rocked to the right, causing the peggie to lighten his grip briefly, allowing Rook to take in some air, with air returning to him, he felt strong again as he pulled his legs up to kick at the peggie, pushing him off balance a little bit more, Rook took the opening and released one hand too punch the man in the face a few times causing him to falter a more.

The man swatted at Rook's fist in an attempt to reassert his grip on his throat but struggled greatly as he took one blow to the face after another, knowing this was a losing battle the man pushed himself off the deputy and crawled a few feet away. Both men lay a few feet away from each other coughing trying to regain they're composure. Rook watched the man hoping he wouldn't reach for the discarded AR as Rook would have no way to protect himself from the fire. The thought of guns sparked inspiration in Rook as he shot his hand down to his leg to the pistol that had be strapped to his leg, forgotten.

The man rose to his feet ready to strike again at the deputy allowing him to withdraw the handgun strapped to his leg, Rook could line up a shot on the man, but the foe must have also thought about the same thing as the deputy as he was ready for the gun draw and dove at Rook and grabbed the barrel of the gun, pointing it up into the air.

The two man wrestled for the gun for what felt like forever as Rook maneuvered himself around the gun, trying to shoulder check the man a few times, making him lose his grip on the gun, allowing Rook to slowly push the gun's barrel towards the peggie, the deputy could see the man get visibly afraid as the gun barrel slowly got closer and closer to his head, Rook wrenched his eyes shut and took a deep breath and put all his strength into the final push, when the heavy breathing of the peggie could be heard Rook pulled the trigger, the shot echoed throughout the mill, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground.

Rook looked up at the sky, breathing out a few shaky breaths before opening his eyes, he turned to make his way back to Jess while making an effort to not look at the body in front of him. Rook fished for his walkie talkie and brought it to his mouth.

"Hey Dutch, I just cleared out the lumber mill, I found Jess, she's alive and well from what I've seen, but you were right, she has one hell of an attitude" Rook breathed.

The radio crackled to life with Dutch laughing lightly.

"Sounds to me like she's doing just fine, thank you deputy, you have no idea what this means to me" Dutch praised.

"No problem Dutch, just doing my job, oh before I forget, I did clear out the lumber mill, so can you radio ahead to let someone know to come retake this place?" Rook asked.

"You got it kid, I'll get people out there before you know it, and thanks again deputy" Dutch said before cutting the line.

Rook clipped his walkie back on his waist and returned to Jess, he was sure she'd be happy to hear she will be getting out soon.

"Hey, I'm back" Rook said, tired.

"Holy shit, your back" Jess said surprised.

"I told you I'd be back, well at least I think I told you I'd be back, I can't really remember, I had bigger problems at the time" Rook said scratching the back of his head, trying to remember.

"How the fuck did you do it?!" Jess said taken aback over Rook's ability to dispatch the peggies.

"How did I do what?" Rook asked.

"How did you kill all those fucking peggies by yourself, like holy shit!" Jess exclaimed.

"Well I just shot them, seems to be solving a lot of problems out here" Rook said casually.

"who the hell are you?" Jess questioned.

"I am junior deputy Benjamin Rook" he stated with pride.

"Oh great, you're a fuckin' boy scout" Jess groaned, dropping her head down in annoyance upon realizing she was talking to a cop.

"Boy scout?" Rook echoed in confusion.

"Yea, no one in this county that proud to be a pig these days" Jess replied.

"Well this boy scout just saved your sorry butt, now I'm not asking for a reward or anything but if you really wanna show your thanks you can curb the aggression as I get you back to your uncle" Rook politely asked.

"No way, I'm not going anywhere till I know the right guy is dead, when you were killing those assholes, did any of them have a flame thrower or anything like that?" Jess asked.

"Nope, just your everyday crazy doomsday cultists" Rook said shaking his head.

"God fucking damn it" Jess swore angrily then turning her gaze to the large lock on her cage.

"So, you going to let me out or what?" she asked.

"Oh right, stand back" Rook said withdrawing his AR and pointing it at the lock.

Rook pulled the trigger shooting the lock to only put a dent in it, Rook pulled the trigger again, causing the lock to shatter. Rook pulled what little of the lock off the door and opened it to free Jess.

"Thanks boy scout" Jess said stepping out of the cage, taking a deep breath, enjoying her newfound freedom.

Rook was about to say something before the sounds of cars could be heard, the two ran to the front of the lumber mill to see who was arriving, to both their respective relief, it was the resistance coming to make the mill theirs.

"Damn, Dutch wasn't kidding about them being here before I knew it" rook said happily.

"Oh, speaking of Dutch you should give him a call"

Rook turned to face Jess but was caught off guard as she was not where he expected her to be, he did a full three sixty turn trying to find the girl he had just saved.

"Hey Jess?" Rook called out, but no response came.

Rook looked around a little bit more before back tracking to find the girl, as Rook rounded the corner, he could hear the sounds of wood breaking, Rook picked up speed as he re-entered the rows of cages, he could see Jess bent over a wooden box, retrieving its contents.

"What are you doing?" Rook asked, jogging up to her.

"Getting my shit back" Jess said happily as she pulled out its contents; in one hand was a recursive bow and in the other a quiver full of arrows.

"Wouldn't you prefer something with a little more kick?" Rook asked.

"Fuck that, with this, I can kill any peggie that pokes his stupid fuckin' heads up" Jess said with pride.

"well… now that you got your stuff, you ready to go now?" Rook asked, hoping the woman would cooperate.

"Nope" Jess stated bluntly as she slung the quiver and bow over her shoulder, walking over to the table the three men had stood at before Rook alerted the outpost, poking through a clipboard.

"So, what will it take to get you ready to go?" Rook requested, getting slightly tired of her brushing him off.

Jess didn't respond as she flipped through the clipboard as if she was looking for something, Rook approached jess again to ask the question again.

Once again Jess didn't respond she just kept staring at whatever was on the paper, Before Rook had a chance to get more assertive with his questioning when he heard a low growl escape Jess before sighing heavily.

Jess turned to Rook, her demeaner became a lot softer as she looked up at the deputy.

"Hey… Thanks for bustin' me out, if my uncle Dutch sent you then that means he trusts you, if he can trust you then I guess I can too, so look… I don't got a lot of time to waste. I'm gonna get right to the point, I was on the trail of one of Jacob's zealots. Goes by the name 'The Cook' Yeah. Don't sound scary but believe me… he's one twisted fuck" Jess told Rook, as she did, Rook could hear the change in her voice, there was venom in her words, but he could also hear the sincerity in them, she was not lying to get him off her back.

"Almost tracked him down here, but a peggie patrol got the drop on me, so listen" Jess said taking a breath before continuing.

"If you can just kill a whole compound full of these fucks, then you can handle yourself better then most people out here, so, I need your help. We can't let this trail go cold… If your looking to hook up with the Whitetails. This could be your way in, I know a few of them, and more importantly, you'd help put an evil motherfucker in the ground, so you in or what" Jess asked.

Rook could see the determination in her eyes, from the little time he had spent with her, she made it clear that she wouldn't back down from this no matter what he said, regardless his choice she'd run off on her own to try to kill this zealot.

But she had a point, this 'Cook' guy needed to go, and she looked more skilled then the average freedom fighter.

"OK, let's do this" Rook said nodding.

"Sweet" Jess responded happily, jumping up slightly.

"We gotta move, we wasted to much time already, follow me" she said eagerly before turning to run to a dirt path attached to the side of the mill.

Rook kept pace with Jess as they jogged up the hills.

"So, where we going?" Rook asked.

"On that clipboard it said he was up in the hill at some burning spots up ahead" Jess said before pausing.

"Goddamn cult's grabbin' everyone. They'll take your home, the bar, even the church… Don't matter where you are" she continued, venom coating her words.

"They got me while I was driving, just going back to Falls End, when John Seed calls me telling me how he wants me to be cleansed or whatever then a few minutes later a bunch of trucks came out of nowhere, running me off the road, I must have hit my head because I could barely tell up from down and I felt almost weightless, it was real easy for them to drag me off" Rook responded.

"Holy fuck! You serious, you got grabbed by John's guys for the cleansing, how the shit did you get out?" Jess asked stunned.

"Well I didn't get myself out, after the whole drowning baptism thing, I was thrown into some van to be taken somewhere, on the way there some of my friends broke me out and we fought all the peggies and saved the other kidnapped people" Rook said.

"Jesus fucking Christ, your hardcore" Jess said, taken aback by the deputy's apparent ability to not get killed.

Jess swallowed this spit in her mouth as she realized they got to the first burn site.

"Let's have a look, careful stay low" Jess instructed as she slowed to a walk and crouching down, Rook following her lead, the two crawled up to a ridge that looked over the burn site, it was just the same as the mill, stacks of lumber, a mobile office and cages, they sat there for a moment scanning site.

"Shit. I don't see him anywhere. Got people locked up though…" Jess whispered.

"We got to help them, regardless if the cook is here or not" Rook pleaded.

Jess scoffed before agreeing, but only if he followed her lead, Rook agreed and the two snuck down the ridge to get the drop on the peggies below.

* * *

The peggies had no idea what hit them, the deputy and the huntress struck hard, fast, and quiet. Executing them one at a time, killing them before they could find the bodies of their friends.

Jess laughed as she pulled an arrow out of the final peggie, she could hear Rook untying the hostages and pointing them back to the lumber mill.

"Hey, you're not half bad, dealing with those peggies there, boy scout" Jess said admiring the deputy handiwork.

"I like to think my charm has something to do with it" Rook said running his hand through his hair.

Jess snorted lightly be fore replying.

"You're as charming as these fucking peggies"

"Well they are slowly taking over the county, so I guess they have some sort of charm to get this many followers'' Rook laughed as the two began to leave the burn site and headed to the final burn site.

"These motherfuckers have no charm or anything, they're all a bunch of sick, twisted fucks" Jess snarled, the anger coming back in full swing.

"OK, OK, I was just making a joke to lighten the mood, we did just kill, like seven people together" Rook said, patting the air defensively, hoping his logic would calm her down.

Jess slowed her pace to a walk so she can walk next to Rook, Rook felt nervous as her face was scrunched up in anger, he hoped that anger wasn't directed at him

"You wanna know why they call him the Cook?" Jess questioned, not breaking her eye contact on Rook.

"Um, sure Rook said, hoping it would not rile the woman up further.

Jess looked away from Rook, facing forward again, she took a deep breath.

"Couple of years, Jacob sent one of his guys to round up this family—parents and kids. First thing he did was starve 'em. Gave 'em nothin' not even a drop a water. After three days they got so thirsty they had to drink their own piss. But the kids didn't want to do it. So, the parents forced it down the parents throat… kids puked it right up" Jess started.

Rook had a feeling where this was going to go, he had heard and seen some horrible things that the cult did but what Jess was describing was on a whole new level, it made Rook feel sick. And the feeling only got worse as she went on, describing what had happened to her family, Jess was right, this sick fuck needed to die.

As Jess finished the story, the two were left in a cold silence, Rook knew he shouldn't remain silent he should say something.

"Jess listen, I'm sure you've heard this hundreds of times before but I'm truly sorry that something like that happened to you, If I had known about this sick shit sooner, I would have brought the national guard down here a long time ago" Rook spoke, wishing he could have done something more to help the people of Hope County.

Jess didn't say anything, she just kept walking as if she didn't hear him, he didn't blame her, who knows how many times someone gave her their condolences or how many blew her off due to their own problems. They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Jess finally spoke up.

"We're here let's take a better look" She said quietly as she dropped down into a crouch to hid behind a large rock formation, Rook followed her lead and ducked down and got behind the rock next to her.

They could see the final burn site, it was on the edge of a hill, it had been surrounded with makeshift wooden walls to keep out wildlife, and to keep in the victims, there were a few cages, sandbag walls, and tents here and there, but there off to one corner, was the cook burning poor people in a cage.

He did the deed with a flame thrower, meaning a head to head confrontation suicidal. Rook worked out different strategies in his head before Jess's voice pulled him out of his reverie.

"There he is. The fuckin' Cook" She hissed, full of hate.

"So how you wanna play this?" Rook asked, hoping she wasn't going to just charge down there and wing it.

"We kill this fucker" Jess growled.

"I was hoping we would talk about detail here, he has a flame thrower, that thing is pretty dangerous, maybe we can throw down a strategy, so we don't get marshmellowed" Rook pleaded.

"It's just one guy, I don't see anyone else down there" Jess countered, rolling her eyes.

She was right, Rook couldn't see anyone else, perhaps the Cook was twisted by peggie standards and they didn't want to watch.

"Tell you what, I'll sneak around the far side and grab his attention so you can come down behind him and do what you have to?" Rook asked.

"OK fine, just hurry up" Jess snapped.

With that Rook jumped up and moved along side the hill working his way down and around the site, he still stayed low and quiet just in case there really were more peggies hanging around. As Rook drew near the walls he could hear the flamethrower spew its flames, he could also hear the Cook ranting and raving, screaming about how the fire is cleansing the word of evil, if he truly believed that, the had been the most far gone cultist Rook had ever faced, thank god that he would be taken care of in a matter of minutes.

Rook could see an opening in the walls, it had been wide enough for a car to enter, it must have been used for transferring the sinners in to the site, Rook poked his head in, still wary of any other peggies in the area, he looked up at Jess for reassurance, she met his gaze and gave him arm movements, signalling him to hurry up, Rook sighed, she really was a one track mind kind of girl.

Rook entered the compound and walked to the Cook, the plan was to always keep a cool thirty feet away from him at all times to keep out of the blast zone. Rook went deeper into the site and saw the Cook, still distracted with what he was doing, Rook blew air out of his mouth before retrieving his AR and firing it into the air a few times.

The shots made the Cook jump, he whipped around to face the source of the noise that had invaded his workspace.

"Hey Dickface, how's the weather over there?" Rook yelled.

Rook almost immediately facepalmed mentally, he wanted to make a pun about the heat that the Cook was creating but the heat of the moment got to him, making him choke and spew out whatever came to mind, he hoped Jess didn't hear his poor choice of words.

The Cook didn't take the intruder lightly as he charged the deputy while shouting.

"BURN! BURN WITH THE LIGHT OF OUR FATHER!" he screamed as he sprayed flames to and fro.

Rook swore as he back pedaled, he was well outside the blast radius, but he could still feel the immense heat leaping up at him, whatever Jess was doing, she needed to do it fast.

The Cook kept charging at the deputy, but had to stagger his approach as Rook would shoot just in front

of his feet. Rook just kept backing up, firing away at the floor trying to scare the Cook, waiting for whatever Jess was going to do, Rook swore again as he had tried to count his shots as he fired, he was running low on ammo, he considered dropping the gun and using the handgun but he was suddenly interrupted by the feeling of something behind him, he had literally backed himself in a corner.

Rook could hear the Cook laughing at him for his stupidity, taunting him with more cultist mumbo jumbo, he raised his flame thrower to Rook to end his life but before he could squeeze the trigger, he moaned and took a big step forward as if he had been shoved from behind. The Cook moaned again as he turned around, Rook was confused for a second before looking at where the Cook had turned to. There they could see Jess, bow in hand facing down the Cook, Rook could also see an arrow sticking out of the man's back, he wore the flamethrowers fuel tanks on his back, it covered most of his back, so the arrow protruded mere inches above his butt.

The Cook groaned in pain again as he raised his flamethrower and sprayed fire at Jess, she could not train an arrow on him in time to take his life, the fire forcing her to back track to a pile of sandbags for cover.

"What happened to the plan!" Rook shouted while taking a few steps forward.

"Are you seriously doing this now!?" Jess screamed back from behind a stack of sandbags.

"If you hit him in the head, we wouldn't be in this mess right now!" the deputy fired back.

"Fuck off and help me!" she yelled.

Rook groaned and ran at the Cook, his back to him like the Cook had forgotten all about him. Rook practically jumped on him as he tried to restrain the man, seizing him by the arms, but struggled due to the canisters on his back. The Cook roared and shook as he tried to break free.

"Shoot him!" Rook yelled.

Without a word Jess shot up and aimed her bow at him and fired, embedding an arrow right into the man's chest causing him to go almost limb, Rook released him and took a few steps back as he posed no real threat anymore.

The cook dropped to his knees, weak and overcome with pain, the sheer wait of the tanks on his back pulled him back pinning him into an uncomfortable pose stuck looking at the sky.

The man tried to say something, but it came out as mumbled garbage, Jess walked up to the defeated man and towered over him, forcing him to look at her.

"I got you motherfucker, Jess Black got you motherfucker!" Jess screamed in his face, before punching him in the mouth, she paused briefly as if she expected him to say something, but nothing came, his breathing slowed and his eyes got cloudier by the moment, he was on borrowed time.

Jess backed away slowly breathing through her mouth as if she had just gone running, she took in the Cook's sorry form as the man slowly died, she had been waiting years for this.

Rook watched all this play out, Jess just stood there staring at the man as if he was a ghost, Rook slowly walked forward to the Cook and waved his hand in front of the man's eyes, the action didn't even rouse a blink. The man was dead.

"He's dead, Jess" Rook stated bluntly.

Jess didn't respond, she just stood there, still looking at the body with a million-yard stare.

"Are you ok?" Rook said, voicing his concern.

"I feel numb" she said quietly.

"Do you need a minute?" Rook questioned.

"Dutch was right… Cook's dead and… I don't' feel anything. All I ever wanted was to find this guy and now… I don't… I don't know what I'm supposed to do now" Jess said contemplating her reason for existing now.

"Jess I know we've known each other for like what, half an hour, forty five minutes, but working with you, fighting peggies, your not like any of the resistance fighters, you really know what your doing, and I mean anyone can just pick up a gun and shoot, but not anyone knows proper maintenance or trigger discipline. But you do, well with a bow I mean, look what I'm trying to say is you know what your doing out here, that's more then I can say about myself, and I'd be really grateful if I had someone as talented as you helping make this county safer" Rook said hoping it would raise her spirits.

"Y'know Dutch's been right about a lot of shit lately. 'bout the cult, Eli… Maybe he's right about you too. I'll uh, totally help with whatever" Jess shrugged.

"Thank you, I really appreciate the help" Rook said smiling.

"Hey, uh, if you want to get out of here you can, I just need some time to myself I guess, I'll track you down in a few days or whatever" Jess muttered, adjusting the hood on her jacket.

"Take all the time you need" Rook reassured as he began to leave the site and headed to the mill, he was interrupted as he heard Jess call out to him, he turned back to her to see what she needed.

"When you went up to the Cook did you ask him about the weather?" Jess asked giving him a confused look.

Rook's face reddened as he tried to formulate his sentence.

"Well I wanted to make a good pun that involved heat or something to try to get him to monologue at me or whatever to give you more time to move in" rook said sheepishly.

"Seriously?" Jess asked giving him an unimpressed look.

"I got nervous ok he had a flamethrower, I lost whatever I was going to say, it was a heat of the moment thing" Rook stated then snapping his fingers.

"There, it was a heat of the moment thing, now that would have been a good pun to throw out if I workshopped it" Rook said trying to recover from the embarrassment.

Jess hung her head and groaned.

"Don't tell me your one of those fucks who just love puns?" Jess sighed.

"Well if the puns good then who cares?" Rook shrugged.

Jess sighed again and really looked at the deputy.

"I don't know if I should just put an arrow in you now or wait for a peggie to get you so I can spare myself the effort"

"If you want a peggie to do it, you'll be waiting a long time, I don't know about you but I'm pretty awesome" Rook stated jokingly.

"you're the weirdest fuckin' boy scout I have ever met" Jess said rolling her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three days since the deputy had seen Jess, he had last seen her at the burn site. She had told him that she'd come find him when she's good and ready, Rook considered calling Dutch to see how she was doing but decided against it as she had a right to her privacy in her time of contemplation, she had killed the man she was hunting for years and didn't know what to do now that he was gone. So, until she was ready to help, Rook had to carry on the fight. Luckily Nick had something for him to keep him busy, Nick had called him right after dinner for help, apparently John Seed had some armoured trucks prowling around the Holland Valley, and one convoy had been creeping up closer to Nick's home then Nick would prefer, so naturally he and the deputy had to do something.

"So, how you wanna handle this?" Rook asked as he left the Falls End general store, fully loaded with newly purchased ammo and headed to his newly acquired truck at the auto shop across the street.

"Well I was thinking we just hit him with the ol' one two punch, I hit high, you hit low" Nick said through the walkie talkie.

"I thought of that too, but they have like, LMG's strapped to their trucks, and if I somehow don't get swiss cheesed AND turn the tides on them, they might just take off leaving me in the dust" Rook countered.

"Ya got a point, so partner, don't suppose you got a spike strip in your cop car?" Nick joked.

Rook laughed at his friends joke, he was right though Rook wished he had his tools of his trade.

"I wish, hell I'd settle for some road side pylons at this point, or even some pepper spray, peggie runs up on me and I douse him like a steak"

Nick laughed at the joke before clearing his throat.

"What if we like build a barrier then we hit 'em with the one two?"

Rook crossed the street to the auto shop where is new truck was kept, he stopped at the shops bay door to think, he needed a quick solution, Rook's mind flew over all tools, resources and allies he had, he ran through a few scenarios with different strategies but nothing stuck.

"As soon as they see it, they might turn around" Rook countered.

"God damn it! We gotta come up with something!" Nick exclaimed getting frustrated.

"Let's remain calm and figure this out, we got this" Rook said trying to calm him down.

Both men were silent, lost in thought as they schemed, Rook figured he would think better if he sat in his truck, so he climbed into the driver's seat, fastening his seat belt and leaned back in his seat.

Rook rolled up his sleeves up to the elbow, and crossed his arms, the lack of ideas was beginning to irritate Rook now, he began to fidget by twirling a few loose strings on his flannel shirt, a few parts of the shirt were frayed and torn due to wear, tear and peggies, but Rook was a little sore over the worst of the damage on the shirt, the left shoulder was slightly burnt due to Hurk getting a little to trigger happy when they worked together to get Hurk's father's truck back a week back.

Then it clicked in Rook's mind.

"I got it, we get Hurk in on this"

"Hurk? Drubman… wait junior or senior?" Nick asked, perplexed.

"Hurk junior, he always has this rocket launcher with him, he'd make it so much easier" Rook explained.

"Well uh... I don't know man, He's not exactly the sharpest lightbulb in the shed, I don't know how I feel about him firing rockets real close to my house… or my wife, if they get that close to home" Nick said voicing his concern.

"OK, you have a point, tell you what I'll keep an extra close eye on him as we take out the convoy"

Nick was silent as he mulled over his options before agreeing.

"OK, OK, just please don't let him blow up my property" Nick begged.

"You got it dude, I'll give him a call" Rook said, switching channels on his talkie to call Hurk.

"Hey Hurk, you there?" Rook asked.

"Of course, I am my dude, what's up?" Hurk's voice exploded from the talkie, responding almost immediately.

"Me and Nick were wondering if you wanted to swing by Nick's place to help us take out this convoy that keeps showing up near there" Rook asked.

"Hell yea Broba-Fett, let's fuck some peggies up, I'll head over there right now, oh man this is gonna be so fuckin' rad" Hurk exclaimed as sounds of him running crackled through the walkie.

"thanks dude, we really appreciate it, but listen we're gonna post on Nick's driveway at first, so if and I mean if we have to hold point right there by the driveway I really, really need you to be careful with your rockets, Nick will literarily kill you if you damage his house and or family, do you understand?" Rook beseeched the man.

"Oh, I hear you man, one hundred percent, I'd be upset to If someone blew up Hurk's Gate, you got it Bro, I'll be careful as… well… somethin' super badass an' dangerous near something fragile"

"Thanks again man, see you soon" Rook said nervously, unsure if Hurk would remember his promise if and when the situation came around. Rook changed stations on his walkie talkie to call Nick.

"Hey, Hurk's super down, he said he's headed over right now" Rook informed his friend.

"Oh great, I'll go hide everything fragile in my house now" Nick said, unhappily.

"Don't worry bud, I'll head over too" Rook said.

"Oh, thank god, thank you" Nick sighed in relief.

Rook laughed as he started up the truck and headed out to Rye and Son's.

* * *

Rook pulled up the Rye's driveway and up to the house, he could see Hurk and Kim sitting on a bench on the porch, Hurk was excitedly talking Kim's ear off about something, it was clear she wasn't interested but nodding her head to be nice. The two noticed the deputy's arrival and got up to greet them, Hurk practically running to him, while Kim took her time.

"Hey Bro, you ready to kick some ass, let's do this, how you been bro?!" Hurk was full of energy today.

"Hey dude, I'm ready, and I'm good'' Rook replied.

Kim caught up to the two and greeted the deputy.

"Hey Ben, thank you for helping with this" She said sweetly.

"Well I couldn't just leave a friend in need" Rook replied.

"Well if you want to help a friend in need, there's a roof that could use some shingling" Kim Joked.

"Tell you what, once we take care of Joseph, I'll come back and do it"

"OH, that totally reminds me" Hurk jumped in, wanting to get Rook's attention.

"before you got here, I was tellin' Kim about this weird dream I had the other night, I think it was the monkey god was tryin' to tell me somethin' important, I saw this large majestic red wolf and it talked to me, it told me some gnarly stuff, I really wish what it was since I forgot, since it was a dream an' all, but I'm keepin' my eyes out for any red wolves out in the wild so I can commune with it" Hurk droned on.

Rook and Kim looked at each other before looking back at Hurk.

"Hey Hurk, you know a lot of people have been talking about how Jacob is using wolves as killing machines, so you probably heard it and your brain just used it in a dream" Kim stated.

"What? No way girl, I know a prophecy dream when I see one, this is it" Hurk said, confidently.

Before anyone could respond Nick came around the side of the house.

"Hey is that Ben?" He yelled out.

"Hey dude!" Rook yelled back with a wave.

"thank god you're here, I was getting antsy, I keep thinking their just gonna roll up here again''

"Not anymore, there not" Hurk yelled, looping an arm around Rook's shoulder.

"Now that we're here, we're going to make those peggies wish they were never born"

"Uh yea, what he said" Rook chimed in.

"Sweet let's do this, I'll get airborne and find these fucks" He said backpedalling to the hanger.

"Then after let's hit up the bar" he said as he turned around and jogged for the hanger.

"Fuck yea let's get crunk" Hurk yelled as he ran to the porch for his RPG. Kim followed him to the porch to enter her home, the sounds of the Carmina's engine flooded area as Hurk returned to Rook as he was turning the truck around on the driveway. Rook signaled to Hurk to climb in. Hurk ran up and pulled open the passenger door and climbed in.

"OK, so did Nick give you the run down on the plan?" Rook asked.

"Yea, yea, we sit here while Ol' Nick flies around and looks for those sum bitches then he'll call us and tells us where they are so we can get the drop on 'em and save the day!" Hurk said, growing louder and louder by each word, getting more excited then he usually is.

"Hey, Hurk you ok man? Rook asked, growing concerned for his friend, Hurk was usually loud and boisterous, but these past few days he seemed even more so.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Hurk said confused, dropping the excitement, at the sight of his Bro questioning his wellbeing.

"Well, Nick and I have noticed that you seem more wound up then usual"

Hurk scrunched his face up in deep thought, trying to really understand the depths of the statement.

"I wouldn't say I'm wound up, I'd say I'm more prepared to kick ass and take names" Hurk said happily

"So, your saying I'm right to a degree?" Rook was hoping to draw a decent answer out of him, directly or indirectly.

"Well yea man, I had a prophecy dream, that means I'm destined to do some cool shit, and impress all the ladies, you know what I'm saying?" Hurk said smiling ear to ear.

"I knew something like this would happen too man, I actually was going through my old shit, looking for this old monkey god statue that I got throughout my travels and I found this recipe I picked up when I was on Rook Island, it was for this drink that helps you see things that you need to see, so I drank it before going to bed and I had my prophecy dream"

"Hurk, I think you just got high" Rook cringed up.

"what! No way man, this was real" Hurk slowly getting loud again.

"but what if?" Rook said, not buying into the mysticism, he had enough of the religious bullshit from the Seeds.

"But it is though I told some folks about it and they wanted to trade a whole crap-ton of sugar for my recipe, your always tellin' me to help people, well think of what we could do with a bunch of sugar, we could make so much food with that stuff, do you even know the last time I ate a cookie that wasn't stale" Hurk refuted.

He had a point, food had been scarce, the peggies had taken up all the food they could, but the prospect of sugar could really help make more ration.

"Besides have been drinking a little bit of it all day and I feel fine" Hurk shrugged.

"Wait what?" Rook asked, caught off guard at the idea of his friend nursing a spiked beverage all day.

"Hey guys, you there? I see the convoy, three pickups, all heavy armour and LMG's" Nick's voice rang out, ending the two men's conversation. Rook grabbed his walkie and called back.

"We hear you, where are they?" Rook asked, trying to focus on what nick had said.

"Go left out the driveway, then another left at the first intersection, about two clicks out" Nick replied.

"Roger dodger Nick, where on our way" Rook said starting up the car ad pulling out the driveway.

"Hell yea man, lets do this!" Hurk yelled, getting wound up again.

"We're going to talk about this drink after we're done, you hear me?" Rook said before pulling out of the driveway.

* * *

The sun had been dipping low, painting a bright orange over the sky as the day ended when Nick called, but now as Rook and Hurk turned on the intersection, night had truly begun to fall, casting darkness along the roads, with no streetlights or anything besides the headlights of the truck it would become near pitch black soon.

"Alrighty Nick we're turning left at the intersection now, how they looking? Rook called out.

"There commin' up real close to you now, you'll see them real soon" Nick returned.

"Should we pull over now or what?" Rook asked.

"uhhhh yea why not set up now and fuck em up as they get close"

"Roger dodger, pulling over now" Rook said pulling off to the side of the road, killing the engine.

"Alright Hurk, lets do this" Rook said exiting the truck.

"Fuck yea man, let's go" Hurk said also exiting the vehicle.

"OK so here's the plan" Rook said into his walkie and looking at Hurk to deliver his plan.

"Once the convoy gets in range, Hurk will blow up the lead truck, once that happens Nick will come down and deal with the rear car, if you can get the middle truck too, then fantastic, if not then don't worry, it has to go around the wreck in front of it, then me and or Hurk will take it out, if we're really lucky we can spare some damage to the LMG's and take them right off the trucks and bring them back to Fall's End with us, but again if we cant then don't worry, our lives are more important then a few guns"

"Sounds good to me, partner" Nick called out.

"Let's get these bastards" Hurk said excited.

"alright Hurk you stay here with the truck, use it for cover, and fire when I give the signal, I'll be on the other side of the road" Rook instructed.

Hurk gave a thumbs up as he took his position behind the truck and Rook ran over to the other side of the road, crouching down the same way Jess had taught him days ago. The two sat there motionless waiting for any sign of the enemies to roll in, it felt like forever until the sounds of engines in the distance could be heard, followed by Nick's plane farther in the distance.

"They should be coming up on you any second now" Nick informed.

Just then a pair of head lights came over a small hill, this was it they were drawing near.

"Get ready Hurk, any moment now" Rook said just loud enough for him to hear.

Hurk nodded and readied his RPG, training it on the incoming car. The convoy moved slow, fast enough that no one could out run it, but slow enough to be aware of their surroundings, they were eighty feet out and closing.

"Hold… Hold…" Rook shout whispered.

The trucks drew closer at sixty feet.

The sound of Nick's plane grew louder, he would pass over in a matter of moments. The trucks came closer, Hurk looked over at Rook waiting for the signal. Rook looked up looking for Nick, the second he saw the plane he'd give the signal, the plane engine got louder and louder, but nothing could be seen.

"Hey bro?" Hurk shout whispered over, hoping for a signal. But Rook ignored it, eyes glued to the sky waiting for Nick's plane to come into view.

"Bro the trucks" Hurk called again. Rook's eyes darted to the trucks back to the sky, getting nervous now, as the Carmina got louder and louder. Where was Nick. Then the tips of the trees started to shift and bend slightly, being pushed by increased winds, then a yellow blur in the night came above.

"NOW!" Rook shouted and Hurk fired his RPG, a plume of smoke came from the weapon as it launched its payload flying straight at the enemy, they didn't even try to swerve out of the way as it happened so fast. The payload hit, exploding the vehicle, sending pieces of the truck everywhere, killing all inside. The two cars behind had no time to react as Nick swooped down and rained on the rear truck with his own LMG's, he had hit it for a few seconds, but still did severe damage as bullets shredded the peggie manning the LMG strapped the pickup and damaging the hood, producing a steady steam of smoke through the bullet holes. the two trucks came two a sudden halt and the remaining men piled out of the trucks as it just made them an easier target, they came out armed and spreading out.

"Alright Hurk, this is where it gets rough" Rook shouted as he took a few steps forward to get a better shot on the peggies with his AR.

"Gimme a minute!" he shouted as he put his RPG down so he could pull out the next rocket and load it into the firing chamber.

"Nick, circle around and do it again, forget about salvaging anything" Rook cried into his walkie.

"Roger that, turning around" he replied.

Rook lined up his shot, he could see the men due their headlights from the second truck still shining, there were five of them, but the headlights were a double-edged sword as it also made to hard to see, the lights were shining directly into Rook's and Hurk's eyes.

The five peggies all spread out along the road, two hid on the shoulders of the road as the other three spread out over the road all firing at the two men, Rook called out for Hurk to fire ASAP at the ruined car again as he had to flee into the near by woods for a tree, hoping it would be sufficient cover and prayed the truck would protect Hurk.

Then he heard Hurk's RPG fire again and the sound of an explosion followed seconds after, further shattering the ruined truck, sending more pieces everywhere. The road was thrown into darkness as the debris of the second explosion destroyed the head lights of the second car. More shouting came from the darkness from both the peggies and Hurk.

Rook peaked out from his trees to see what had happened, he could see shadows moving in the dark as his eyes were still adjusting, he squinted at the shadows for a moment before he could see what was in front of him. He could see two bodies lying on the ground as they were quite close to the truck, so it was safe to assume they were dead as it was most likely debris got to them, the remaining three were farther down the road, firing at Hurk. Rook was ready to begin his counter attack before seeing movement on the far side of the road, a small shadow, to small to be a human, but big enough to be a threat.

Rook watched the shadow as it emerged, it was a wolf, patiently watching the peggies from the side of the road. Rook knew that the predators of the area had been getting bolder as their ecosystem had been disrupted by the cult, if they wanted to eat, they had to take more risks, if the wolf wanted to eat, it had to wait for the perfect moment to swoop in. Rook had to be even more careful of possible wolf attacks tonight.

The deputy lined up his shot firing at the men in the dark, he landed a few hits, center mass, but as they barely flinched, they had to be wearing Kevlar.

"They got body armour" Rook called out to Hurk.

"Oh shit, OK bro I'll aim for the head or something" Hurk shouted back.

"They're getting real close, you got anything other then the RPG?" Rook called out as the enemy was a mere thirty feet.

"Yea hold on" Hurk called back as he slung his RPG over his shoulder and retrieved a SMG from his leg holster and returned fire at a peggie.

The other two peggies jumped into the shoulder of the road to fire into the woods, hoping to kill the deputy, Rook had to sit and wait for the firing to stop as he could hear his surroundings be bombarded by bullets.

The wolf used the firefight as cover as it stayed low to the ground, scampering up to one of the corpses, grabbing the body in its maw and began to try pulling it back into the woods.

Rook fired his gun, the man that was firing a Hurk, nailing one in the collar bone at the base of the neck, causing him to stumble and fall to his knees, yelping in pain, he could hear the peggies shout something but was unknown due to the firefight. Then one of the two peggies ran up to his fallen friend while giving cover fire and grabbed him by the shoulders trying to get him to his feet. Rook tried to shoot them as they moved slow but couldn't get shots on them due to the third's providing cover.

The two peggies staggered away back towards the trucks, so focused on getting to safety they were unaware of the wolf off to the side, the wolf dropped its meal and growled at the possible threats as they limped by, feeling threatened.

"I'm commin' in, get ready!" Nick's voice came from Rook's of walkie.

Seconds later the Carmina flew over head, firing down at the peggies in a strafing run, bullets rained down from above, peppering the road, the impacts sounded like little explosions as the large bullets collided with the asphalt road.

The collective noise of the plane, gunfire, and the peggies proximity to the wolf had been enough to put the wolf in to attack mode, the limping peggies had been around ten feet away from it but was still close enough to be considered a threat. The men were unaware of the wolf that crept up on the men ready to pounce, it went slow as it was nervous from the sound of Nick coming in from above.

Nick's strafing run came down hard on the two men, they couldn't even scream before Nick's gunfire tore the to pieces, leaving nothing but two mangled bodies and a large cloud of red mist, the red mist floated down as the wolf ran to the fresh kills to drag some of them off to its home, the mist floated down and coated the wolf in a light coat of blood, making it look somewhat red.

The final peggie saw his two comrades get mulched and despaired as he was heavily out gunned and out numbered, he knew continuing would get him killed as he was just standing in a ditch on the side of the road with no real cover, so he decided his best action was to run into the forest and make it through to the other side, if he could call for help, they could launch some sort of counter attack.

So, he holstered his weapon and ran into the darkness, praying to Joseph that he wouldn't catch a bullet in the back.

"Shit" Rook muttered as ran to where the peggie had been, pulled out his flashlight and shined it into the darkness hoping to see his foe.

"God damn it" Rook groaned in annoyance, the peggie made it far in enough in that the light could not reveal him.

"Hurk get over here I need your help"

"Sure Broski, did we get 'em all?" he asked as he came around the side of the truck before noticing the wolf eating what was left of the peggies.

"There, there it is!" Hurk yelled excitedly, lowering his weapon and pointing.

"There what is?" Rook yelled back.

"The Red Wolf, the prophecy dream, see I told" Hurk was practically jumping up and down like a child on Christmas morning.

"It's just a wolf covered in blood dude, forget about it and help me find the last guy" Rook ordered.

"But the prophecy" Hurk muttered in awe, slowly approaching the feeding predator.

"Dude it's going to eat you if you get closer" Rook warned.

But Hurk wasn't listening he was too awestruck over the sheer coincidence in front of him and drew ever closer, the wolf perked up as it sensed something creeping up on it and its meal. The wolf looked up at Hurk and growled.

"I am here to hear what you have to say your holiness, tell me your knowledge" he said almost praising it.

"Hurk seriously back off" Rook commanded stepping back up onto the road, staring at the wolf, ready to shoot the beast if it leapt at Hurk.

"But dude look at it, I saw this in my dream" Hurk said gesturing to the wolf dramatically.

"Hey what's going on down there' did we get 'em all?" Nick's voice rang out of Rook's walkie.

Rook pulled out his walkie to call back.

"Just about, but we hit a small snag"

"What happened?" Nick questioned.

Rook was about to give Nick the rundown but was distracted by a loud bark, scaring Rook, he snapped his attention back to the wolf. Hurk had gotten closer and the wolf did not like it one bit, it was fully stretched out and ready to attack Hurk, but Hurk didn't care, he just started talking to it as if it would talk back, Rook's heart skipped a beat as he was about to watch his friend get ripped apart in front of him. So, he did the only thing he could and pulled out his sawed off and fired just below the beast's paw's, scaring the wolf, the sudden noise causing it and Hurk to jump up in fright. The wolf jumped back feeling trapped, it must have decided the meal was not worth the trouble and ran across the road and into the woods, the same side as the final peggie ran into.

"What the fuck dude?!" Hurk yelled, staring at Rook.

"What do you mean, I saved your life!" He yelled back.

"He was gonna talk, I felt it" Hurk cried as he ran his hands through his hair, staring off into the woods.

"Hey what's happening?!" Nick yelled again, sounding concerned.

"Sorry man, Hurk almost got himself killed" Rook relayed.

"Yea that sounds like him, so what's going on?"

Rook was about to respond again but he could see Hurk jog over to the opening in the woods where the wolf had run into, Hurk stood there and stared into the darkness then at Rook then back to the darkness again.

"Son of a bitch" Rook muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Hold on Nick, Hurk is still up to something"

Rook heard Nick make some unhappy comments about Rook's decision to bring Hurk along, but he didn't really hear it, he was too focused on Hurk staring at the woods.

"Dude the wolf" Hurk muttered said with a thousand-yard stare.

"Hurk, don't you dare I swear to god" Rook shouted.

Hurk looked at Rook one final time before taking off after the wolf, running into the darkened woods

"God damn it Hurk, for real, Like come on man, This- this is bullshit" Rook yelled in frustration, how could Hurk just abandon him like this, he was supposed to help destroy the convoy. There was one Peggie left somewhere out in the wild, if he gets his hands on a radio he will call his buddies and let them know what happened and they would send bigger tougher convoys.

Rook huffed in anger as he raised his walkie to him mouth.

"Nick we got a problem"

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck is going on down there, partner?" Nick demanded angrily.

"It's Hurk, I think he's high or something, he ran off into the woods after some stupid wolf covered in blood, he says it's his prophecy dream" Rook replied.

"Oh God damn it, I knew something like this would happen, I told you!" Nick whined.

"Yea, yea, I know but that's not the worst part, there's one Peggie left, he's also in the woods with Hurk, if he calls his buddies before we get to him, then the roads are probably going to get a lot worse" Rook explained.

"Aw fuck off, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Hurk?" Nick said with angry groans before finishing.

"So what should we do partner?"

"As much as I hate to say it, for you, there is not too much you can do, the trees are thick so I doubt you'll see anything, you head on home I guess, I'll give you a ring once I get the last Peggie and beat Hurk's head in" Rook surmised.

"Son of a bitch, shit man, sorry I can't help, this whole thing really pisses me off, you give me a call as soon as your done, kick Hurk's ass for me too" Nick said angrily.

"Roger dodger Nick, I'm headed in the woods now" Rook said as he reloaded his AR and sawed off and with another angry sigh, Rook jogged into the blackened woods.

* * *

The jog through the woods quickly turned into a walk as the night had truly started to set in, making the roads dark, but the forest coverage blocked what little light that was left out, making the forest so much more darker, so dark that roots and low to the ground fauna became tripping hazards, Rook considered turning on his flashlight, but the light would paint a bright target on his back. The further Rook went it the darker it got, and the deputy was getting angrier by the minute as he would repeatedly walk into low hanging branches.

"Hurk, Hurk, you there?" Rook shout whispered.

No response came, Rook strained his ears listening to anything that could hint at his friend's location, or his enemy's. the peggie of course had to have been much farther then Hurk, Rook wasn't sure if he should be even more angry, or relieved. Who knows what direction Hurk took off in, he was probably high and further angering the wolf.

But nothing stood out, just fauna moving in the breeze and chirps of nocturnal critters. Rook trudged on hoping he could find some evidence of his friend, he had been hyper and loud all evening so now that he had seen what he'd been waiting for, Hurk should be even more excited. But still nothing, Hurk was a ghost in the wind.

Rook stopped again to listen, he had silently wished he had Boomer with him as his nose would track down both Hurk and the Peggie. If he had, Nick and Rook could be enjoying some cold ones right about now and this was slowly angering the deputy even more.

Rook carried on through the forest waiting for something to happen for several minutes before stopping at something that caught his interest, it was a unnatural clearing within the trees, upon closer inspection it was thin, low hanging branches had been snapped and limply hung from the trees they grew from, from the way the branches were snapped, it was clear some one ran through here as their body and momentum would have been the cause of the branches current state and by the trajectory this person was moving in a straight line curving to the left.

Rook smiled slightly as the trail had begun to pick up, he was on to something, Rook picked up speed slightly as he moved through the cleared path. The walk became a jog as more and more tree branches had been broken, Rook knew he would catch Hurk at this rate as Hurk was a more out of shape in comparison to the deputy, he had to run out of steam soon, after all he was trying to keep pace with a wolf.

"Oh geez, I knew I shoulda cut back on the hot pockets" a voice came from ahead.

Speak of the devil, there he was, burned out and winded.

"Hurk?" Rook called out in a quiet voice.

"Huh, who's there, baby Jesuses it that you?" Hurk cried bewildered.

"Uh yea sure, hey turn around and start walking" Rook called out.

"Um sure, but I hope you don't got any running planned for me because I'm really low on juice, I don't suppose you have any Rook island warrior juice on you" Hurk whined, turning around.

"Yea man, of course we do, just come to my voice" Rook said trying to bait his friend into coming to him.

"You got it, my lords, hey do you know the monkey gods?" Hurk asked as he stumbled forward.

Rook saw the sudden movement it the dark, a large humanoid shape stumbling in his general direction, Rook smiled as hr jogged right up to the man, he was ready to tear him a new one. The deputy immediately grabbed Hurk by the collar and pulled him in close.

"Hurk what the hell is wrong with you, are you trying to get yourself killed, to get me killed, why the actual hell would you ever drink a spiked drink and come into a situation where peoples lives were on the line. Hurk you are a liability, I can't babysit you and find this last peggie, if you were sober, we might not even be here right now" Rook roared, venting all his anger on the man.

"Oh, hey man I'm sorry dude" Hurk muttered rubbing the back of his neck.

Rook brought up his other hand and began jabbing a finger into Hurk's chest repeatedly.

"I want you to listen to me as carefully as possible; as much as I would love to send you back to the truck but who knows what might happen to you on the way there, so you will follow me and you will stay behind me unless I say otherwise, you will not speak unless I tell you, you do not touch your gun unless I tell you, if I say jump, you will jump, do you understand?"

"Yes sir" Hurk mumbled, shaking his head lightly.

Rook sighed heavily and let go of Hurk.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do, we're going to search the area for our lost peggie, and I will shoot him then we will go home, ok?" Rook questioned.

"Let's do it" Hurk said quietly.

And with that Rook turned around and marched through the darkness, he took a few dozen steps before looking over his shoulder to make sure Hurk was doing what he was told. And sure enough, Hurk was there, silent and following, Rook gave him a nod before carrying on.

"Now if I were a peggie where would I go?" Rook thought to himself, he really wanted to find this man, but it was a needle in a haystack at this point. He grimaced at the idea of the repercussions of the convoy hit. As much as he hated to admit it, they might just have to call it a night.

But defeat did not come easy to Rook, so he kept trudging onwards through the woods, and they walked, and they walked, it felt like an eternity to Hurk but dared not complain about being tired. He was so tired it felt like his vison was getting brighter, again he dared not complain So, he kept following the deputy.

The deputy stopped abruptly for a moment before raising a hand to halt Hurk, he said nothing as the halting hand morphed to a pointing figure, Hurk followed the finger to something on the ground. It was large a dark, it almost looked like a beer cooler, Rook reached for his flashlight and clicked it on, both men squint slightly as they were not used to the light, it took seconds for their eyes adjust and looked at the mysterious object on the ground.

It was a Kevlar vest with the Eden's Gate logo.

Both men made a noise of excitement, as they were on the right track. Hurk wanted to cheer and make a comment about how the peggie was a dead man but decided against it.

Rook clicked the light off and moved at a jogs pace hoping to catch his man, the ground began to even out making it easier to move faster, and was exactly what Rook wanted and began to speed up, Hurk withheld a groan as he kept pace with the man, Hurk tried to focus on Rook's legs as he was trying to ignore the cramp building in his stomach, but the deputy kept speeding up, almost running now, causing Hurk to huff and wheeze. Rook suddenly stopped again catching Hurk off guard and almost slammed into the deputy's back, before he could catch his breath Rook swore and ran his hands through his hair, Hurk was confused as to what set his friend off, Hurk peaked over Rook's shoulder and saw darkness, but there was more then that, he could feel the wind more strongly and it was slightly easier to see, it took a moment for Hurk to realize they had come out the other side of the woods.

"Aw for Christ's sake" Rook growled as he paced back and forth running both hands through his hair repeatedly desperately trying to come up with a new plan, but nothing came. Rook was almost out of patience, he through is hands in the air and emitted a frustrated snarl, stomping out of the tree line and out to the gravel road that stretched across the land in front of them.

All the running and lack of adrenaline finally caught up to the junior deputy as he leaned in on himself, pressing his hands onto his knees, catching his breath. Hurk followed him onto and took a knee in hopes of relieving his exhaustion. The two men sat there for a few minutes breathing, Hurk was the first to rise as he wanted to stretch out the cramp.

He placed his hands on his spine and pushed, getting a few good cracks out of his back, causing him to emit a small moan of relief, Hurk stared off down the road, thinking back on the last hour and how he chased after his wolf, the moment was brief as Rook began muttering something snapped Hurk out of his thoughts, his eyes refocusing on his environment, he was about to turn around and face the deputy but saw something in the distance, he could see two red lights blinking in the distance with two more white lights ahead of them, he stared at them for a moment not understanding what he was looking at.

Unable to tell what he was looking at Hurk turned to Rook who was still muttering to himself.

"Hey um, Ben I think I see something" Hurk said.

"Is it a drug see something or an actual see something?" Rook inquired.

"Actually, I don't know, you tell me" Hurk said pointing at the lights in the far distance.

Rook followed his point and saw the flashing lights.

"Well good news is it's an actual something" Rook stated reaching for his binoculars and peered through them.

"What is it?" Hurk asked.

"It's a car with it's four ways on" Rook replied.

"Should we check it out?" Hurk suggested.

"Oh, hell yea we're going to check this out" Rook said as he began to jog to the car.

"Aw son of a bitch" Hurk groaned quietly as he began to move with the deputy.

It took the men five minutes to reach the car, as they neared the rear of the car, they could hear a woman franticly talking to some one.

"Hello" Rook called out, hand on his shot gun ready for anything.

"Hello?" a woman called out, popping up from behind the hood of the car, the woman had obviously been crying as her cheeks had been stained with tears, and her eyes red and swollen.

"Please, Please, you have to help me, it's my husband, he's been shot please help" the woman begged as she ran around the car and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him to the hood of the car.

Rook didn't hesitate and followed the scared woman to the front of the car and found a man slumped over on the front bumper clutching his gut, he had a handful of rags pressed to his gunshot wound, blood streaming out of him.

"Ok ma'am I need to know what happened?" Rook asked, putting on a professional exterior.

"We were driving home, and this man leapt out of the woods waving his hands at us, my husband pulled over, we thought he was in danger, he looked so scared, then the man pulled out a gun a made us get out" The woman cried, beginning to break down again.

"We got out and he tried to steal our car, but my husband pulled out his gun to scare him off, but they shot each other, the man got shot in the side and ran off" The woman shrieked.

Rook put his hands on the woman's shoulders.

"OK, I will help you ma'am, but I need you to stay calm, can you do this for me?" Rook said.

The woman stopped crying and limply nodded.

Rook then turned to the man and crouched down, Rook reached down to the small fanny pack strapped to his waist and retrieved gauze, bandages and tape.

"Alright sir, everything is ok now, I'm here to help" Rook said slowly moving the rags to look at the wound.

The man coughed causing blood to leave his mouth.

"I know who you are, everyone is talking about you, thank you deputy"

Rook slowly placed a few layers of medical gauze over the wound before placing the man's hand on the wound again, causing him to moan in pain then turned to Hurk.

"Hurk take my walkie and call Jerome and tell him where we are and what's happened" He said handing Hurk his walkie.

Hurk nodded and took the talkie and called. Rook turned back to the injured man and began applying bandages, the man groaned in pain again. The blood was soaking through the gauze, Rook swore as he did not have the tools to save this man, he couldn't save the man and get the bad guy.

"Ma'am I need your help" rook called out and the woman near instantly dropped down next to rook.

"I need you to put pressure on the wound" He said handing her the bloodied rags. She nodded and took the rags silently and did what she was told, Rook stood up and faced Hurk who was still on the line with Jerome.

"Hurk listen, I need to get this guy I need you to stay hear and protect these people with your life, do you understand?" he asked.

Hurk didn't say anything as he was listening to Jerome but looked at Rook with a brave face and saluted.

"Thank you, bro," Rook smiled before turning the opposite way and jogged down the road.

The man could not have gotten far as he had also been shot, but Rook could not see any movement on the road or the sounds of movement on the gravel road, he had to be out here. Rook carried on running, his hand over his pistol and retrieving it from his holster for when he finds the man.

Rook was really starting to hate all the running as he had three guns strapped to his body weighing him down, he had been running all night for what; a total of ten, fifteen minutes? Maybe when all this was all over, he could run track or something. But he was starting to run out of steam, Rook began to slow as he was starting to gasp for air, he had to stop and walk, trying to catch his breath.

Rook walked on for another five minutes down the gravel road, the walk gave him time to think, time to come up with some sort of plan, then inspiration struck him as he clicked on his flashlight and scanned the ground for blood and sure enough there was, there was a small trail of blood that seeped into the gravel, turning it red. There were small puddles spread feet apart, but the best part was despite being soaked into the gravel it still looked fresh.

The find gave Rook the energy to power through his exhaustion, he clicked off is light and jogged forward for another few minutes before coming to a dead stop.

There was a sound that made him stop, it was a wet ripping sound following a equally wet mushing sound then silence for a brief moment before the noise started up again, this put Rook on edge as he tightened his grip on his gun, he slowly brought up his other hand to click on his light again and scanned his surroundings, the blood pools were getting bigger so the man had to be around.

The deputy shone his light on the noise and let out a noise of relief and anger as the source of the noise was in fact the final peggie, he was dead, and being eaten by a predator, the ripping noise was his flesh being torn from the bone, but what really set Rook off was that the predator eating the man had been the very same blood covered wolf that Hurk had been chasing, it appeared Rook was not the only hunter chasing the man as the wolf most likely developed a taste for peggies, Rook had decided to not tell Hurk about the wolf and instead just say he shot the man. Rook emitted another groan of anger as he was not looking forward to the walk back to the car.

* * *

Rook exited the vehicle and yawned, he was very tired as by the time he returned to Hurk and the couple, help had arrived and was currently loaded the couple into a van, the help was happy to take him and Hurk back to Falls end, on the way back Hurk gave back Rook's walkie, Rook clipped it on his belt for a moment before retrieving it again to call Nick to let him know what had happened, then promptly fell asleep in his seat. He was awoken when they pulled up when they reached the door step of the church.

A team of people ran up to the van to extract the injured man as Rook walked away as he had no additional help to give, he had no medical expertise, so instead he wanted to take a quick walk around the town to wind down before bed. The town had been so quiet at night, there was no gunfire, no yelling, no nothing. Everything felt normal, it was nice to feel some semblance of normality, the townsfolk deserved it. Rook closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as the air was crisp and clean compared to the air back home in Rock Springs.

The deputy could see most of Falls End from the church's front lawn, the neon sign of the bar glowed invitingly, George's general store lights still shone through its window making possible shoppers feel welcomed. The church still a safe haven as ever, it felt like a nice night for a stroll.

Rook wandered down the sidewalk, taking in the night, strolling past the bar, he could still hear the few patrons drunkenly sing to whatever was on the jukebox, even better reason for the walk, let the regulars burn themselves out before sleeping, perhaps it would be better to do a few loops before retiring, Rook kept walking past the bar, humming whatever tune was emitting from the bar and past the poor destroyed house and was about to cross the road when a loud smash came from the ruined house behind him.

The noise made Rook jump as he spun around to look at the derelict ruins, he placed his hand on his sidearm and advanced on what was left of the house, and peaked over a collapsed wall, he could see someone dragging a large piece of burnt timber to a squat, upstanding collection of wood, they were building something.

Rook flicked on his flashlight and shined it down on the suspect.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Rook commanded.

The figure dropped the lumber and spun around to face the deputy, bringing a hand up to shield their eyes from Rook's light, Rook could now see the figure clearly, he knew this person, it was Jess, how could he forget that graffitied jacket, and near ever present scowl.

"Jess, what are you doing?" Rook asked surprised at the woman's sudden appearance.

"Hey, can you turn that fucking thing off" she cried.

"Oh right, sorry about that" Rook apologized as he clicked the light off.

"So uh, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" She responded unhappily.

"Well I don't know, that's why I'm asking"

Jess sighed while bring a hand up to her face, she was tired and really didn't want to put up with this.

"Look, I'm just trying to make a place too sleep tonight"

"By making a pile of wood?" Rook asked looking at the collection of wood.

"It's and improvised hunter's shelter" Jess said, starting to get annoyed.

Rook looked at this so-called shelter, now that he looked at it, he could kind of see it, how it looked like a small wooden teepee, but the wood was burned grey and looked like it would collapse in on itself at any moment, there's no way she could sleep in that.

"Well if you need a place to sleep the church is always open" Rook shrugged.

"No thanks, to many people there, I don't want to be around people when I sleep" Jess grumbled.

"And what, you think this place is any better, there's animals in the area, what if they come bother you?" Rook suggested.

"I don't have a problem with animals, it's fuckin people I have a problem with" Jess seethed.

"Regardless, it's filthy in there, who knows what you might catch, besides the people at the church are like you, they all just want somewhere safe to sleep" Rook said trying to get her to change her mind.

"I ain't nothin like them!" Jess recoiled in anger.

"You know what I mean" Rook said patting the air in hopes of calming her down.

"Tell you what, why don't we just check out the church, see what it's like, if you like it then you like it if you don't then we can find somewhere else for you to sleep"

Jess was tired, to tired to deal with this shit. A majority of her last three days were hunting animals and peggies, it was almost therapeutic to her as she tried to figure out what she wanted to do now that the Cook was dead. But Jess knew the deputy's type; stick up his butt and won't rest till everyone's all sunshine and rainbows. He wasn't going to leave her alone until he felt she was taken care of.

"Ok fine, whatever let's get this over with" she said speed walking to out of the alleyway and towards the church, grabbing the deputy's arm in the process and dragged him to the church.

"Hey, think you could let go!" Rook cried, trying not to fall over as Jess had moved past Rook's right side and grabbed his right arm with her right hand, making it difficult to walk in the direction they were moving in.

"We're almost there, stop whining" she commanded.

Rook still stumbled and lurched trying to keep balance as they crossed by the Spread Eagle bar. He prayed that Mary or any of the regulars didn't see him as they would never let him forget the time the great deputy Rook got manhandled by woman up and down main street.

Rook just about lost all balance and was about to fall over but Jess had released him just in time, Rook reoriented himself and dusted himself off, they had arrived at the church.

"here we are" Jess muttered as she fidgeted with her hood.

"Come on, Jerome is really cool, he'll get you settled in no problem" Rook said making his way to the door.

"I still haven't made up my mind" she called out and followed after him. The door was slightly ajar to invite people in. Rook and jess entered the church, it was warm and smelled nice, it was clear to both of them it was a great place too sleep.

"Hello deputy, it seems you brought a friend with you" Jerome called out from the other side of the room.

"Hey pastor, good evening, I don't suppose you got room for one more tonight?" Rook asked.

"Of course, my doors are always open for those who need it, I take it its for you" Jerome looking at Jess.

Both men looked at Jess for a moment waiting for a response, but nothing came from her, her head was tilted downwards slightly and had her hood on, covering her gaze, Rook gave her a light elbow nudge to stir a response out of her. She perked up, raising her head to look at the pastor.

"Uh, hey, name's Jess. She said awkwardly, holding out her hand for a handshake.

Jerome took her hand and shook it.

"Hello Jess, I am Pastor Jerome, pleased to meet you"

"Yea, uh you too" Jess muttered, clearly out of her element and feeling awkward.

"So why don't we get you settled in, we have a few sleeping bags and pillows that aren't in use, so you have nothing to worry about" Jerome said with a smile.

"Um, that's cool I don't need it, I'm fine without it" Jess said looking around, noticing the few other people in the room.

"Are you sure?" Jerome asked, not expecting her answer.

"Come on Jess, give this place a chance" rook asked.

"I am" Jess said turning away from the men to look around the church, she did this for a moment before settling on an empty pew in the middle on the rows of pews. She removed her bow and quiver and tucked them under the pew before lying down on it, stretching once then placing her hands under her head and curling up her legs.

"So, I guess she's good" Rook said to Jerome, shrugging.

"you know where to find me if you need anything else" Jerome said, giving Rook a nod before turning to tend to the few other people in the room. Rook walked over to the pew Jess had claimed and sat down on the far edge of the pew.

"Thank you" Rook said quietly.

"For what" Jess said just as quiet.

"For coming here with me"

"Still don't know about this place, don't trust the people here" she stated.

"How come?"

"Look at them" Jess said limply pointing at the few people trying to make their night as comfy as possible.

"They have nothing and scared, that makes them desperate, maybe they want to make some money so they can eat, so they steal my shit and sell it off for a few bucks"

"I really don't see them taking your stuff, besides your pretty scary looking, I wouldn't wanna rob you" Rook said.

"I don't care, I don't trust them" Jess growled.

"Do you trust me?" Rook asked.

Jess was silent for a minute, thinking over all past interactions with the man and all he did for her.

"Yes" she said quietly.

"Then tell you what, I'll stay here and keep an eye on you till you fall asleep" Rook offered.

She didn't say anything, she didn't move, she just lied on the pew.

"You're a fuckin' weirdo" Jess muttered.

"You know after everything I've been through, I take that as a complement" Rook chuckled.

Jess was silent again for a moment.

"These people really look up to you" she said.

"Yea, I uh, I really have been a god send to them I guess, there wasn't a lot of hope going around before I got here, not to toot my horn" Rook smiled.

Again, Jess was briefly silent.

"They really like you, they wouldn't fuck with you, I would uh, really appreciate it if you did hang around for a bit" she asked.

"Sure, you got it" Rook said.

"Thanks" Jess returned as she fidgeted for a moment to get comfy. Rook was happy as the woman had stopped fighting him and agreed to stay here for the night, so the deputy splayed his arms along the backboard of the pew and stretched out his back, a few wet pops made him sigh in relief. It felt nice to finally sit down and relax, but his body was sore and achy in random places, making it hard to truly get comfy.

Rook looked down at the woman and how she slowly expanded and shrank as she breathed. How apprehensive she was about staying here, about how she had little trust for her fellow man. He felt bad for her, who knows what else had happened to her besides the Cook, he couldn't imagine how she got the large facial scars, he felt bad about leaving the woman in a while, Rook didn't want to just abandon her, he thought about the rowdy crowd of regulars back at the bar and how comfy he was here in this quiet church.

He contemplated the possibility of just staying here, but would Jess find that weird, to wake up with him sleeping two feet away from her, would she even care. Rook felt awkward thinking about the whole situation, he didn't want to weird her out nor did he want to make her feel abandoned.

"Hey" Jess's voice squeaked.

"Oh, uh, hey" Rook returned, caught off guard by Jess's sudden vocalization.

"Thanks" she said.

"For what?"

"For not being another fuckin creep" she muttered, before falling silent again.

Rook laughed once at the woman's remark.

"I'm just doing what I think is right" Rook said.

"Fuckin' boy scout" Jess whispered as she finally began to drift to sleep.

Rook chuckled again at the woman's comment, it reminded him of his friends when he first joined the force as an average police officer and how they would tease him for being such a stickler for the rules. As much as it bugged him, he missed it, he wondered what they were doing, if they were ok and if they were freaking out about his sudden disappearance as he could not disclose his departure to Hope County. His mind eventually wandered to his parents and how they were equally in the dark, he knew his father was not in the best health when he left to arrest Joseph and hope this wouldn't make him feel any worse, Rook could feel the ball of worry build in his stomach, he had to think of something else as the worry would keep him up all night. His mind drifted to the friends he had made here in Hope County, about Nick, Grace, Mary, Hurk, Boomer, Dutch, and Jerome, he hoped maybe he could count Jess among the group of friends, despite her foul mouth and general attitude she was never directly hostile towards Rook despite grading on her nerves repeatedly, aggressive sure but he never felt in danger, in fact it was the opposite almost, she knew how to handle her bow unlike the townsfolk, where it was evident that a lot of people here fired their guns just for the hell of it. She knew how to keep a low profile and had it in spades as she was near ghost like as she moved which was far more then Rook could ever say about himself, stealth was something he desperately needed. Maybe in the morning or sometime later he would try to get to know her, not as a peggie killing machine but as a friend. But Rook rolled his eyes at himself as he remembered his mother saying that he had a habit of getting ahead of himself many times in his youth, Rook laughed at his over eagerness to befriend the woman as he felt his eyelids grow heavy, he decided not to fight it, it had been a very long day and an even longer night, the silence and the smell of burnt candles hung in the air, Rook wished this feeling of peace could last forever, but as long as Eden's Gate was active that would never happen, tomorrow would be a new day and a new fight, he needed to be ready and rested, so he closed his eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Jess stirred as she slowly woke, slowly rising up before her memory kicked in, reminding her of where she had stayed the night causing her to quickly maneuver herself into and upright position on the pew, scanning the area for potential threats.

Warm sunlight streamed in through the windows, by her judgment it had to be at least eight in the morning, the light illuminated the church showing all possible threats but all that existed was the pastor tending to the upkeep of the church and a few lost souls scattered among the pews, heads dipped in prayer, and an ungodly noise.

There was this horrible noise that hummed lightly throughout the building, it was like a broken chainsaw had been activated in the distance on her immediate right, she turned to the heinous noise to see it was the deputy himself, seated on the edge on the pew, head tilted back on the backboard, mouth agape and a horrible snoring emitted from him.

"Why the fuck is he still here, couldn't he have gotten his own bench to sleep on" Jess thought as she stared at the man.

The noise was horrible, it graded on her nerves, it needed to stop. Jess slowly reached out to Rook, placing one hand on the back of his head and another under his jaw and slowly tilted his head forward and letting it hang forward, silencing the noise. Finally, peace and quiet flowed through the church, it was nice, Jess considered going back to sleep if not for the other people in the building. she sat there for a moment before shooting down onto her knees to check under the pew for her belongings, sure enough the bow and quiver was still there, she sighed in relief as she picked up her belongings and slung them over her shoulder.

"Good morning Jess" a voice came from behind her.

The voice sounded familiar, bust she couldn't place it.

Jess turned to see pastor Jerome approach her.

"Uh hey, mornin" she said, trying to shake off the sleepiness and put on the stoic look.

"Did you sleep well?" Jerome asked.

"yea, well all things considered" She said gesturing to the sleeping deputy.

"ah yes, I'm surprised that you didn't wake during the night, I was tempted to stop the noise myself, but I think he has deserved his sleep" Jerome laughed.

"yea, I probably woulda left if he did wake me" Jess said adjusting her hood.

"Well I hope he wakes soon; more and more things keep piling up and we don't have enough people to deal with it" Jerome admitted.

"What's goin' on?" Jess asked, tempted by the possibility of having peggies to kill.

"Well a half hour ago I received a call from some resistance fighters saying there is a potential Eden's Gate defector is hiding out in Silver Lake Trailer Park and we had a few people check it out, but I haven't heard back from them since" Jerome said, worried.

"Do you think something happened to them?"

"It's a possibility, but we never know, that's why I would like the deputy to check it out" Jerome said looking back to the sleeping deputy.

"Well I'm sure the boy scout would just _love_ to just run in there and save everyone" Jess said rolling her eyes.

"You know Jess, I'm sure he would appreciate the company, I for one would feel more at ease knowing there was someone watching his back"

Jess didn't say anything for a moment, thinking back to what Rook had said to her after they killed the Cook.

"Well I did kinda say I'd help him out" She said adjusting her hood again.

The pastor breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Jess, I'm sure I speak for all his friends when I say thank you for keeping him out of trouble.

"Yea, yea, I just wanna kill peggies but I do kinda owe him"

"I'm sure you two will make and excellent team, well I'm sure I've taken up enough of your time, now if you'll excuse me there are some other matters to attend too" Jerome said before giving her a polite nod and turned to take care of things.

Jess turned to look that the sleeping man on the pew and thought about how long she'd be willing to wait for him to wake up.

* * *

Rook awoke with a fear in his heart, the sudden jolt of being awoken, the aggressive hands of someone shaking him awake. His eyes shot open to see someone tower over him, he could feel his heart skip a beat as he raised his hands to fight off his assailant, grabbing their forearms and squeezed as he tried to pull their hands off him.

"Hey, Hey, what the fuck are you doing?!" the attacker said, the voice sounded familiar to him, it took him a second to recognize the attacker, it was Jess.

"Jess" Rook breathed, "What the hell are you doing, you scared the crap outta me" Releasing her arms and going limp in his seat, trying to loosen up.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" she huffed, pulling her arms back.

"I thought you were trying to kill me or something" Rook said running his hands through his hair.

"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead before you woke up"

"So, is there an emergency or is that how you wake up everyone?" Rook asked then stood up and rolled his shoulders, trying to roll out all the kinks out of his torso.

"Actually, asshole" Jess said with a grumpy emphasis on 'actually'.

"There's some shit going down at Silver Lake trailer park, with a guy wanting out of the cult, and some people went down to check it out and haven't called back in a while"

"What! why didn't you wake me earlier!" Rook said alarmed at the prospect of losing the valuable information the defector might have.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up for like, twenty minutes, I was going to wake you sooner, but the Pastor guy said to let you sleep for a little bit"

Rook sighed in displeasure, wishing he hadn't said anything to Jerome a few days ago.

"OK, I have no idea where this trailer park is, you wanna tag along and give me directions, I'm sure there will be someone to kill, and besides with all this peggie killing talk you do, I wanna know what your really capable of, as they have firearms and explosives, and you have a bow and sharp sticks " Rook said while rummaging through his pockets looking for his keys.

"Hell yea, I want in, your going to see some shit" she said with a shark tooth grin.

Rook gave her a small smile and a nod, then the two left the church with Rook leading her over to his truck.

* * *

The drive became awkward and fast for Jess as she and Rook sat in silence, aside from telling where the deputy to turn left or right. She had forgotten what genuine no strings attached kindness was as Rook had insisted on her putting on her seatbelt for safety reasons when they first entered the truck, he even used his turn signals when he turned and stopped at all the stop signs, when she asked why he did such ludicrous things he answered with "If we don't uphold the law, are we any better then Eden's Gate?" He even tried to engage her in friendly conversation every now and again about where she learned to shoot an arrow, or what she did before the cult popped up, but she had answered the questions with topic changing answers that would end the conversation quickly allowing the awkward silence to re-enter the truck. Jess would have engaged in conversation, but he kept unknowingly tread on sensitive ground, as much as she trusted Rook, she didn't want to talk about her past or about herself really, she had stopped trusting people along time ago as everyone always wanted something from her, But the junior deputy was an anomaly, he was always friendly to her even when she was aggressive and even tried to look out for her the night before. The conversation they had the night before made her uncomfortable, she had not shown anyone that much vulnerability in a long time and waking up next to the deputy didn't make it any easier. So, a part of her was waiting for the shoe to drop and the deputy to do something, but his actions and personality said otherwise.

She wished there was something worth listening to on the radio to kill the silence, but she knew it was all cult shit, if she wanted to relieve the awkwardness, she would have to bite the bullet and do it.

"Sun's so strong now, fuckin' global warming" she muttered.

"What?" Rook said looking at her briefly, stifling a giggle.

"Never mind" Jess muttered as she turned her head to look out the passenger window.

Jess was getting frustrated at herself, she was just making the uncomfortable silence worse, she thought about maybe just giving up and just riding it out"

"So what music you into?" Rook asked.

"Huh?" Jess mumbled caught off guard by Rook's question, she didn't expect him to try to strike up a conversation again.

"What music you into?" Rook asked again. "You seem like a Motorhead kind of girl, maybe Def Leppard"

"I don't know what those are, I don't really care about music that much" Jess replied.

"What!" Rook said slightly startled. "Music is amazing, it's a way of life, all songs are what define the generation they came from"

"What are you talking about?" She questioned, looking back at Rook.

"I'm talking about music, it's the noise of life, rock and roll, hip hop, blues, country, heavy metal, its all amazingly beautiful" Rook preached.

"You really love music huh? Jess commented.

"Of course, music got me through life, I would be a different man if it weren't for music, hell this world would be different if it weren't for music" Rook explained.

"So what music are you into then?'' Jess asked before noticing the incoming fork in the road. ''Oh, turn left up here" she said pointing to the split paths.

"Well even though I just said I love it all, I'm actually a big rock and roller, AC/DC, Van Halen, Clash, White Snake, Guns N Roses and so on, but my all time favourite band is Queen, I know it doesn't mean much these days, but as an officer of the law, I'd murder a man to see Freddie Mercury preform live, his voice is like silk on ice and his style was a decade ahead of his time, Queen changed my life, its what really got me into music as a kid" Rook laughed.

Jess's mind flipped through all the names of artists she knew trying to identify the 'Freddie' character that the boy scout was verbally jerking off but couldn't conjuror up an image or info of the man.

"I don't know who that is either" Jess said bluntly.

"What!?" Rook yelp slightly louder then he probably should have, causing Jess to jump ever so slightly.

"Bohemian Rhapsody, Don't Stop Me Now, Killer Queen, all masterpieces, you have to had heard them" Rook said hoping to spark some sort of recognition within her, but she just stared at him for a moment before silently shrugging at him.

"Sorry, I'm not a music nerd"

Rook groaned in defeat as he had no way of getting through to her.

"How much further till we get there" Rook muttered in disappointment.

"Right at the next chance you get" She said with a small smirk as the deputy was visibly sad over something as little as music.

* * *

"So, we should be coming up on a dirt road on the left in a bit, that's where we wanna go" Jess said finally perking up as they drew close too they're destination.

"Geez, it's pretty close to the Henbane and the mountains, man, reinforcements could come in force if things get bad" Rook grimaced.

"Well if you follow my lead, we'll be in and out before anyone notices" Jess said trying to reassure the deputy.

"Just remember what we're here for, some one wants out of the cult, that means he might have a lot of useful info and he most likely looks just like everyone else in the cult, so watch where you shoot ok?" Rook asked.

"Yea, yea, I got this, it won't be that hard to get one dude out, we just gotta be quiet, just do what I do, and we'll be fine Jess countered.

"You know I remember saying something similar to myself when I went to break you out, and we both know how that went" Rook said seeing the dirt road, flicking on his turn signal.

"My point exactly, something goes wrong, and you just go all Rambo on them and mow 'em all down while I pick them off from the side"

"Oh ho, so you do know some famous people now" Rook teased turning left at the intersection.

"Of course, I know who he is, just because I don't know music doesn't mean I know movies" Jess returned.

"Do I dare ask what kind of movies you watch?" Rook asked.

"Nothing really, I mean besides the Blood Dragon movies" Jess said as the trailer park came into view.

"There she blows" Jess said, limply waving her arm to highlight the incoming trailer park.

Rook slowed the truck as to not give off as much noise as they drew near, then came to a stop at the mouth of the front gate and killed the engine, Rook rolled down his window and listened for some none existent noise.

"You hear that?" he asked.

Jess paused for a moment to listen for whatever the deputy had heard before telling him she couldn't hear anything.

"Exactly, there is nothing, it sounds like a ghost town in there, that's not a good sign" Rook grimaced.

"Maybe they got outta here before we showed up?" Jess shrugged.

Rook thought about all the places they could have gone as they could have gone in any direction as they were near the boarder of the Henbane and mountains, but before anything concrete could be made loud banging noises emitted from within the park, making Rook jump.

"OK, enough messing around, we need to get going" Rook said as he quickly took off his seatbelt and left the truck and jogged into the park.

Jess followed the deputy and the two crept towards the trailer park and the sound of banging continued from farther within the park, not the banging of firearms but the banging of one object slamming into another. The duo crept low as they passed through the first row of trailers and onto the dirt road on the opposite side, following the banging, as they crept ever closer, they could hear angry yelling, it was clearly peggies, Rook grumbled as this was going to be a long mission, the two followed the noise into the trailer park. The noise grew ever louder as they moved down the road, there was an Eden's Gate truck parked on the road to no one's surprise. Jess let out a low whistle, grabbing Rook's attention, he turned to see why she made said sound and saw her gesture to a path in between two trailers and Rook nodded. The two crept up to one of the domiciles and slid along the side to the other side of the trailer, the path opened up to more trailers and picket fences that divided up the front yards. The duo could see human movement on the porch of a trailer opposite of the one they had just come around. It was two peggies, they were banging on the back door with baseball bats, shouting cult nonsense at the door, the defector had to be behind it. Rook looked at Jess and gave her a hand signal to move up, she nodded and moved to a picket fence that separated two trailer lots, taking shelter behind it. Rook joined her momentarily kneeling next to her.

"So how you wanna play this?" Rook asked looking over at his partner.

"Let's just kill 'em, that's why I'm here" Jess replied shrugging.

"Yea we could but there are just two and they don't know were here so why not knock them out and move on" Rook stated.

"What the fuck are you talking about, they won't knock you if they get the drop on you, they'll kill you" Jess said slightly annoyed.

"OK, I totally get why you think I sound insane but just hear me out; I'm still an officer of the law, you know, serve and protect, so let's just take a non-lethal approach for now" Rook said hoping Jess would hear him out.

"Then go out there and try to arrest them and let me kill these assholes" Jess growled.

More bangs and shouting could be heard from within the park, this time it did not come from the men in front of them, it had to be coming from the other side of the domicile, so there had more of them.

"Did you see any other peggies other then the two on the back porch?" Rook whispered.

"Nah, did you?" Jess replied.

"I'll take that as a no" Rook said contemplating an attack plan.

"Those dick heads are trying to break into that trailer, I bet that's where the defector is"

"Your probably right, so let's do this carefully, neutralize them and get the defector out unharmed" Rook commanded.

"Yea, Yea, let's just get this over with" Jess said poking up over the fence to examined the enemy, Rook made a mental note about her disinterest in the defector's wellbeing and poked up from over the fence and examined the two men before the two dropped back down.

"Alright, here's the plan, we sneak up on either side of the porch, you grab the guy on the right and as the left guy sees him go down I'll jump up and grab him and see what info we can get out of him" Rook instructed.

"That's fuckin' stupid" Jess said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Let's just kill them"

"But we have the element of surprise, we can use that to knock them out and just keep moving" Rook pleaded.

"You wanna use the element of surprise? Oh, I'll use it alright" she said and reached into her quiver to retrieve a arrow and brought it to her mouth and clenched in between her teeth then stood up, grabbing a second arrow and loaded it into her bow, trained it on the right most peggie and fired.

The arrow hit its mark, the man released his death rattle as he collapsed. This caused the second man to turn to his friend but before he could do anything, Jess removed the arrow in her mouth and placed it into her bow and fired. Rook watched the arrow soar through the air and slammed into the man's neck, dropping him instantly.

"How's that for surprise?" Jess said proudly as she vaulted over the fence and jogged up to the porch to retrieve her arrows.

Rook was silent, staring at the bodies of the two fallen men, watching Jess rip her arrows out of their corpses, something about how that all played out didn't sit right with Rook for some reason.

"Hey you comin' or what?" He heard Jess called out quietly from the porch.

Rook was silent for a few moments before responding.

"Uh yeah, I'll be there real soon" he called back as hopped over the fence and followed suit. As he approached the domicile he could hear the voices inside, they were panicked shouts, at the peggies surrounding the building and each other, from what could be hear from the far end of the building there were more peggies trying to break there way in.

"OK, this time we go around either side and surprise them" Rook instructed again.

"Alright, this time a agree with you, I even got a special surprise for them" she said as she retrieved another arrow from her quiver.

Rook looked at the arrow, at first glance it was a normal arrow but upon closer inspection he could see what looked like a test tube duct taped a few inches below the arrow head with a fuse sticking out of one end.

"What is that?" Rook questioned, unsure of what the vial could possibly be used for.

"Oh, you'll see" she said with her shark tooth grin then turned to sneak around the side of the building, Rook was now wary of what she was planning as anything could be in the vial, but he didn't dwell on what was about to happen, he had to get into position, Jess was not the type of girl that should be left waiting.

Rook rounded the corner and crouched down poking out slightly looking at the opposition, he could see seven of them, all scattered throughout the park, a few on the ground and a few on the roofs of trailers, guns raised at the domicile, he could hear one or two of them wailing on the front door, trying to break it down, Rook felt his chest tighten as he saw one of the peggies wearing protective armour head to toe and carrying a LMG, getting him would be tough, but now that he sat in his desired position he was really regretting not making a signal to begin the attack. But then again you didn't have to be a tactical genius to figure out when to strike.

Rook took a few deep breaths before he crept out around the corner again to see the peggies trying to break down the door and raised his AR at them and fired.

All the peggies froze momentarily, thinking the gun fire was one of theirs but then the two men at the door fell, sending them into a panic, they all began shouting orders at each other trying to coordinate and find the sinner that did the deed.

Rook retreated slightly so he could loop around to another picket fence adjacent to him, giving him a better angle if things got intense.

All those who were on the ground scattered like ants trying to find any trace of the shooter while the ones on the roofs tried to provide a bird's eye view while trying to make sure the people in the trailer didn't try anything funny.

Rook eyed the men on the roofs, as they were the most dangerous to him and Jess, he raised his rifle to one of them but before he could pull the trigger a arrow flew out of no where and implanted itself into the man's ribcage, the Peggie fell silently out of view to anyone on the ground, Rook was in awe over the woman's ability to silently dispatch foes.

Then another rooftop peggie fell, the deputy had no idea where Jess was but she had the best spot in the whole trailer park. But before the third could be killed he saw his two dead comrades and started yelling, causing the four remaining men to begin searching Jess's general area. Rook had to do something, so he stood up and fire his gun, he clipped one and caused him to fall out of sight, the sudden gun fire made the rest scatter again. The peggies began yelling again, about how the sinner has reared its ugly head, but said sinner didn't care, he was keeping his eyes open for the man in what looked like riot gear, that LMG could rip him and his cover apart in seconds but he was nowhere to be seen, one couldn't move that fast in the bulky armour and the large firearm was not the lightest thing in the world, all the mental attention he put on the man made Rook forget about the third man on the roof, his eyes zipped to the roof expecting a peggie to be lining up the perfect shot on him, but nothing was there, he had vanished. It took two seconds to click, Rook cracked a smile, Jess's ability to kill a man with a bow was unparalleled to any gun handling skills he had seen in his life. But his amazement in her shooting skills was ruined as the fence in front of him exploded into a thousand splinters as the sounds of an LMG filled the air, on instinct Rook dove away from the fence as the LMG's point of impact was a mere few feet away from him.

The LMG's fire did not stop, the peggie just kept firing hoping to hit its mark. Rook slung his AR over his shoulder and pulled out his sawed off and began crawling along the ground, the LMG tore up everything around him as he crawled along the length of the fence, he could see a house twenty feet from the end of what was left of the fence. The house was his only chance of survival, he took a few deep breaths as he quickly lifted himself into a crouch and moved as fast as he could to the end of the fence before changing into a full sprint to the building, as he left the fence he could feel it explode into splinters as the peggie shredded it with bullets. He knew he wasn't going to make it in time, his only chance was to dive for it. He took one final deep breath and dove once more behind a corner of a house, breaking cover with the man with barely any time to spare. Rook laid on the ground for a moment to catch his breath before scrambling to his feet and jogged to the far side of the building and paused, hoping to hear some sort of indication on where the man was but proved fruitless as Rook's heartbeat was in his ears.

Rook swore as he gave up on listening for his enemy and jumped out around of the buildings corner, shotgun raised, scanning the environment before settling on the peggie, he had waddled to the far end of the building where Rook had disappeared too, even though the peggie did not see Rook, his heart still skipped a beat, two shotguns shells would not be enough to take out the armoured brute, and shot his hand to his belt to unhook a grenade and brought it up to his mouth to pull the pin with his teeth, then threw it at the heavily armoured man, he must have heard it land on the ground to his immediate right as he turned to it moments before it exploded. The detonation did less then what Rook anticipated as it knocked the man to the ground, he laid there briefly and began to get up picking up his LMG.

The deputy took the opportunity and ran up to the man and hastily raised his shotgun up and fired, the blast sounded just like the grenade as the fear and noise began to congeal into a headache. The shotguns blast hit the man's right arm, staggering him briefly, giving the deputy time to make his move.

Rook desperately trying to reload the shotgun before the peggie could recover and kill him, his nerves were getting the best of as his hands shook and slick with sweat, making it hard to reload, he stared at the opened gun praying the shells to go in the slots.

"Eat shit and die!" He heard Jess scream, Rook's eyes snapped up darting around at whatever Jess was doing hoping it would buy him time to escape. To Rook's bewilderment the armoured peggie had been set ablaze, dropping the LMG so he may drop himself to the ground trying to roll around to extinguish the fire that had engulfed him, but the heavy padded armour made it hard to roll and had acted as kindling, feeding the fire, the man screamed as he burned to death, Rook choked in a breath as he plunged a shell into the gun and clicking it shut. The air was starting to fill with the smell of burning flesh and screams filled the air, screams of the burning man.

The deputy swallowed the spit in his mouth as he jogged up to the burning man and raised his shotgun to the man's chest and fired again, putting the man out of his misery. Silence filled the air, but to Rook his ears were ringing, he could feel a headache coming on, the screaming of the man bounced around in his skull, Rook gritted his teeth, powering through the pain and bringing a hand to his throbbing head, trying to focus on his shoes. Jess must have come up to Rook as her voice sounded feet from him.

"Hey, you good?" he heard Jess call but didn't respond, he just kept looking at his shoes.

"Hey, Rook, are you ok?" Jess repeated.

"Yea, I'm ok, what about you?" Rook asked, finally looking up at her, seeing her standing on the other side of the burning man, noticing a long streak of blood along Jess's jacket sleeve and pointing to it.

"Oh, this ain't mine" she said trying to wipe it off.

"Hey, did you like, set the big guy on fire or something?" Rook asked pointing at the burning corpse on the ground.

"Oh yea, totally, that was my little surprise, I have a few arrows that can set things on fire, pretty fuckin' cool, huh?" Jess said proudly with a shark tooth grin.

"What about the other four guys?" Rook asked.

"Like I said, its not my blood" Jess said still wearing her shark tooth grin.

"Sweet, glad to see your good, come on lets see what's the trailer they were so interested in" Rook said pointing at the domicile before turning to walk to the front door, his head still ringing, he staggered up the porch and banged on the door.

"Sheriff's department, open up" he commanded.

He could hear nervous whispers and scuffling for a moment the sound of a lock being clicked open could be heard and the door cracked open as much as it could, a second lock was attached to the door, a simple chain lock.

"You deputy Rook?" A scared voice croaked.

"The one and only" Rook said with pride.

More whispers could be heard from inside, they were arguing, some wanting to let the deputy in, other wanted to keep him out.

"So we doing this or what, everyone out here is dead" Jess hollered in annoyance.

The sudden outburst shut everyone up, nothing could be heard from with in, not even movement, the person at the door stood motionless then closed the door, the sound of the chain lock being undone could be heard and the door swung open, revealing a woman holding the door handle.

"Thank god your here, we need to get outta here" she said.

"About fuckin time" Jess said pushing past Rook and the woman and entered the domicile.

"So where is the bastard" she said looking around the room trying to find someone who resembled a peggie, but all she could see was five terrified people, three men and two woman, clutching their firearms as if they're lives depended on it.

Rook stepped into the middle of the room and cleared his throat, bringing attention back to him.

"Pardon my associate but I believe what she's trying to say is where's the target that needs extraction" Rook said trying to appear professional to ease the peoples fears.

"He's over here" a man spoke up, he wore work pants and a loose fitting tee shirt, he was most likely a farm hand, he pointed to the kitchen floor, behind the kitchen counter, the defector lay on the floor, hands tied behind his back, he was shirtless and his torso was haphazardly tattooed with various sins and designs, his head turned to the side and staring wide eyed at the deputy, his mouth was taped shut, but Rook was sure he wanted to say something about the deputy's arrival

"So this is the guy, huh?" Jess said walking over to the restrained man. The defectors eyes broke from Rook and tracked Jess as she towered over him.

"So what's wrong, Sunday school to much for ya" Jess teased as she limply kicked the man in the leg.

The man was silent as his mouth was still taped shut.

"Deputy can I speak to you for a moment?" The farm hand spoke.

"Sure what's up?" Rook asked turning his attention to the man.

"Listen, we gotta get ready here, before you showed up the peggies outside were just trying to kill time. They were waiting for the cavalry to show up, they said they were just waiting for the big guns to show up and burn the place down" he said trying to remain calm.

"Alright, so let's just grab our friend here and go" Rook suggested.

"We can't!" The man suddenly cut off.

"We have a boat coming in that can get all of us and him outta here and straight to a safe place" the man said trying to reclaim his composure.

"Fuck the boat, let's just go now, the peggies had to have left some rides around here" Jess said finally losing interest in the restrained man.

"I kinda agree with her on this let's just go now" Rook said rubbing the back of his neck.

"If we take the trucks, we could be run off the road or something, but if we take a boat they can't really do to much" the farmhand argued.

The two men argued while the woman who opened the door closed and locked the door up while the other three all peered out different windows, watching for movement, they were so focused that they were unaware Jess had begun to rummage through the trailer looking for whatever might interest her.

"Listen chief, what's your name?" Rook questioned.

"Michael, my name is Michael" he replied.

"Listen Michael, we need to leave _now_ the man could have so much info that can save so many lives" Rook still tried to reason with the man"

Michael opened his mouth to retort Rook's point but was immediately cut off by one of his companions.

"Peggies incoming!" Screamed the woman looking out the window that looked over the front yard.

"Oh, son of a bitch" Rook thought as he rolled his eyes.

"how many do you see out there?!" Rook yelled to the woman who had spotted the incoming threat.

"Six trucks, all full, forty-five feet back, all have shotguns and automatics" she yelled back, fear layered in her voice.

Rook approached the window and split the shutter. He could see at least ten men on the ground, guns raised and spread out in a line approaching the trailer.

"Alright, boys scout, what's the plan?" Jess asked sounding on edge as they were fish in a rectangular barrel.

"We aren't getting away with these guys on us, so please go out the back door and do a big loop around them and get up behind them and do what you do, keep your head down and your walkie on" Rook instructed.

"You got it dude" she said as she zipped out the back door.

Rook then turned back to Michael.

"Ok Michael do your friends here trust you and your judgement?" Rook asked.

"What, ugh, yea, sure, I think" he stuttered.

"Ok that's good, I want you to take point on keeping them in line as I'm sure they'd listen you a lot more then me so I'll give you the orders and you make sure they follow through, sound good?" Rook asked.

"Ok sure let's do it, just give the word" Michael responded.

"Get two people or the front and back porch and have one guy watching the peggie at all times, have that guy stay on top of the boat's ETA and call all of us when its here" Rook instructed.

Michael nodded his head before beginning to shout names and the aforementioned positions and the four people scurried into place. Michael and a woman were up against the front door ready to take cover on the porch, Rook was pretty sure Michael said her name was Julia, Michael looked back at the deputy.

Rook felt the ball of stress grow ever bigger as he had no experience ordering people around effectively aside from showing new hires what to do on their first few days when he worked at a fast food chain in his teens.

"what about you? What are you going to do?" he asked.

Rook swallowed the lump and his throat.

"If all those guys come down on you at once you will die, but these guys just love me, so I'll get out there and draw their attention and you pick them off until that boat gets here"

"What seriously? They'll tear you apart!" Michael cried.

"You got a better idea?" Rook grimaced as he unslung his AR and opened the front door a crack to poke his gun out and fired his gun, scattering a few peggies, allowing Rook to pull the door open and slipped out side taking cover on the porch's hastily made barricade.

Rook pressed his left side up upon the railing, it had several wooden and metal sheets along it providing ample cover, listening for anything the enemy might shout as plan of attack, but he could hear murmurs come for the trailer he exited.

"Hey, you coming or what?" he turned to the trailer, looking at Michael and Julia as they hid in the doorframe, eyes glued to the peggies, unmoving.

"come on, let's move!" Rook yelled hoping they would move, but fear had consumed them. They jumped up slightly and suddenly slammed the door shut as a wall of bullets peppered the front porch, the peggies began their assault.

"Oh, come on" Rook moaned listening to the several assault rifles, the best he could do was wait for it to end.

"Are you kidding me?!" Rook yelled at the door, shocked and angry at the duo, chickening out at the last second.

But Rook knew just sitting around wasn't going to be productive, he needed a break in the gunfire to make a move, he saw a chest freezer grouped next to a tree twenty feet in front of him, it would be a good place to spray and pray for a bit. He brought his hand to his belt and felt his way around to a grenade, using his teeth he pulled the pin and threw it as hard as he could. He could hear multiple peggies yell in fear about the grenade before the deafening blast silenced the area, when the smoke cleared all the peggies had been on high alert, none off them had been killed in the blast but at the cost of taking their eyes off the sinner who had seemingly disappeared.

"Anyone have eyes on the sinner?" One woman called out.

"Negative, spread out and move in" another called.

Silence filled the air again as the cult slowly moved throughout the park, waiting for the deputy to show himself, but he kept his down bidding his time.

"Terry, check your left flank" a Peggie ordered another pointing to the large green dumpster on his friends left, twenty feet away, the two where in the back of the back guarding their friends rear from any ambushes that may come. Terry nodded and crept over to the dumpster on the tips of his feet ready to catch the sinner, the Peggie who gave him the order turned back to what he was doing before, watching the rear for movement, waiting for the resistance to make a move. His watch was interrupted by soft bang that emanated from where Terry had ventured off too, the man turned to see Terry slumped against the dumpster, dead with an arrow protruding out of his back.

"Oh shi-" he stuttered before a second arrow flew in and impaled itself into his neck, silencing him from calling out to his friends, he gurgled for a moment then fell, joining his friend in the afterlife.

Rook was really starting to regret hiding behind the chest freezer as he had not planned on them fanning out even further. He silently swore as he could hear foot steps approach, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and was ready to pop up shooting but before he could enact his plan, the sounds of gunfire filled the air then followed peggies yelling then their firing. Rook was bewildered as the shooting had originated from behind, he carefully reoriented himself to turn around and rested his back on the chest freezer. He could see his allies finally helping as Julia had opened the front facing window and stuck her gun out the window and Michael out of the trailer and on the porch, firing from railing barricade.

"About time you got it together, really lay into them" Rook shouted at them, still spiteful over them abandoning him.

"Sorry about that deputy, we're good now" Michael called back firing in bursts.

Rook rolled his eyes at the remark and began looking around for better cover, his eyes resting on an overturned table fifteen feet to his right, there was a tent tarp on poles with more upturned tables next to the first table, he sighed as getting there was going to suck, at this point the peggies had regained the composure and fired back at the couple, it appeared they lost interest in the deputy, the table was still a good fifteen feet, if he waited for the right time he could make a dive for it. he waited a few moments for the firing to die down and took a deep breath. The second he leapt from cover he could feel the bullets whiz by him by mere inches, thanking his guardian angel, he slid behind the table, hearing several thumps as bullets hit the table, worming themselves into it and fractured the underside ever so slightly. Rook unslung his AR again and raised it above the table firing in bursts trying to blind fire the opposition. When his magazine clicked empty, he brought it down to reload, he could feel the table shake and crack with every bullet that collided with it.

"Ya gotta get outta there!" he heard Michael yell.

"Workin' on it!" he yelled back finishing reloading his gun then poking it up over the table to resume firing.

The deputy felt like he burned through half his clip before an explosion detonated from far within the enemy ranks followed by heavy yelling.

"what's going on?!" Rook called up to Michael.

"One of their trucks blew up some how!" Michael yelled back before returning fire on the disorientated peggies.

Rook was perplexed as what blew up the truck before his mind settled on the lone woman, he deployed back there mere minutes ago, he felt a little bad that he had forgotten about her, well he couldn't just let her have all the fun. The deputy readied himself mentally and rose up, gun at the ready to shoot anything that moved, but when he popped up no one was there, it was as if all the peggies were phantoms all he could see was the smoking wreck of a truck, but now that he had up and looking at his surroundings he could see little movements of the usual peggie attire poked out of the edges of the environment.

"Careful deputy, they're all behind cover, scattered all over the place!" Julia cried, the moment she finished talking and silence filled the park, a peggie jumped up out of his cover to take out the motionless deputy but was almost immediately shot down by Michael.

"Careful Dep, it's a shooting range now" Michael call out, reloading.

Rook groaned as Michael was right no one was going to stand up now as silence reasserted itself yet again, he dropped down one knee and propped the barrel of his gun on the edge of the table and waited for someone to a move, he slowly blew air out of his mouth as his eyes darted to every possible piece of cover, every little movement would pull in his attention regardless if it was the wind or peggies. Rook kept an ear out for any noise in hopes he could hear the enemies making some sort of plan, but nothing could be hear aside Michael and Julia mumble to each other and an occasional groan from the peggies.

"If you put down your guns and walk away, I promise you won't die here" Rook commanded, projecting his voice over the park.

But Rook was met with silence as no one would take the deal. He groaned again as this would just end in bloodshed again. Rook tried to think of a new plan before being pulled out of his thoughts as a object was thrown out from behind a picket fence, it sailed through the air and landed ten feet from Rook's table, his eyes shot down to the ground to see what it was, his heart skipped a beat as what had been thrown was a grenade. Rook freaked out for half a second then ran back to the chest freezer and dove for its protection. The grenade detonated, pushing him to the ground harder then gravity took him, landing on his chest knocking the air out of him, the explosion was the perfect thing the peggies needed as it signaled for them to attack as they all stood up at once and fired, pushing the duo on trailer guard back into a useless position, bullets still hailing down on the trailer as Rook struggled to catch his breath, the gunshots sounding like rolling thunder.

"Deputy, we need help!" Rook heard someone scream.

Rook tried to respond but greatly struggled as he coughed and pulled in a ragged breath, pulling himself up and all fours then sat back down, resting against the chest cooler, clutching his AR to his chest.

"They're pushin' up!" He heard someone scream from the trailer, Rook tried to respond but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't make anything come out, it was like he lost the ability to speak.

"Deputy are you there!" He heard Michael shriek.

The firing slowed for a moment as a few peggies reload then began firing again, when the firing slowed Rook could hear the peggies voices, they had indeed moved up as they sounded to be twentyish feet, and possible closing in further, Rook coughed again trying to recontrol his breath as it was shaky and hard to inhale, with hands shaking greatly he ejected the magazine from his gun and pulled out a fresh clip and tried to insert the new magazine but struggled as his shaking hands made it hard to fit it in to the slot, missing by mere millimeters each time before the magazine slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Rook swore as he was to afraid to reach out to pick up the magazine as he felt it would leave him exposed to being shot, the struggled breathing became near impossible as he pushed his back into the freezer as if it would make him smaller, he could feel the sweat coating his back, and most likely his front, he furiously tried to think of something but nothing came to him, he was trapped behind the chest freezer, the AR fell from his grip and his hands fell to his thighs and gripped them tightly, desperate for something to pull him out of this nightmare. Then he saw it, he saw a figure move into his left, Rook turned his head slowly to see a woman, dressed in a black Eden's Gate trench coat slowly move up to the trailer, unaware of the paralyzed Deputy, Rook could feel is heart practically beat out of his chest, he couldn't die here, to many people relied on him, he unhinged his right hand off his thighs and drifted over to the pistol strapped to it and unsheathed it and limply lifted it up and pulled it up across his chest and pointed it up at the woman, he shuddered as he squeezed the trigger, discharging the weapon, but the shaking that had consumed the deputy caused him to miss the shot, bullet whizzing by the woman, despite the sheer noise of a dozen automatic firearms going off, she somehow heard the deputy's discharge and took a step back in fear as she turned her head to see the him frozen in fear curled up against the freezer, she rose her AK-47 and pointed it at his face.

Rook could feel his whole body lock up as death stared him down, time felt slow as he waited for death to take him, but nothing came the woman just stood there, he tried to reorient his gun once again, but before he could articulate himself, the woman fell over, Rook was bewildered as a blood began to drip out of her, it took him seconds to realize that an arrow was sticking out of her back. Jess, he had totally forgot about her, again, she was out there killing peggies while he hid like a coward, who knows how many she took out, he had to do something.

He slowly unclenched his left hand and retrieved his sawed off shot gun and pushed himself to his knees the gun fire had slow greatly as some had saw the woman drop and begun to yell, he rose up back to the peggies, he turned and use the yells to guesstimate where they stood and turned, pointing his shotgun and fired, blowing one away, the sudden appearance made the peggies freeze for a moment as Rook raised his pistol and shot at a few more men scattering the men in danger and a few raised their guns to fire at him but where stopped as Michael and Julia popped back out and began firing once more, then more firing came, the man and woman who had been assigned to the back porch came around the sides providing covering fire, forcing a few more back as Jess still continued to pick them off, Rook backpedaled towards the porch firing at random peggies, he could see just how many were left, there were around twenty or so when they first showed up, now there were about ten, this was doable, this was winnable.

"Boat's here!" Michael screamed.

The call sent joy through Rook's body, the skirmish was slowly turning around they could get away now, he needed to back out ASAP.

"Deputy use this!" Michael called out as he pushed a metal panel from the barricade up over the railing and on to the ground, three feet away from the porch, ten feet behind the deputy, Rook looked over his shoulder briefly and saw it on the ground and had the beginnings of a plan form in his head; to get to the sheet of metal and use it as a shield to get in the trailer, he backpedaled away firing at anyone who tried to line up a shot, he holstered the shotgun as it was near useless with the range the peggies were at, he kept firing the pistol until it clipped empty before holstering it, flicking his head over to see the sheet's location, it lay a good five feet from him, it was close enough that he could jump for it, the idea made him all the more happy, making a mad scramble for the sheet of metal and lifting it up, using it for a shield, luckily Michael chose a good sheet as the sheet was five feet by four feet long, providing decent cover for his head and torso and side walked along the side of the porch and up the stairs, a few times a bullet clanged off the sheet, making Rook jump, as he got close to the front door he could feel Michael put a hand on his shoulder and pull him in, Rook dropped the sheet and ran inside, slamming the door behind him.

"Alright here's the plan; I'm going to carry this guy to the boat one of you guide me there and everyone else provide cover fire, sound good?" Rook yelled, not missing a beat, not expecting a serious response.

Everyone nodded and made noises of agreement as Rook reloaded his shotgun bent down to pick up the man and rested him over his shoulder.

He reached for his walkie and called Jess.

"Alright Jess, the boat's here, we're pulling out swing around the left side and we'll regroup there" Rook instructed, trying not to yell so loud that it would give away her position.

"Backdoor everyone, let's go!" He yelled kicking open the door and him and everyone piled out, the man who had been assigned to guard the peggie in the trailer had begun to lead Rook with Michael and Julia behind him and the two back door guards behind them out of the back end of the trailer park and down a dirt road, leading to the lake in the distance.

"Come on everyone, put some hustle into it!" Michael cried desperately trying to reload his AR before the peggies came around the corner. But that hope was short lived as a peggie came around the corner, firing his gun at the crowd, he fired a few botched bursts before dropping dead, with an arrow sticking out of his back like so many of his friends. Then moments later Jess appeared out of the woodwork, sprinting as fast as she could.

"Go, go, go, run, run, run!" She yelled to the group as she fled the far edge of the park with four peggies armed with shotguns in hot pursuit.

"Cover her!" Rook hollered as he pointed to the people chasing Jess, they were almost parallel with the chasing peggies, but forty feet apart.

The two back door guards slowed their run to fire at the enemy, emptying half a magazine from their AR's, they missed a great deal of shots as they spent no time lining up a proper shot, but the other half whizzed by them by mere inches, scaring them into stopping or running off in a different direction, the two cheer briefly as they picked up pace slightly as they ejected the magazines in their guns and tried to reload, but they were interrupted as more yelling could be heard, they looked over her shoulder to see what little peggies that were alive piled out the back door the group and came from, yelling and pointing at the fleeing party, they were like predators almost, the second they saw the group working their way down the road their eyes locked on to the two that had been separated from the pack, it had been the two back door guards, they had slowed greatly to shoot and reload as they were jogging while the rest were running, like young deer they were easy prey.

They raised their guns and fired, with no cover to protect them bullets pierced the woman's back like a knife through warm butter, falling forward, dead, the man next to her barley had time to acknowledge the death of his friend as bullets slammed into his back, it didn't kill him instantly but he knew his time had come, he belted a pained yelp as he fell forward landing face first into the dirt path, he tried to move, but was unable too, he tried to call out to his friends but his throat felt drier than the dirt he lay on, his vision darkened quickly as his mind drifted to the friend he had lost moments ago, the shouting and gunfire sounded almost non-existent, he stood on the precipice of death and about to plunge in, his final thoughts about his fallen friend crawled through his mind.

"I shoulda asked her out along time ago"

The yelp the back-door guard emitted caused the remaining group to look over their shoulders to see what happened and saw their fallen friends. Julia screamed and cried at her dead friends, dropping her gun and almost turning around to go to them before Michael grabbed her wrist and yanked her back.

"There gone, we have to leave them!" Michael screamed through tears.

"He was your brother, we can't just leave them!" Julia screamed back.

Whatever Michael said to Julia was drowned out as a grenade exploded twenty feet behind them, scaring everyone once again as they could hear loose pebbles and dirt rain down behind them.

"This is bullshit" Jess thought, and she was right, she was no track star, sure she could run if she needed to but this whole run was bullshit, she was a hunter, she was used to staying low and dispatching targets silently with her bow, not be out in the open in this steel ball run. The grenade was making things worse, she had to do something, she brought her free hand up to pull out an arrow, but her quiver was running dangerously empty as she could feel only four arrows bounce around in her quiver.

"Hey I'm running outta arrows here!" Jess cried.

"Save 'em for when their necessary!" Rook yelled back.

"This is a necessary time!" She retorted.

"You know what I mean!"

Rook huffed and wheezed, the man on his shoulder was heavier then he expected and was growing heavier as time went on as yelling was not helping nor was the sweat coating his shoulders, he was trying his best to power through the strain and sprint to the boat. He heard a peggie shout grenade and few seconds later and another explosion followed, and felt dirt lightly rain down on his back momentarily.

Jess was really getting panicky now, she felt like this was a suicide run, just because they made it to the boat didn't equate to safety, how could it, it was a boat not some mystical object that would grant them immortality upon touching it, but the whole scenario made a not so cynical part of her brain reminded her of some childhood game she played in her youth on the playground.

"We're almost there!" as the lead man called, pulling Jess out of her head as the ground finally began to lower as the ground gave way to a hill that led to the lake, the gradual decline in the ground made it hard for Rook to run at a good speed with a body on his shoulder, but there was a silver lining as the boat entered his view, it was parked at a small dock and had three people, a driver, an armed man, and a man on a mounted LMG, turned and ready to begin firing, alerted by the grenades. But he could hear the peggies shouting something about ammo and grenades. He forced himself to look over his shoulder to make sure everyone was clear of the blast; he could see Michael and Julia mere feet behind him looking worse for wear, and behind him Jess was twenty feet back, she had been running parallel to them since she came out of the park, but she had corrected her path and curved her run to be behind the group, in between them and the peggies, the peggies themselves were thirty feet behind Jess giving chase. But his view was cut off as he was running down hill, the dew speckled tall grass licked at his legs and felt his feet sink a little more into the ground as the ground had softened as he moved down the hill, the boat was getting closer and closer, put the gently sloped hill seemed to stretch on forever.

"Oh, thank fuck!" he heard Jess cry.

Rook turned his head to look at Jess to make a remark but stopped as he saw another grenade sailed through the air and landed thirteen feet behind her.

"Grenade out!" Jess heard a peggie shout out, almost near instantly she heard Rook call out to her, yelling to get down, followed by the sound of the grenade's landing disrupted the tall grass.

The grenade buried itself into the ground, digging itself within the tall grass, loose dirt and pebbles for a few moments before detonating, luckily Jess was downhill from the grenade, she was out of the blast range, but the explosion kicked up a flurry of dirt and pebbles in a directions pelting Jess in the back, knocking her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She groaned as she tried to push herself back up on her feet but couldn't as she struggled to pull in air and stumbled and falling to the ground again, she tilted her head up to look at Rook who had stopped and turned to look at her. Jess could see the abject fear in his eyes, he looked back at the boat then back at her, Michael and Julia had boarded the boat and were calling out to Rook who was still standing there, twenty feet away from the boat, defector still on his shoulder. This was it, she knew this was coming all day, the shoe was about to drop, Rook was going to abandon her to get the stupid fucking peggie out of here just because he may or may not know some things. She felt her chest tighten, unsure if it was the feeling of her impending doom or the feeling of being abandoned for the umptieth time.

"Hold your fire, don't shoot!" Rook yelled at the boat's gunman, as he dropped the peggie as he began to jog to Jess.

The gunman and other passengers called out to him, some tried to call him back, some confused as to why he would order the gunman not to shoot.

Jess groaned again and slowly hung her bow over her shoulder and pushed herself on to all fours and tried to crawl to the boat, still disoriented. Before she got knocked over, she was around half way down the hill, so she had to be at least forty feet from the dock, getting there was going to suck.

Tired and sweat drenched, Rook trudged back up the hill, he could she Jess trying to crawl towards the boat, he could also see the peggies finally appear at the top of the hill, Rook raised his shotgun and fired, the range was far to short to hit the peggies but it still scared them back, giving him time to push up further, he didn't want the push back to go to waste as he fished a grenade from his belt, making a mental note that it was his last one and unpinned it with his teeth and through it up over the lip of the hill, before running up the hill, the explosion caused some of the peggies to scream but he could still hear them shout as the explosion subsided, his eyes dropped down to Jess, she was twenty feet away from him and closing. But the peggies recovered quickly and reappeared on the hill but this time it was just one of them, and he had a pistol trained on Rook, on instinct, he raised his shotgun and fired again, still not within range, but still pushed the man back, it was more then enough then Rook needed, she had crawled a good ten feet, the green jacket helping her blend into the tall grass, Rook sucked in whatever air he could and threw himself forward, landing on his shoulder, grunting in pain before scrambling up onto all fours and moved as fast as he could to Jess, as he reached her, still crawling towards the boat, Rook could see the peggies regrouping and poked back up over the hill, he stood up on his knees and threw himself at Jess, grabbing her and pulling her into his chest. The combination on kneeling on a declining hill and pulling the woman into his chest caused the two to fall back into the tall grass, Rook grunted loudly as his back hit the dirt and tried to wrap his arms around Jess as she collapsed into him.

"Shoot, shoot 'em!" Rook yelled as loud as he could.

And seconds later the air was filled with the thundering cry of an LMG, it rattled on for what felt like an eternity, the deputy wrapped his arms and tightened his grip around Jess stirring a groan from her. The gun finally stopped, and silence filled the area again and this time no yelling could be heard, perhaps they were all dead, but as there was still no yelling from the top of the hill or from the boat, the deputy and the huntress still laid on the ground, the latter still on top of the former, both breathing heavily.

"Hey, you dead?" Rook asked quietly.

"Not today, fuckwad" Jess groaned.

"You need any help getting to the boat?"

"Just help me up" Jess said, finally catching her breath.

"Hey, are you guys ok?" they heard Michael call.

Rook remained silent but raised an arm up to give Michael a thumbs up.

"You ready to go?" Rook asked, dropping his arm.

"Yea let's do it" She said rolling off the deputy and pushed a knee under herself.

Rook took a breath and stood up, groaning as he got up, feeling every little ache and pain.

"Holy shit, we got 'em all" Jess said laughing slightly.

"Yea, we did, good work out there" Rook said looking down at the woman, extending a hand to her, she took it and pulled herself up, groaning.

"Alrighty, let's get out of here" he said.

"Yes fucking please" Jess replied, taking a few shaky steps to the boat before regaining confidence in her stride again, Rook followed after, waving a hand at the boat crew, thanking them for finishing the job, Michael hopped out of the boat and jogged up to the defector, still lying in the grass, scared out of his mind.

"Easy there fella, your ok now" he said lifting up the man and carrying him to the boat, with Rook and Jess following behind him.

The boat ride was uneventful, relaxing even as they sailed down the river that split the Holland Valley and the Henbane. Now that all danger was gone everyone could finally loosen up, Rook and Jess sat on the floor of the boat resting on the edge of the boat, with Julia and Michael on the other side, silent and tired, all except Julia, she just balled herself up and cried over the loss of the two left behind, Michael tried to comfort her but to no avail, Rook could tell Julia's mood was beginning to annoy Jess as her incessant crying could be heard over the boat engine at the range they were at.

"Hey where we headed?" Rook called out to the driver.

"We got a small boathouse down the river, the meet up point is there, we go wheels and first aid waiting there" He called back

"How much longer till we get there?"

"About five minutes"

Rook groaned, annoyed at the trip's length, sure it was nice to finally sit down, but a nap and something to drink, it seemed so close but so far away, but was mentally pulled away from his thoughts as he felt Jess lightly elbow him in the ribs.

"What's up?" He asked looking at her.

"I'm going to throw this bitch overboard real soon if she doesn't shut up" She said calmly.

"Jess, her friends just died" Rook said quietly, hoping no one could hear their conversation.

"I don't care, we all lost someone" Jess said.

"All the more reason to sympathize with her, you know what she's feeling" Rook countered.

"Just try to relax OK, we're almost home" Rook said trying to calm her down, but she had a point, everyone had lost someone due to the Seed's and should have prepared herself for any potential lose.

Rook sighed and looked over to Michael who was staring down at the traitorous peggie.

"So where is our friend going after the boat ride?" Rook asked.

"We have wheels at the boathouse that will carry him to a small bunker we got squirreled away in the middle of nowhere, if he wants out of there he's gonna have to do a lot of talking… or else" Michael said looking down at the restrained man with a hollow gaze, Rook wasn't surprised he had that look, two of his friends did just die to get him on the boat.

And with that, the boat returned to awkward silence as noboby wanted to speak for a time before the driver called out that the boathouse was within view. Rook turned to see the boathouse in the distance, the boat house almost looked rundown as the wood that made up the building looked old and tired, he could also a group of people standing on a dock attached to the boathouse, obviously waiting for the defector to show up.

The boat began to slow as it pulled up to the dock, as it approached, the engine was clicked off and the boat drifted to the dock, now that the engines were dead Rook could here the murmurs from the people waiting for them, about how four people did not return, but the murmurs stopped as the boat came to a halt at the end of the dock allowing the waiting party scooped him up and carried him away, off to the car bound for the bunker Michael spoke of, a few others stayed on the dock, trying to shepherd everyone else on the boat into the boathouse to have their wounds looked at, while a few more people tended to Michael and Julia, Rook of course, agreed to the medical treatment and walked towards the boathouse, but only if Jess was looked at first, but of course she refused the help and kept insisting she was fine despite having a few cuts and bruises here and there.

"Come on Jess, just let them take a look and then we can get outta here" Rook said trying to appease her, opening the boathouse's back door.

"Fine, whatever, let's just get this over with" Jess huffed and followed after him.

A few medics led the duo to a bench that rested against the wall of the room and sat down, one of the medics made the mistake trying to tug off Jess's jacket, causing Jess to yell at the poor medic, causing both the medic and the deputy to jump in fear, Jess was about to snap at the medic for trying to take her jacket from her but was stopped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see who had placed themselves on her, unsurprisingly it was Rook, Jess as ready to justify her actions before Rook cut her off.

"They're not going to hurt you" He said quietly before retracting his hand.

In a way she knew he was right but at the same time he wasn't, he didn't understand, he hasn't experienced what she had, but for now she knew if she kept resisting the longer this would drag out.

Jess took a deep breath before taking off her jacket, folding it up and placing it in her lap, she felt naked without, sure she had a blue and black flannel shirt on, but that jacket was like a second skin for her as it only came off to wash herself. Both her and Rook rolled up their sleeves as much as they could so the two medics could examine them, Rook's arms had a few cuts and bruises littering his arms, as Jess had no injuries on them besides a few long-healed scars.

"See, told you, I'm fine" Jess said, pulling her sleeves back down.

"You got knocked over by a grenade for a good bit" Rook said as he braced himself as one of the medics pulled out some rubbing alcohol.

"Fuck off boy scout" Jess growled, and the medic motioned her to stand and turn around, she growled again before complying.

"Let me know if you feel any pain" the medic said, pressing their hands on her back, starting at the top and working their way down, Jess winced a few times but nothing severe was detected, Rook also began wincing as his wounds were swabbed and bandaged, then getting patted down like Jess had before being dismissed by the medics, allowing the duo to sit back down on the bench.

"Fuck that sucked" Jess moaned.

"OH, you thought what you got was bad?" Rook teased.

"Oh, you know what I mean fuckface" Jess replied, putting her jacket back on then leaning forward, resting her forearms on her knees.

"You got out of there with just about no injuries, and who knows how many you killed out there, I'm impressed" Rook smiled.

"Hell yea I did, you really pushed them back and got all of them to pay attention to you, I gotta say boy scout, I thought you forgot about the plan" Jess laughed.

"What do you mean, what was it again?" Rook asked.

"What, seriously, how could you forget the whole you go Rambo and I pick them off from a distance"

"Was it really that effective, I'm I know you're a badass and all but when did you start picking them off?"

"After I blew up that truck and everyone went behind cover for a little bit before they threw a grenade and you just disappeared, they were so focused on finding you that they didn't even see me picking them off one at a time, actually when it silent, it was so silent I thought their dying moans would be heard by there friends" Jess explained.

Now that she mentioned it, she was right, he did hear a bunch of groans when the firefight was silent as the grave, who knows how many she killed, without her, Rook would have died. Rook twisted his body slightly to face the woman next to him.

"Hey Jess, thank you, thank you for coming out here with me today, without you I would have died, everyone would have died today if you weren't here, so thank you Jess, for everything" Rook praised, the woman deserved it at the very least, she probably killed more then him and most likely did the most of it during his tiny panic attack, Rook made a note to not tell anyone about that.

Jess stared at the deputy for a moment, she couldn't remember the last time someone actually thanked her for something, it felt weird, she didn't know what to say, so she just shrugged.

"Don't worry about, just don't expect me to babysit you"

Rook laughed lightly at the woman's modesty and joke before leaning back against the wall behind him, falling silent, the two just sat there for a few moments just sitting there resting, listening to the sounds throughout the boathouse, the sounds of the resistance members milling about, water lapping at boathouse dock, duck calls in the distance. It was almost nice now that Julia finally shut up.

"Hey, you know you never answered my question" Rook said, breaking the silence.

"What?" Jess replied unsure of what the deputy was talking about.

"Before we got to the trailer park, I asked you what kind of movies you into" Rook asked.

Jess blew a light stream of air out of her mouth, something like that did sound familiar, she thought about answering the question, it wasn't like he was asking about personal shit again, so why not tell him, it's not like he could use it against her if he tried, besides she kind of owed it to him, they had know each other for less then a week and he had saved her life twice and helped kill the Cook even when it was an inconvenience to him, fuck it, why not just tell him.

"I never really watched to much, I actually watched whatever I could when I was a kid, but if I had to chose, Blood Dragon volume one and two" Jess said with a small smile.

"Blood Dragon… Blood Dragon…" Rook pondered, the name sounded familiar to him, the concept danced on the edge of his mind briefly before remembering.

"Oh yea Blood Dragon, isn't that the eighties post apocalyptic military movies directed by um..." Rook began snapping his fingers a few times trying to draw out the director's name.

"Guy Marble or something like that?" He said giving up.

"It's Guy _Marvel_" Jess said sounding just a tad more excited then she wanted to.

"I don't know how you can watch those without getting eye damage, there's neon lights on _everything_ even the animals, I can't even imagine how they didn't get destroyed by PETA" Rook said.

"If you squint through the whole thing, you'll see how much of a masterpiece they are" Jess replied.

"If only I had your enthusiasm" Rook joked.

"Whatever boy scout, when your done jerking off your Frankie Mercury, come let me know and I'll show you something fuckin' rad" Jess said lightly elbowing his ribs.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response" Rook said, then paused briefly. "Hey, you wanna get outta here?"

"Fuck yes please" Jess griped before rising to her feet, Rook rose up too and followed her out the door, a few resistance members still milled about the area, making plans, loading and unloading boxes, filling ammo magazines.

"Hey, you guys need a lift?" They heard a voice call, the duo turned their heads to the voice's origin, it was Michael, he was in the driver's seat of a car parked on the dirt road that lead to the asphalt roads in the distance.

"We don't have a radio so we can't tell pastor Jerome the mission was a success, so you wanna lift?" Michael asked.

"Yes please, we'd really appreciate it" Rook called.

"Then get in" Michael said, waving them over.

"Shotgun!" Jess called as she sped walked to the car.

Rook laughed and rolled his eyes at the woman as they walked over to the car and climbed in, Rook fastened his seatbelt and leaned back into the seat, now this felt nice as the seat was made from a soft fabric, one thousand times better then the boat and the bench, he closed his eyes and sank into the cushioned seat to really enjoy it, but his comfort was short lived as he felt a weight pushing on his legs, he opened his eyes to see that Jess had not only slid her seat back farther then she needed but she reclined her backrest and had pressed into his knees.

"Oh, you little shit" Rook griped.

"You snooze, you lose" Jess laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

"hmmm..." Rook hummed, in deep thought, trying to decide what to buy.

"Come on already, I refilled my quiver, like five minutes ago" Jess groaned angrily.

She was right in fact, after Michael had dropped them off at Falls End the duo went straight to George's general store to restock on ammunition and arrows, and since the junior deputy lost his AR in the previous skirmish, he needed a new one, so he had spent the last five minutes standing over a row of firearms, but over time he has narrowed his decision down to two; an AK-47 or the Vector 45.

"Hurry up, your killing me here, if I wanted to die of boredom I woulda stayed in the boathouse" Jess groaned again, tapping her foot on the ground.

"In a minute" Rook said tapping his chin, unsure of what to choose, the AK was big and reliable, big clip but pretty loud. But the Vector was smaller in all aspects, making it easier to carry, it would make sneaking easier, but it took a smaller caliber bullet.

"Hmmm..." He hummed again, he wanted to make a confident decision soon as he could see George starting to get annoyed as he wanted to sit behind the counter and read his book or sweep the floor, but had resigned himself to watching the two, well more precisely watch Jess, Rook could only assume that her reputation preceded her and George was making sure she didn't shoplift.

Rook nodded his head and picked up the Ak-47 and carried it to the counter.

"Bout time" Jess said.

Rook placed the gun on the counter and pulled out his wallet, thankful one of the positives of constantly fighting the cult was that they always had cash on them, so being money conscious wasn't a big deal anymore.

George rang up the gun and gave the deputy paid before saying thank you for your business and bidding them far well.

Jess practically ran for the front door with Rook following behind, slinging the newly acquired gun over his shoulder as Jess reached out to grasp the door handle Rook could see someone else approaching the other side of the door, Rook clenched his teeth in silent panic as he recognized the person on the other side of the door, it was Ned Pracker; a infamous yet reclusive resident of Falls End, he was a forty something year old man who lived above the general store, George had rented out the two small apartments above the general store years ago, Ned spent most of his time in the apartment but when the cult showed up, he just about barricaded himself in, but what really set him apart from everyone else in Falls End was his attitude, he was always angry, he always had a problem with something no matter how big or small, he'd let you know about it.

Rook had a encounter with him once before on his first day in Hope County; Rook had just arrived in Falls End and dealt with the peggies that had come to ransack the town, trying to tie up all the citizens and take all they could, Rook had been going building to building, making sure no enemies lurked inside or any hostages stashed away, and that's how he found Ned, tied up and gagged next to George in the general store, the deputy made the mistake of ungagging the man as Ned had begun ranting about how he should have rescued him faster and death with the peggies more efficiently, despite the man's attitude Rook did his best to remain professional and apologized to him, it didn't stop the rolling complaints as he untied George, he apologized to the deputy on Ned's behalf and wished him the best, throughout the following weeks he heard a story or two at the bar about Ned and made it a point to stay clear of him, as he was far to volatile. So, if someone like him was to engage with someone like Jess, things would get physical fast.

Jess swung the door and hurried out the store, almost colliding with Ned but sidestepping him and began to cross the street.

"Watch where your fuckin' going kid, you trying to knock me over?" He scolded her, shaking his fist at her.

Jess turned around and took a few steps towards the man, stepping back onto the sidewalk "who you callin' kid, old man?" Jess responded coldly, looking down her nose at him.

Rook who was just exiting the store heard what the two had said and sucked in a nervous breath. Jess had thrown out some fighting words.

"Sorry about that Mr. Pracker, here let me get the door for you" Rook said interrupting the two and held the door open for the grumpy man. Ned looked at Rook for a moment before responding.

"See that, now's that's manners, that woman could learn something from you if she thinks before acting" he huffed walking into the store.

"What was that?" Jess challenged as she drew closer. Rook was ready to put himself in between the two if and when things got physical.

"I said you should use your brain more girl, the whole front of the store is glass but you didn't see me and almost knocked me over" Ned scolded, stepping back out of the store.

"Oh you don't even know what it's like for me to knock you over, old man" Jess threatened hold a fist up at him.

"Ok, ok, easy now everyone why don't we all just calm down and go back to what we were doing?" Rook suggested, placing himself in between the two.

"Move it boy scout" Jess commanded, staring the deputy down.

"Don't you have a cult to arrest?" Ned huffed, also staring him down.

Rook froze up, not knowing what to say, he had broken up a few domestic disputes over his career but he never had both parties turn against him before, his mind spun trying to think of something quickly before he lost his momentum and be pushed out of the way.

"Uhhh... Tell you what, Jess I'm sure your hungry right, let's go to the spread eagle bar for lunch, my treat?" Rook said, hoping to appease the woman.

Jess thought over the offer, she wasn't that hungry but if she wasn't paying then who was she to decline.

"Ok sure, let's go" she said as she turned back to the road and walked to the bar, not bothering to look both ways before crossing.

Rook breathed a sigh of relief as the figurative bomb had been defused, the farther Jess got the more Rook felt relaxed, he took his first few steps towards the bar before he heard Ned call out.

"Hey what about me?" He griped.

"What about you?" Rook said turning around.

"That woman almost knocked me over then threatened to assault me and you offer to take her to lunch, what about me, I'm the victim here" Ned argued.

"Your end of the stick is not getting your ass kicked by a woman" Rook said bluntly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Ned demanded.

Rook leaned in slightly to Ned.

"Listen she may be like half your age or whatever but she can totally kick your ass up and down the street if she wanted to and I probably wouldn't be able to stop her, I know what she's capable of"

Ned was slack jawed for a moment over the deputy's lack of concern over his well-being.

"Your an officer of the law you should be taking care of these things" Ned ordered.

"I just did" Rook said turning away from the man, looking both ways before crossing the road, he could hear Ned yell something, but Rook didn't care, he hadn't eaten anything today as the whole defector task had pulled in all of his attention.

Rook stepped up on the sidewalk on the other side of the street where Jess had been waiting, her arms crossed and sported an less then amused face.

"I coulda just kicked his ass y'know" Jess said.

"Ya but if I let that slide who knows what else someone might try" Rook replied as the two walked to the bar door

"As if you would just let them go scot free" Jess said opening the door and the two entered.

The bar was buzzing with life as the lunch rush was slowly building, the room was filled with people catching up with one another, telling stories and jokes over food and beer, the juke box played quietly in the background adding to the mood, Rook loved this kind of environment and confidently walked up to the bar and took a seat at next to a few empty stools.

"Hey Dep" Mary called as she finished up tending to another customer before moving to Rook.

"Hey Mary, keeping busy I see?" He joked.

"Your not the only one from what I hear, that's mighty impressive work you did out there" Mary said with a smile.

"Well I can't take all the credit, I had some help" Rook said gesturing to the empty seat next to him, believing Jess had followed him to the bar.

"Did this imaginary friend of yours do all the talking?" Mary teased, unsure of what Rook could possibly be gesturing too.

"My imaginary friend, wha-" Rook said perplexed, unsure of how Mary could have possibly got that from Jess before turning to look at Jess, but to his surprise she wasn't there. But just as quick as he realized she wasn't there, she appeared and sat down next to him, fidgeting with her hood.

"Oh- hey there Jess, it's been a while" Mary said, peaking under Jess's hood, surprised at her appearance, she hadn't seen Jess in years.

"Hey" she replied.

An awkward silence surrounded the three for a moment.

"So, what can I get you two? Mary asked.

"Turkey sandwich" Jess said bluntly.

"Uh, I'll have what she's having" Rook answered.

"You got it" Mary said as she wrote the orders on a piece of paper then placing it on the cook window behind her.

"I'll be right back, save my spot" Jess said standing up and walking away, Rook turned to look at her and called out.

"Hey, you ok?"

Jess stopped and turned back to the junior deputy.

"Gotta go to the washroom" before turning back and walking off to the washroom.

Rook turned back to the bar, enjoying the mood before Mary returned a few moments later looking almost concerned.

"So, you and Jess huh?" she said.

"Yea, we make a pretty good team" Rook said with a small smile.

"But she's not causing you too much trouble?" she asked.

"What no, not at all, why do you ask?" Rook asked.

"well" Mary said leaning on the bar.

"Jess is a very rebellious girl and you, well… when it comes to rules and regulations, people have noticed that you can be a…" Mary began tilting her head from side to side very briefly trying to figure out how to phrase her sentence"

"You uh, tend to have a stick up your butt"

"What, no I don't!" Rook said offended, but a part of him knew he was a bit of a stickler for the rules, but that was his job, so it came subconsciously.

"But listen Ben, the real reason why I bring the whole thing up is that me and Jess, we went to high school together, we never really talked or hung out, but I didn't have too to know her, Rook, Jess was a problem child, she was always starting fights and even sold weed on school grounds… now nobody ever really found out due to lack of evidence but someone set the principal's car on fire, I'm not one to point fingers but she was quite smug the next few days after the incident" Mary said.

"She's seems pretty smug whenever she does anything impressive, that could have meant anything" Rook countered.

"Listen Ben, I trust your judgment but just keep an eye on her ok, I don't want you to suffer because she doesn't make the best decisions" Mary said.

"Ok sure, she has a bit of a mouth and yea she's a tad aggressive, but she hasn't given me a reason to not trust her, and besides I haven't seen her do anything shaky" Rook said trying to reassure Mary.

"You've known her for what, a few days, just give her time and she will go back to her old tricks" Mary warned.

Before Rook could respond, Mary's eyes flicked off to the side for a second before returning to Rook, whatever she was going to say was gone, as Mary disengaged from the conversation to pull out a rag from behind the bar and began wiping the bar down, the sound of scuffling feet in they're direction followed, Rook could only assume Jess was returning, his suspicion was confirmed as the stool next to him was pulled back, legs scraping against the floor, and the usual green graffitied jacket plopped down into it.

"Hey I'm back" Jess said.

"Welcome back Miss Black" Rook replied.

Jess didn't respond, she just sat there on the stool, propping her elbows on the bar, resting her chin in her hands, waiting silently for her meal.

"Hey you ok?" Rook asked.

"I'm fine"

"You seem pretty quiet all of a sudden, is everything ok?" Rook asked again.

"I just don't like crowds"

Rook did another quick survey of the room to do a head count, there were sixteen people, not exactly a crowd but he could see how it would bother someone, but before Rook could say any more Mary approached the two again, this time with two plates and set it down before the two, Rook thanked her and began eating, the two were silent as they ate, Mary disengaged them and tended to a few other patrons, she talked to them for a bit, by the looks of it they were disagreeing with what she was saying, eventually she returned to the deputy and huntress.

"So, you two have any plans for tonight?" Mary asked.

Rook looked at Jess briefly to only receive a silent shrug before responding.

"No, I think we are both free for the rest of the day"

"If your interested, I have an idea to really stick it to John" Mary said with a smile.

"What do you got?" Rook asked getting interested.

Mary's smile grew as she leaned on her arms again, slightly leaning in towards Rook.

"Now I've pitched this to a few people, but no one is biting, but I was thinking someone should take some explosives and take down that god-awful YES sign" She told.

"Now Mary that's a pretty good idea but where on earth would I ever get that much fire power to bring that thing down, it's as big as the Hollywood sign?" Rook asked.

"You are right, it will take a bit to bring it down, but that's with the metal struts that hold the whole thing up, but the sign itself, its all sheet metal layered up, spray painted white, it shouldn't take too much to bring down the panels" Mary suggested.

"Well when you put it like that" Rook said scratching his head. "I don't know, what do you think Jess?"

Jess who was still eating, swallowed and answered.

"I don't give a shit about some dumb sign, let's go kill some peggies"

"You know, if we take out the sign, I bet it would lower they're morale, making it easier to do things" Rook tried to bait the mission.

"Naah, I kill them just fine without the help" she shrugged.

Rook sighed, before looking back at Mary "Well then I guess we should split up for now, you go do your thing and I'll deal with the sign" Rook suggested.

"What, why?!" Jess said surprised, wrinkling her nose in disgust over the deputy's poor decision-making skills.

"Well for starters, I'm sure you'll be more effective as my stealth skills are nothing compared to you, and besides, divide and conquer, I'll do me, and you do you, and regroup whenever" Rook shrugged.

"What no, fuck that, just come with me and let's just kill a bunch of peggies" Jess huffed, dropping what was left of her sandwich onto her plate and turning to the man.

"what, did you not get enough of that, like two hours ago, we almost died like twelve times, at least"

"I don't care, we gotta keep the heat on and kill as many as we can" Jess said, starting to get a little loud.

"But we don't have to always be killing people, we can always figure out a way to get Joseph or something" Rook said, making note of her volume levels.

"Yea let's just keep killing them all and eventually he'll come out of his fuckin' hole all whiny and crying about how we are destroying his precious flock or some shit" She said wiggling her fingers at Rook to tease him for his inaction.

"But just killing everyone who crosses us is just setting us up for failure, we gotta stop and use our head and think before we act" Rook stated.

"Then what do YOU think we should do then, boy scout?!" Jess exclaimed almost yelling, while smacking her fist on the bar, the commotion had grabbed a few peoples attention, turning to see what the woman had been yelling at and whispered among each other, prompting Mary to step in, she cleared her throat and promptly reminded Jess where she was and what the rules were, Jess response was not a happy one; she just fidgeted her hood while angrily grumbling something under her breath, before quieting down as she noticed the eyes that had been watching her.

"Jess listen, I appreciate all your help I really do, but if you don't wanna come with me on this you don't have to, you're a big girl, you can decide for yourself what you wanna do" Rook told her.

"Yea, yea, whatever" she said trying to pull her hood down over herself further.

"Ok, with that settled, Mary, I will take care of that sign" Rook said turning back to the bartender.

"I'll be sure to keep my eyes on that sign, but man do I wish I could see the look on John's face when he finds out what happened, people will be talking about this for a long time" Mary said with a smile.

"I bet when he finds out he'll make a transmission or broadcast or something to say how upset he isn't and how all the sinners will burn in the collapse and all that jazz" Rook laughed.

"What are you talking about, if anything he would just think it's you again and try to kidnap you again" Mary joked.

"They can try all they want, the only thing they will capture is defeat"

The two shared a small laugh at the poor joke causing Jess to groan again then stuff what was left of her lunch into her mouth.

"So how would I go about destroying said sheet metal?" Rook asked.

"Well if I were to do it" Mary said raising a hand to her chin. "I would head to the general store and get a grenade launcher and all the ammo I can carry"

"Do you really think that would be enough to do it?" Rook asked.

"Well besides getting a rocket launcher or a mounted plane, I can't really see you bringing it down" Mary said noticing an empty glass left unattended down on the far end of the bar to retrieve before a few patrons grab her attention.

She had a point, but Rook had no idea where to get a rocket launcher without calling Hurk, as much as he liked Hurk, he felt it was best to let him completely detox from god knows what he had drunk the day before, but a mounted plane on the other hand. He could call Nick to come in and make short work of it, but Kim was due any day now and didn't want to pull the expecting father away unless it was absolutely necessary, but maybe he could just get a plane and do the deed himself, but the idea was quickly dismissed as there was no way in hell he would willingly board another aircraft.

"A grenade launcher, huh?" Rook said to himself.

"So, you gonna go get one or are you just gonna think about it all day?" Jess huffed.

"What, uh, yea of course, I was just thinking of a game plan" Rook said, caught off guard by Jess's sudden break in the silence.

"What could you possibly be planning, just buy a fuckin' grenade launcher, go up there, shoot it a bunch then go home, I doubt there will be anyone up there anyways" Jess said growing increasingly bored.

"Well you just summed it up for me, thanks Jess" Rook said standing up and reaching into his pocket and retrieved his wallet to take out the appropriate cash to pay for the meals and placed it in between his and Jess's plates, then turned to leave the bar and left.

Jess sighed heavily before standing up and followed after the junior deputy out the door, Jess watched Rook looked left and right of road to check if it was safe to cross, Jess rolled her eyes at the action as the road was almost always empty. She sped up her stride slightly to catch up to the deputy on the other side of the road and walked next to him.

"Oh, hey Jess, what's up?" Rook said caught off guard, not expecting Jess to have followed him after making it clear she wanted no part in his mission.

"I'm coming with you" Jess grumbled.

"Wait, now you want to come, why?" Rook said tilting his head to the side, confused over the woman's change of heart.

"Who gives a shit, let's just go" Jess exasperated.

"Um, ok, yeah, let's do it then" Rook said trying to put on a smile, unsure of what her reasoning was, she was clearly in a bad mood for some reason, so why would she willingly do something she didn't want to do, she could easily just run off and go back to killing peggies.

"Come on, let's get this over with" Jess said grabbing Rook's arm and pulling him into the general store.

Ok, ok easy, easy" Rook warned as he almost tripped as he entered the store, causing George to look up from his book to see his new customers, Jess released the deputy and he approached the counter.

"Hey George, long time no see, hey I don't suppose you have a grenade launcher and some ammo lying around?" he asked.

"Yea hold on" George said as he bent down to rummage through the back side of the counter for a few moments before coming back up with a launcher and a belt lined with grenade rounds.

Rook pulled out his wallet yet again and handed what little money he had left over to George and took the items from him and strapped it to himself, Rook offered what thanks he could before Jess grabbed him again and yanked him out of the store, she released him and sped walked over to the auto store across the street, Rook sighed over her bizarre choices and followed her to the truck.

* * *

The ride towards the sign was a quiet one, Jess may have agreed to come along but for whatever reason she was angry about it, it was clear she wasn't in a talking mood and Rook dared not try to coax anything out of her, the ride itself was a long one as the sign stood on the border of Holland Valley

Rook started softly humming some unknown tune momentarily and slowly grew in volume to louder but soft pitch, just loud enough for her to hear, she turned to look at him as he never did this before, to Jess, she thought it was a call to attention.

"I want to break free" he sang quietly before humming the tune again, to focused on the road to notice the woman staring at him.

"I want to break free" Rook quietly sang again.

"I want to break free from your lies, you're so self satisfied I don't need you, I want to break free"

"What the fuck are you doing?" Jess asked confused as to why Rook had decided to break out into song.

"Well there's nothing on the radio and you don't seem to talkative, so I thought I'd bust out some Queen" Rook shrugged.

"That's that band you love, right?" Jess questioned.

"The one and the same" Rook smiled.

She made a dismissive noise as she turned back to the passenger window.

"So what's eating you?" Rook asked.

"Nothing" she responded quickly.

"You know, lying to a law official is against the law" Rook teased.

"Then slap the cuffs on me and take me away" Jess sighed completely uninterested in the conversation.

"How much further?"

"I'd say another twenty before we have to walk" Rook guesstimated.

Jess let out another bored moan as she eased her seat back and closed her eyes,

"this was going to be a long one" she thought.

The car ride was silent, asides from Rook's humming and light singing, despite the trip being around half an hour it felt like an eternity to Jess, she was so bored and she was getting real tired of his goodie two shoes attitude, if he would have just shut up and went with her to kill peggies instead of this stupid act of vandalism they could actually be making a difference. Mary should have just stayed quiet a did her job instead of jerking Rook off with how much everyone would just love to see that sign go down. She broke stuff all the time when she was younger and no one through her a parade. Hell, people would throw themselves at his feet and praise him for just about every little thing he did, but she had been killing peggies for much longer then he had and haven't even got so much as a thank you, and for some reason that rubbed her the wrong way. Her mind began drifting to other things before the car came to a stop, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Alright, here we are" Rook said putting the car in park. He had tried his best to get as close to the valley's lip as he could before the roads looped back in on themselves, they ended up pulling off the main roads and up some dirt road that led up to a middle of nowhere house, and behind that, was the slow incline that fed up into the valley lip, thick trees grew out of the valley lip, masking the YES sign from the angle they stood at, the incline was steep but still low enough to make the climb possible. Jess recognized the house, she remembered hearing it being called the Doverspike compound, she never knew why, but now that she was here she could see why it was called a compound, the roof was lined with barbed wire and bars installed on every window and the front door looked reinforced. It was clear that no one was home as a few bodies littered the front yard, it looked like they were there for a few days, a few of the bodies were peggies and a few weren't.

"Yippee" Jess mumbled and climbed out of the car.

"Alrighty, let's get this over with" Rook said, placing his hands on his hips looking up the side of the valley, trying not to stare at the bodies.

"looks like they had a fun time" Jess said walking over to one of the fallen peggies and kicking him lightly.

"Hey, don't disrespect the dead" Rook scolded her for kicking the dead man.

"Whatever" Jess muttered, stepping over the body and continuing onwards to the base of the hill, with Rook following behind.

"I'm really not looking forward to this climb" Rook moaned.

"Stop whining, let's just do it already" Jess said picking up pace and moved past the house and up to the hill's treeline.

"Don't fall behind" Jess called back as she entered the tree line and began the climb.

"Hey, wait up" Rook called back as he picked up speed to catch up to the woman.

* * *

The trek up hill was fine for the first few minutes before the deputy began to regret walking up a valley with four firearms strapped to his person, he should have left them in the truck, but then again maybe he shouldn't just leave his guns lying around, but at least Jess had fallen silent again, if he was lucky the journey would give her the time to cool off, they had left the bar around one in the afternoon, and by the positioning of the sun Rook could guess it had to be what, one thirty, one forty, the duo had barely started and it felt like it was going to take forever. Jess was ten feet ahead of him and slowly placing more distance in between the two as she picked up her pace, causing Rook to sigh as he to had to pick up speed to match hers, she really wanted to get this over with and fast

With Jess ahead of him, slightly higher up then him on the incline, it gave him a fantastic view of her butt and the swaying of her hips. In another series of events in another scenario he would have enjoyed the view. But the sun and the weight of his weapons were beating down on him making the climb even worse as he had no water on him. Thankful the treeline provided some cover every now and again as the trees grew sparse as they went higher.

Forty five minutes after that and Rook was really struggling, the guns, the incline, the thirst and the mid may sun all beat down on him, this whole thing sucked, he was even starting to regret not calling someone to get an aircraft and just shoot the damn sign, hell he still could, the have ventured high enough that they cleared the initial forest and worked their way up the valley proper. The trees were beginning to thin out now and growing sparser and sparser, if he really wanted to he could bust out the walkie and call, he had the altitude for the signal, Rook could even see a clearing up ahead, it was an outcropping, the ground rounded out in a small plateau before rises back up into the incline, a helicopter could land here if he really needed it, if Rook was more adventurous he'd could even set up a camp sight out here for a weekend,

Instead he glued his eyes to the back of Jess's calves, at her light grey pants, trying to focus on something that didn't out right suck, to take his mind off the grueling conditions, he knew he was lagging behind, he had let some space grow between him and Jess, she had grown a good fifteen feet ahead of him, his eyes finally drifted up off her legs he could see all of her now, she had nothing slowing her stride as she only had a quiver of arrows and a bow, he was kind of jealous of the lack of weight she had, but then again who knows how long she roamed these woods and the experience that came with it. Despite climbing the hill for a hour the sign was still hidden among the trees, but rarely the very top of the sign popped over the tree line briefly giving Rook glimpses of hope that progress was being made, but at the same time crushing him as it was still a good distance away, but any ill feelings were washed away as a nice cool breeze blew through him, it felt so nice Rook couldn't help but stop to enjoy it as it blew by the outcropping.

"Hey Jess, hold up a minute" he called out.

Jess stopped and turned around, noticing the he had stopped moving, she rolled her eyes and back tracked down the hill to re group with him.

"What's up?"

"I just needed to catch my breath, I didn't want you to wander off without me, just give me a minute" Rook huffed, leaning in on himself, placing his hands on his knees.

"Yea, yea, just don't take to long" she said taking her eyes off him and looking out behind him, she stared off into that space while Rook spent the thirty seconds to catch his breath, eventually he noticed she had been staring off behind him, she was probably looking over the progress they made, curious Rook also turned to look down over the journey they had made. He knew he was high up, but he had no that he was so high he could see most of the entire valley, Falls End, The Lamb Of God Church, even Rye and Sons was a little bump in the distance, everything was so small, so far away, Rook could see the true beauty of the county, it was breathtaking, sure there were a few smoke trails that bled into the sky here and there but the county was truly beautiful, from here, you couldn't tell the county was tearing itself apart.

"Damn, we are really high up" Rook muttered, looking down over the valley, the sheer height made his stomach drop.

"Yea, yea, it's real nice come on" Jess said grabbing Rook and pulling him back towards the incline.

"Hey why don't we take an actual break, we have been going for a while now?" Rook asked hoping the woman would release her.

"What?" Jess said dropping Rook, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"Fuck that, let's just do the thing and get out of here"

"Aren't you tired, I know I am?" Rook asked.

"Man up and let's go" Jess demanded turning back to the incline and marched towards it.

"Come on Jess, we're not soldiers, let's just take five minutes.

"Nawh, fuck that, I not weak, I can do this no problem.

"I'm not calling you weak, Jess I'm saying we shouldn't burn ourselves out" Rook groaned, Jess's negative attitude had really started to get on his nerves, ever since they got off the boat she has been growing steadily more aggressive, at him and any possible outlet she could get at, if the trip up was this bad the trip down was really going to suck.

"well tell you what, you sit here and pick some flowers while I do all the heavy lifting"

"Jess, seriously, let's just sit down for a moment and catch our breath" Rook said, rolling his eyes.

"I want to keep going, if you want to sit up on this mountain all day be my guest" Jess called back, not stopping.

"What you think I want to be up here either or something?" Rook moaned, holding his arms out to the sides.

"Then why the fuck we out here then!" Jess raising her voice, stopping and turning around to face the deputy.

"For morale, if everyone sees that the frickin' sign has been taken down our team gets a morale booster while the cult loses it" Rook argued back.

"Who give a fuck about morale, we could be killing peggies right now!" Jess yelled and started taking a few steps towards the man.

"Without morale nobody will want to fight, we need to show people that there is still hope"

"Who cares, we don't need them, you and me can kill them all, but you just have to be a good little boy scout and do what your told and do everything everyone tells you!" Jess yelled.

"But I don't want to do this, we're just going in circles now" Rook yelled raising his hands into the air, finally giving up on reasoning with her and bicker back at her, he was starting to get sick of her constant negativity, not everything had to be about killing peggies.

"Do you really think I want to climb a god damn mountain to break some dumb sheet metal, I wanna be back in Falls End making plans with people, making plans that will take the fight to the Seed's and take them down for good!"

"Your just like that dumb bitch back on the boat, crying over her dead friends when the cause of it all was tied up in the ground in front of her and she did jack shit to get her revenge, just stop complaining and help me kill these fucks already, we should have just killed that peggie motherfucker like I wanted from the start and just leave" Jess said taking a few steps towards the deputy.

"Are you serious, is that why your so upset, your angry that we made an effort to save one Peggie!?" Rook barked, was this really the reason why she had been so aggressive all day, it irked Rook to know that she would have no problem killing those who could have valuable information that could very well save lives.

"Who gives a fuck about some asshole!"

"I do! God knows what info he has, we can use that to get ahead of the curve"

"We don't need to get ahead of any curve to kill the fucking cult" Jess screamed.

"Yes we do, it's called strategy, we use it so we don't have to go head to head with every little skirmish and not worry about getting jumped, ambushed, or trapped!"

"If they don't see you, you don't need strategy" Jess roared coming closer, standing at five feet away from Rook.

"Jess, stop, just stop, all you do is talk about killing peggies, I get it they did horrible things to you, but life has so much more then killing, if you keep going on one warpath to another, your going to get yourself killed" Rook exasperated.

Jess said nothing, instead she closed the gap between the two.

"Then let me go, if that's how you feel, then fuck off and let me get back to killing, I'm sick of following you around and paying you back anyways" she said emotionlessly.

"What the holy hell are you talking about, you don't owe me, your not stuck to me, you don't have to follow me, your an adult, you can make your own decisions"

"Stop fucking with me" Jess spat, jumping back to life.

"In the last few days you saved my life twice and you helped me kill the fuckin' Cook, I hate owing people anything so I'm just going to follow you around till I can pay you back"

"I did it because it was the right thing to do, I'm not just going to leave another human being to die, Jess, I care about your wellbeing, I'm a good guy and a officer of the law, I'm supposed to help people, you don't have to pay me back" Rook argued.

"Oh please, stop acting like you give a shit about me, you don't know me!"

"Then give me a chance to get to know you, drop the tough girl act and just talk to me, I'm not going to hurt you, I have no intention too nor have I ever, but you won't know until you trust me, I want to be your friend but it so hard to when your just constantly back handing me and being so negative to everything around us" Rook exasperated.

Jess for once remained silent, still staring Rook down him.

"Now like I said you're a big independent girl, you can help me bring down that sign or you can go back to wherever you hang out" Rook said with a calm voice before walking past her, continuing the journey up the valley, a part of him hoped she would follow him again, but another part of him hoped she'd just go home, he felt bad for feeling that.

But his thought was quickly answered as he heard the rustling of grass from behind, it sounded like she was jogging up to him, a part of him prayed it wasn't going to be followed up with a back of the head punch or anything along those lines, he unconsciously braced himself for any impact, but instead Jess jogged to his side and met his pace, saying nothing, Rook thought about saying something but decided against it, nor did he dare steal a glance in her direction as he didn't want to enrage her again. So instead the two continued up the hill, carrying on in silence for the rest of the trip, from what he saw they were a good twenty minutes away from the sign.

* * *

After what felt like eternity, they broke the final treeline they could see they're prize; the large white YES loomed over them despite being thirty feet away from them, Rook made a noise of relief as they had made it to the top, Jess on the other hand was still silent as they climbed the final hill.

"Y'know it looks pretty big in the distance, but now, it doesn't seem that big" Rook said rubbing the back of his head, craning his head up to examine the large sign, his response still pulled nothing from Jess, she just kept looking up at it like the deputy. Rook began looking back down the hill, back up to the sign, down the hill, then back up at the sign one final time before speaking.

"Ok before we do this maybe we should take a few steps back" he suggested as he took a dozen steps back down the hill, Jess, still saying nothing followed him down the hill.

"Ok, let's do this" Rook breathed nervously as he unslung his grenade launcher and loaded a grenade into the launcher before looking up to the sign one final time, again Jess was silent, her eerie silence began to make him feel bad as he began to regret snapping at her the way he did when he should have remained calm and handled it like he was trained to, maybe if he cracked a joke to draw out a groan or a snide comment, or even a laugh, so he summoned all the comedic powers and tried his best, he turned to Jess and gave it his all.

"Hey, now that we're here and about to do this, it kind of makes me stop and question if we should even do it, so in times like these I try to look for some sort of sign to guide me through it" Rook said through some small crooked smile, nodding up to the sign. Jess turned to Rook to face him, he expected the almost ever-present scowl, or even a small smile, but instead she just wore this stoic look, it was the same look she had back in the bar, and the same when she had been pulled in the boathouse this morning, and for some reason this time it made Rook feel regret for his actions.

"Well let's get his over with then" She said as she turned back to the sign.

Rook silently nodded as he raised up the launcher to the oversized Y and squeezed the trigger, the launcher kicked back as a satisfying 'womp' came from the gun as a grenade sail through the air and collided with the Y dead center, causing it to be consumed in fire and smoke, before shards of scalding sheet metal rained down, making Rook instinctively take a few more steps back even though he was clear of the splash zone, and when the smoke cleared, the Y had been nearly destroyed all that remained was the three points of the Y.

"Wow, this thing was made on the cheap" Rook muttered as he reloaded the launcher and aimed it again and pointed it at one of the two remaining points and fired, the second explosion brought down the two points, leaving the very bottom of the Y left.

"Well damn, we will be done here in under five minutes" He said as he reloaded again and blew away whatever was left of the Y, all that remained was the steel struts that held it up. Rook looked up at the ES that stood before him, he still felt bad about getting mad at Jess, he really wanted to make it up to her, he did drag her up a valley, he reloaded the launcher as an idea came to him.

"Hey Jess" Rook said turning to her.

"Sup" she said still wearing her stoic look.

"You wanna give John a county wide middle finger?" he asked, holding out the launcher.

She stared at the launcher for a moment before taking it.

"You know, I'm starting to see the positives of doing this" she said with a small smile.

Jess took the launcher and looked at it in her hands before turning back to the sign, she looked up at the oversized E before pointing the firearm at it and pulling the trigger, just like the last three times, the gun kicked back, making a 'womp' and an explosion followed soon after as more sheet metal rained from above, leaving the top and bottom horizontal beams were left, Rook fished another grenade off the belt and handed to Jess, she took it almost instantly as she struggled to open the launcher for a few seconds before popping it open and shoving the ammo in and firing again bringing down more of the E, Jess cackled slightly as the E crumbled before her, Rook could see she was enjoying the destruction, all he could do now was just keep handing her grenades as she tore down the rest of the sign.

"Now that, was pretty cool" Jess smirked handing back the launcher to the deputy who re-slung it over his shoulder.

"See told you this was a good idea" Rook teased.

"Yea, yea, whatever, next time we do something like, how 'bout we not spend an hour climbing a fuckin' mountain" Jess replied.

"I promise next time there won't be a big dumb climb, scout's honor" Rook said, saluting.

"Yea, that's what I expected for you, boy scout" Jess teased with a smirk accompanied by an eye roll.

"Tell you what, you can tell me all about it on the way down" he said gesturing to down the hill.

"Oh, you don't even need to ask" Jess said teased.

The two began their journey down the valley, it was must easier now that it was now down hill making the trip feel faster, in a way the walk could have been romantic, two people taking a stroll through the woods, well maybe if they weren't packing heat and had a bit of dried blood on them from this morning,

"Are you there, deputy?" a voice crept out of Rook's walkie, it was cold and grim, Rook knew this voice well, it was John Seed.

"What the fuck, what does he what?" Jess exclaimed, stunned as _the_ John Seed had been personally calling him.

"I know, it's weird right?" Rook said swallowing his spitted and nervously brought his walkie to his mouth.

"What do you want, John?" Rook asked,

"I know what you have done" John seethed.

"I've done a lot today, your going to be more specific" he teased, trying to draw a rise out of John, hoping to make him crack and reveal something he shouldn't.

"I know you destroyed my sign, when this little uprising is over, you'll rebuild that piece by piece. You'll work until your fingers are worn to the bone. And when your done I'll bury you beneath it" he said in silent anger.

"Yea, yea, you're not that scary when you never get your hands dirty, tell you want you come get me yourself and let's see what you'll really do" Rook replied in hopes his anger would make him take the bait.

"Oh, don't your worry deputy, the next time we meet, I will personally draw out all of your sins, no matter how small" he threatened as the line went dead.

"Well fuck, you just jumped to the top of his shit list" Jess said stunned over the exchange.

"Yea, but I'm not afraid" Rook said clipping the walkie back on his belt. But in reality Rook really was afraid, the last time John made a threat like that a few hours later he was run off the road and dragged off to a baptism, so this time who knows where or when the capture team would appear to drag him off to god knows where.

"Well let's just get out of here, we've been out for long enough" she said as she worked down the hill again.

Rook agreed with her and followed her down the valley, the rest of the trip down had been long but uneventful as nothing really happened leading the journey to be another silent walk all the way down to the edge of the Doverspike compound.

"Oh, thank fuck, finally" Jess exclaimed as she walked through the compound and to the truck, passing by the corpses again, scaring off a few birds that amassed over the bodies to feed.

"Yea let's get the hell out of here" Rook said as he unslung all of his weapons and through them in the back of the pickup then climbed into the driver's seat as Jess climbed into the passenger seat. He inserted the key and turned on the car, the A/C kicked on in full blast making the truck feel much better, Jess reclined her seat and huffed a sigh of relief as she got comfy. Rook looked down at the clock, it read five fifteen PM. Rook sighed as it took much longer then he expected, he unclipped the walkie from his belt and placed it in the cup holder.

"Drive, chauffer" Jess said clapping her hands twice.

"Yes ma'am" Rook said going along with her joke.

"Now that's what I like to hear, I can get used to this" she said putting her hands behind her head as Rook put the car in driver and began to roll forward.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to drip down as the duo pulled into the Falls End Auto shop. Rook clicked off the engine with a sigh of relief, thanking whatever god he could that no one came after Rook on the way home, perhaps he could lay low for a bit, maybe head up to the mountains and wait for any capture parties to give up.

"Man, today was to fuckin' long" Jess groaned, stretching in her seat.

"Yea, no kidding, we really made a difference today" Rook replied, also stretching.

"I could really use a nap"

"Yea me too, I don't think I'll be doing to much for the rest of the day" Rook sighed.

"Yea, likewise, I'm going to go chill out" Jess said as she turned to open the door and exit the vehicle, but she heard Rook call out to her, she stopped and turned back to him.

"Hey Jess before you go I just wanted to say thank your for coming with me, I know you didn't really care about the whole sign thing and all but I still really appreciate everything you, that being said, I want to apologize for like, yelling at you back there, that was pretty unprofessional and uncool how I handle that" he said, feeling his face get a little warm as he felt embarrassed over his actions.

Jess didn't say anything for a moment before turning away from him.

"It's cool don't worry about it, I am kind of a bitch anyways" she said as she reached out for the door handle again.

"But I still stand by what I said, I'm still willing to get to know you if you let me" he said quietly.

Jess still faced away from the deputy, hand still floating over the door handle thinking about if she really should go through with it or not, he did really rub her the wrong way occasionally, but he did help her and didn't ask for a reward, she sighed and dropped her hand.

"What do you wanna know?" she muttered.

"Whatever you feel comfortable sharing" rook replied.

Jess sighed again as she rotated to face forward.

"You tell anyone anything and I will kill you" she ordered.

"Didn't plan on it anyways" Rook replied.

Jess remained silent as she thought of what to say

"I uh, lived with my granny for a few years, back then I was a real piece of shit back then, she uh, she really straightened me out, well sorta I guess, she was a real hardcore prepper badass, she could live out in the woods for months if she wanted, she taught me a bunch of things like how to properly shoot an arrow and how to survive by myself" Jess described.

"your grandmother sounds really cool; does she live in the valley?" Rook asked.

"She uh, died a few years ago" Jess muttered.

"Shit, I'm sorry to hear that, she sounds pretty rad, but I bet she'd be pretty proud that your doing so well out here by yourself" Rook replied.

"Yea, your probably right, she'd say somethin' like 'Jess, I taught you how survive through nuclear winter so don't you dare let this cult ramble push you around" she said as she wagged her finger as if she was scolding someone.

"I think she was right, you probably could" Rook said.

"You should have seen me when I first lived with her, I didn't do anything she told me and constantly fighting her, but every time I did she would just chew me out for it" Jess said with a small smile.

Rook said nothing for a moment before speaking.

"So how bad were you back then?" He asked.

Jess was silent momentarily.

"I was a real piece of shit, you'd lock me up first chance you'd get"

"Well, you'd be a minor I take it, so I can't really arrest you" Rook said.

"Oh, shut up, you know what I mean, but I really mean it, I was terrible"

"I, uh heard some um, I heard some rumors about you, about how you sold weed in high school and bullied some people and uh, set your principal's car on fire" Rook stuttered, not really knowing to broach the situation.

"yea… I did do some pretty bad things to a few people and sold some weed" she said, tilting her head down, her face masked by her hood.

"What about the car?" Rook asked.

Jess tilted her head back up.

"hell yea I did, fuck that guy, he had massive perv vibes, and he was a huge dickbag" she said, Rook had a feeling she had a smile when she said that.

"I'm sure he was" Rook said nodding his head.

"So… is that good enough or do you need more" Jess asked quietly.

"You can tell me as much or as little as you want, this is not an interrogation" Rook replied.

"Then I'm done" she said, before falling silent again.

"Jess I really appreciate you opening up to me like this, I know this is probably hard for you, but I just want you to know I appreciate your trust in me and that I don't think any differently of you for your past decisions" Rook said trying to reassure her.

"Uh, yea, thanks" She said awkwardly as she opened her door and climbed out, Rook exited as well and the two walked out of the auto shop's bay door.

"Hey so I'm like going to take a nap or whatever, I'm punching out for the day so don't expect me to come save you if you do anything stupid" Jess said.

"I don't think I'll be doing anything crazy either I'm going to just call it and day too" Rook replied as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Ok. Cool, goodnight I guess" Jess said as she turned to walk towards the church, Rook watched her leave, but as she passes the auto shop she hooked a left around the corner and disappeared from view. Confused on why she had not gone to the church for rest, Rook followed after her to make sure she was ok but when the deputy went around the corner, he saw that Jess had completely disappeared, she had completely vanished from the street, bewildered, Rook just shook his head in disbelief over her ability to vanish and walked back to the truck to retrieve his weapons and the walkie in the cupholder.

He climbed into the drivers seat again to retrieve his walkie, he hooked it to his belt, but now as he sat in his seat and that now that he was safe at home he could truly relax, he had forgotten how sore and tired he was and how comfy his seat was. The combination of the two made him yawn, his eyelids felt heavy, he stretched slightly as he got even more comfy in his seat, the events of his day replayed in his mind as he felt himself drift off to sleep, his eyes fluttered shut, and his heartbeat slowed, and began snoring lightly he might have been out the till morning as the sound of gunfire filled his ears, several guns rattled away many assault rifles and shotgun came rolling in like booming thunder, causing the deputy to shot up in his seat letting out and terrified yelp as it sounded like a group of people were unloading on the auto shop, he stumbled out of the car, pistol in a shaking hand, and absolutely terrified of whatever maybe be waiting for him, he turned and raised his gun to the open bay door of the auto shop, but nothing was there, confused he took a few steps forward as nothing was there, no people, no bullet casings no one responding to the gunfire. The gunfire was real wasn't it, it wasn't just a dream. Rook took a few breathes as he holstered the gun, no longer feeling tired or safe he grabbed his weapons from the back and strapped them to his back wandered out of the auto shop and into the bar next door.

Rook pushed through the door, hoping to get something to eat and drink to calm his nerves

"Oh shit, hey partner!" He heard someone call, he followed the voice to the bar and sure enough, is good friend Nick Rye sat at the bar, waving him over, with a cocksure smile and drink in hand, Rook waved back to his friend. Seeing his friend made him relax a bit he smiled as he walked over to his waiting friend, hoping he could make the evening feel less intense.

* * *

Jess removed her quiver and bow on the ground, she tucked the bow off to the side and but the quiver at her feet, she then laid down and used the quiver as a pillow as she tried to get comfy. After leaving the auto shop she made to lefts around the building to the back side of the building where a ladder had been bolted to the side of the building, she used it to climb up on to the building, she was going to use the roof as here spot for the time being, its not like anyone would notice, all she had was the bow and quiver, hell if she had the time she could sneak a lawn chair up here some how, make it real nice.

Her mind drifted over the events of her day; the bullshit at the trailer park, the boat ride, the dickhead at the general store, the boy scout buying her lunch, how he pissed her off at the bar, how he pissed her off om the valley lip, the drive home… opening up to him, man that was uncomfortable, just opening up to him like that, but at the same time deep down it felt kind of nice as she never really talked to anyone since her grandmother and family, her family, now there was something she missed, having family, a place to call home, to even yell at her brother when he took her stuff, she really missed those little things.

Her thoughts drifted back to the Spread-Eagle Bar as music began leaking out of the building, reminding her of Mary flirted with Rook to make him take down the sign, it pissed her off that that's what Mary always did, even in high school she would smile and bat her eye lashes and laugh at whatever they said, that's all she did to get popular.

Jess rolled over on her side to get comfier, trying to change her thoughts as it would just rile her up, she huffed out some air as she shut her eyes and relaxed, letting the exhaustion take her away, she hoped Rook wouldn't fall for Mary's flirtings again as he thought better with the head on his shoulders, she preferred a boy scout who could get things done of his own choice.


	6. Chapter 6

Rook groaned as he sat up in his cot, his head had a dull throb, he groaned again as he pushed his legs over the side of the cot and onto the ground, the events of last night slowly came back to him, how he and Nick had a few to many, how one thing led to another and the two were talking about going to arcades in their youths and all the quarters they spent over the summers. All because of what happened in the auto shop the evening before, that thundering gunfire, it sounded so real, the sound of all that ordnance pouring at him, he had been shot at more then enough times for the animal panic of it all to grow dull, but this, this was something different, why did it scare him so much? It shook him to the bone, hence the drinking, to numb the senses so he could drift off to sleep. Rook groaned a third time as he pushed himself up onto his feet and got himself ready for the day and descended the stairs.

"Well look what the cat dragged in" Mary teased as Rook approached the bar.

"How you feeling, Dep?"

"I've been worse" Rook said leaning into the bar trying not to let the irritation from the headache show as he sat down in a stool.

"It looked like you two were having fun last night, we even got a picture" Mary smiled as she stuck a thumb up to point behind her, pinned to the wall behind her just above the cook window was a collection of Polaroid photographs, some were of people, some posed for the pictures with goofy smiles, others unaware their photo was being taken but still just as happy, Rook recognized a few as regulars, others unknown to him, he could only assume they were gone one way or another, the deputy looked at the collection for a moment as his eyes rested on a picture of him and Nick, crowded around the old beat up arcade cabinet a few feet from the front door, the two men in question looked like they were having the time of their lives as they played the machine.

"Ain't you two just the cutest" Mary teased again.

"Yea, Yea, don't get used to it, I don't plan on getting that smashed until Eden's Gate is gone and we all celebrate" Rook said trying not to let his building blush show, to be honest when it came to drinking he was a lightweight, he never really drank, it never interested him, meaning his tolerance was quite low, but now in this rural warzone the bottle looked mighty tempting, allowing the pilot to easily out drink him the previous night.

"Boy I can't wait for that day, everyone out and about celebrating the Seed's are gone, I can just see it now" Mary said leaning onto the bar looking up slightly.

"Barbecues, beer and fireworks as far as the eye can see, you're probably going to have a hand in the final blow against the Seed's so your going to have a big fanbase following you the whole night" Mary grinned.

"I don't know about that, I can't see it, that kind of attention seems to much for me anyways" Rook waved off the idea.

"Why not, hell, you got quite the fan-base now, everyone is rooting for you now, especially the ladies" Mary said with a sly smile, trying to get a reaction out of the deputy.

"What, no way your just messing with me" waving her off, hoping that she didn't hear the slight voice crack when he said that as when it came to woman he tended to fluster easily as girls never payed him much attention in high school or college, any dates he had managed to land barely stretched two weeks before it going belly up, so the idea of having a group of people who really like him with a portion of it being women made him anxious.

"I mean it, your becoming the poster boy of the resistance, everyone is talking about you"

"But why though I haven't done too much, I took a bunch of outposts and brought down a sign'' Rook guessed.

"You've done much more then that Ben, you saved the town and you've made the valley so much safer, and don't forget you saved my life" Mary smiled as she leaned on the bar.

"Come on, your just trying to butter me up to make me feel better, I appreciate it but I'm good" Rook replied waving off the compliments.

"Ok, ok, well speaking of mascots, Boomer is making a real splash here, I think the little sweetheart just loves it here as everyone gives him lots of affection and Casey keeps feeding him leftovers" Mary said picking up an empty mug and rag and began cleaning the mug.

"Oh yea, how's Boomer doing" Rook said, perking up at the prospect of the dog returning from the vet.

"He seems to love it here, you should come back when he comes back, he goes off somewhere to sleep, where, I have no idea"

"Aw I was hoping he was out back or something" Rook said slightly upset that his canine companion was nowhere to be found.

"Well I gotta little something that might life your spirits" Mary said putting down the mug she had been polishing.

"What's up?" Rook asked, his curiosity piqued.

"The defector told us a whole lot"

"Wait for real, what did he say!" Rook jumped up in his seat, his curiosity quickly becoming eagerness to get to work.

"Not a lot we didn't already know but he said he was based out in the Henbane, and that Faith had a good chunk of her troops focused on the county prison as it is the resistance H.Q. in that region, we've been trying to get in touch with them for a while now but we can't get through" Mary surmised.

"Why didn't you say something sooner, I got work to do" Rook said as he stood up as fast as he could and turned to head for the door.

"Rook hold up a minute, there's more"

This made the deputy freeze in his tracks, he spun around eager to hear what else she could possibly say.

"Now this is not confirmed or anything but there may or may not be a sheriff calling the shots down there" Mary stated.

"Earl!?" Rook said shocked, he knew Hudson made it out of the helicopter crash at least, but had not heard anything about Pratt or Whitehorse, he just had to assume they were dead, so to hear his boss was alive increased his need to go to the prison ten-fold.

"Hey, remember I said its not confirmed, that could be anyone out there, it might not be even a lead, our friend could have been wrong" Mary said trying to reel Rook back.

"Listen Mary I appreciate the advice but I have to check this out, besides I haven't been to the Henbane since I got here, its about time I stopped in and see what's up" Rook stated as he turned for the door again, he heard Mary call out for him again but wasn't listening as he was to focused on getting to the prison while fighting off any headaches that tried to emerge and left the bar.

The deputy pulled out his keys, climbed into the truck, and started it up, ready to take on whatever came his way, his mission was to get to the prison, Rook knew Whitehorse, despite working with him for a little under three months, he knew what kind of man Whitehorse was, he wasn't the sheriff for nothing. Rook knew he was a thinker, he probably had been collaborating with whoever else is at the prison to formulate a real plan to fight the Seed's, he hoped he could make some sort of radio connection between Fall End and the prison as the two parties could come together and work together with Whitehorse and free both regions of the Seed's evil.

* * *

The drive through the Henbane River was quiet, no real sign of the cult asides from the occasional corpse on the side of the road and a few grain silos with big Eden's Gate logos sprayed on them, he was ready for anything, his eyes darted back and forth on the road as he scanned the area looking for any potential threats, he did this for minutes as he waited for the cult to make a move, he felt his breath pick up as he drove down a road with what looked like what used to be wheat fields, as his only cover came from his truck as there was nothing as far as the eye can see, to make up for this he kept his head on a swivel as he looked left to right to back to the road then starting the cycle all over again making sure no snipers or whoever might want to hinder his progress. About half way through the fields he saw a white blur sixty feet out in the field on his left, whatever it was it was human, he slowed his car to a roll to get a better look, and he was right, the white blur had been a person, it looked like a man, bald and dressed in all white and carried a two by four in hand, he had a medical mask stretched over his face, by the way he moved it looked like he was heavily intoxicated. Rook's sense of right called out to him, demanding that he should stop and help the person, seeing no reason not to stop he pulled over, climbed out of the vehicle and stepped into the once wheat field.

"Hey, uh, are you ok?" Rook called out, to the man, the man stopped in his tracks and looked at the deputy and made some low pitch guttural noise, it reminded Rook of the undead he'd see on late night movie marathons, before Rook could really think of the implications the man lurched and broke into a stumbling run towards the deputy, running at forty feet and closing fast.

"Hey, hey, hey, woah, woah, woah, back up pal, hold on a second" Rook said alarmed as he quickly backpedaled as he brought one hand up to hold up a hand to signal to stop, while the other went straight to his holstered sawed off, ready to draw it if things go sideways.

The man snarled again as he still charged, ignoring the deputy's warnings.

"Hey last chance or I'll shoot!" Rook ordered raising his sawed off to the man, the man still not heeding the deputy's warning and roared as he drew dangerously close as he raised the two by four over his head, ready to strike Rook, but was cut off as the air boomed and the man was launched back as Rook had fired his gun, firing a round of buckshot into the man's stomach, killing him, Rook sighed as he holstered his gun and turned away, not happy he killed the man and walked back to the truck, he pulled out his car key and walked back to the truck.

He inserted the key into the lock and turned the lock, Rook opened the door and was about to step in but was interrupted as he was grabbed from behind and pulled back, Rook swore in fear, as he was thrown to the ground unaware of who could possibly be attacking him, the attacker jumped on the downed man, grabbing handfuls of Rook's shirt as leverage and lifted him up slightly and slammed him back down.

"The hell!?" Rook coughed as he looked up at his attacker, to his shock and horror as it was the man he had just gunned down, complete with gaping gunshot within his torso.

"How are you still alive?!" Rook stammered as he continued to be slammed into the ground.

Rook brought his hands up to try to pry the man's hands off his shirt as he continued to slam him into the dirt, it didn't hurt to much, but god damn was it not helping the headache. Giving up on pulling the man off he reached down for his pistol and pulled it out and tried his best to bring it up to the man's chest as the constant slamming made it difficult to aim, and emptied the clip into the man's chest, after the sixth bullet made the man grown in pain and began to lose his grip on the deputy, giving said deputy the ability to kick the man off, causing him to roll off to the side, splaying himself out on the dirt as he groaned one final time as he drifted off into the abyss. Rook coughed thoroughly as he rose to his feet looking down at the fallen man, astounded that he took six pistol rounds and a buckshot blast, he stared down at the corpse trying to identify any sort of body armor but couldn't see any.

"Holy crap" Rook muttered as he brought one hand up to clutch his head and the other to fan the air in front of his nose as whatever odor was attached to the dead man made Rook's head swim, he had not noticed it before but the man reeked of this sickly sweet smell the entire time, the pungent odor not helping the building headache.

"Geez man lay off the cologne" he muttered as he walked back to his truck and onward to the prison.

* * *

Thanks to road signs Rook was able to keep himself from getting lost as he traversed the Henbane despite the signs kept him in a straight line, he knew it was as big as the valley, but it didn't really hit him until he really got in the Henbane

"Oh, thank god" Rook muttered as he passed a sign that said the prison was half a kilometer ahead.

As he drew closer he could begin to see the prison peek through the trees, he could see it wasn't some county holding jail, but an actual penitentiary, but a he drew ever closer he could hear mass gunfire in the distance, one party clashing with another, and close by too.

Rook slowed the truck as the turned the corner and rolled up the hill that led to the prison ready to face whatever awaited him he slowed the truck to a slow roll as he came up the apex of the hill, causing the prison coming into sight, then came the line of people on the prison wall firing down on their targets, then the targets themselves rolled into view, unsurprisingly it was several peggies scattered along the prison's parking lot and front entrance, Rook sighed as he climbed out of his truck and pulled his AK-47 off his back and crept forward.

He crept forward at the opposition, hoping that they would be to preoccupied with the firing squad above them, he swallowed his spit and lined up his shot on the closest man to him and fire a short burst at him, dropping him instantly, Rook thank whatever god was watching him that his gunfire was hidden among the cacophony of gunfire, he turned and shot a few more before the remaining peggies caught wind of what was going on and turned to kill the intruder that was sneaking up behind them but quickly realized the folly in their strategy as the people on the wall rained down on them, those who turned back to the wall only to be shot down by the approaching deputy, clearing the field of enemies.

"Hey thanks for the help" Rook heard one of the wall guards shouted, waving the deputy over.

"No problem, just here to help" Rook called back, walking towards the wall.

The rest of the wall guards cheered, and a few gave their compliments.

"Hey, your alright, get in!" another called as he pointed to the door built into the front gate.

"Thank you" Rook said as he walked to the door and thanked for being allowed entrance and thanked the rest of the wall guards for the complements.

Rook pushed through the heavy door and entered the prison proper, and was greeted with a few people milling about, guns in hand and ready to fight if the need arrived, a barrel fire, a gutted car, and a few hastily made waist high covers, his mental examination of the front gate was interrupted as he heard a voice called out to him, it was a voice he easily recognized, it was the voice of his boss, Earl Whitehorse.

"Holy shit… Rook!"

Rook snapped his head forward and saw his boss approaching him, still looking just as he did when they entered this god forsaken county, Rook breathed a sigh of relief as he was finally not alone in this crazy fight.

"You really saved our bacon" he said, placing a hand on his deputy's shoulder.

"Holy crap, Earl, I'm so glad to see you, I thought you died or something" Rook smiled, happy to see his boss.

"It's good to see you too Rookie, I'm glad to see you in one piece, you are in one piece right?'' Whitehorse said, quickly giving Rook a once over to make sure he was ok.

"Yea, yea, yea, I'm fine, but what about you, are you ok, how long have you been here, what's been going on, have you made any progress on stopping the cult?" Rook stammered, firing off a bunch of questions, hoping he would receive some sort of solace in the fight against the cult. Whitehorse chuckled lightly before responding.

"Easy now Ben, let's not get ahead of ourselves again, lets just start simple for now, I don't suppose Pratt, Hudson or Burke is with now?" Whitehorse asked.

"I haven't seen Pratt since the crash, and Burke got grabbed when him and I were making a break for it, and John has Hudson" Rook said somberly, shaking his head.

"Ah shit, God knows what they're doing to Burke, and we can only hope Pratt is doing ok wherever he is, we can only hope Hudson is still alive" Whitehorse grimaced.

"So, what's been going on here, it looks like you've had your hands full?" Rook asked.

"They've been throwing themselves at these walls for days. Just won't let up. Really kick opened the hornet's nest-" Whitehorse explained as he was cut off by shouting from the wall above them, the same wall that looked over the parking lot.

"Trucks on the road!" someone screamed seconds before getting knocked off the wall and falling twelve feet and smacked onto the ground, he lay there unmoving, blood pouring out of his left shoulder, Whitehorse wasted no time and dropped down onto a knee and applied pressure to the fallen man's wound.

"Dammit, medic!" Whitehorse hollered over his shoulder before turning to Rook.

"Rook I need you on that wall" he ordered, pointing to a ladder behind Rook with his free hand, Rook took a quick glance at the ladder before looking back at his boss.

"Yes sir" Rook said confidently then turned to run towards the ladder, and climbed it as fast as he could, making it to the top in record time, upon reaching the top he could see down the walkway, could see a few scared people posted behind some metal sheets bolted to the metal railing providing them with decent cover, next to them rested a crate, half full of ammo.

"Ok, what's the situation?" Rook hollered to one of the hiding resistance fighters.

"We got a whole crap ton of trucks headed on up here" one of them cried.

Rook turned his head to the left to see a gang of trucks head up the road and coming in fast, it was times like these that made him grateful that he had a grenade launcher, he hung up his AK and pulled off his grenade launcher, he felt his ammo belt to fine there was seven grenades and one in the chamber, he felt confident in his victory now as he aimed his launcher and fired, sending the round sailing through the air and landed in front of the trucks by ten feet, exploding harmlessly. Rook grumbled under his breath as he reloaded his launcher to try again and fired, this time the grenade sailed through the air, and flew over the accelerating vehicles, exploding behind them.

"Come on, what are you doing?!" One of the women on the wall yelled at Rook.

"Shut up, shut up, I got this!" Rook hollered back feeling embarrassed over his poor aim as he reloaded a second time and tried for a third shot, by this time the trucks had come to a full stop all next to each other to provide cover for the men and women that began to pile out of the trucks, this gave Rook all the time he needed as pulled he trigger and fired another grenade, it sailed through the air and hit the one of the truck square on the hood, the grenade detonated causing the truck to detonate as well killing several peggies and severely damaging the surrounding trucks, this caused and remaining peggies to scatter and run in terror as they tried to run for cover, a few made it to cover as a few were dropped by the people on the wall firing down upon them and occasionally a loud 'pap' noise filled the air and a peggie would just fall over, Rook could only assume there was a sniper based up somewhere high. Rook reloaded his launcher one final time before putting it away and retrieving his AK-47 and began firing down on the remaining peggies. Since Rook and the wall guard stood at a much higher elevation making the enemy cover near useless as they rained down on them as they shot and through grenades down at them. The gunfire eventually stopped unsure if all of the invaders had been dispatched.

"Anyone see anything?" one of the guards asked.

Rook scanned the area looking for the slightest bit of movement, the area had become dead silent as the firefight had scared away any animals and silence filled the void, Rook strained his eyes and ears hoping to find something to signify he was safe, just as he was about to call out it was clear he heard what sounded like whispers. Rook peeked directly over the wall to see a peggie pressed against the wall, walkie talkie in hand, talking to someone, Rook could only guess he was call for backup, he couldn't let him call for back up if that's what he was doing.

"He's calling for backup" Rook yelled as he pointed to the man, causing all of the wall guards to lean over the wall and focus fire on him, the peggie in question barely had time to look up before death rained down on him

"Ok, does anyone else see anything?" one of the guards asked.

"No, nothing" another called.

"Keep an eye out for any stragglers" a third called.

Rook still scanned the area, still no movement call from below, he was sure all threats had been cleared. He turned to the edge wall facing the inside of the prison and called out to Whitehorse.

"Hey, it looks like it's all clear from up here" he hollered.

"They got a fuel truck incoming! Somebody take it out!" he heard someone scream.

"Never mind" Rook groaned as he turned to back to the road to see a large tanker truck came thundering towards them. The wall guards began firing down at the at the tanker, but their bullets plinked off as the bullet caliber was not strong enough to puncture the tank.

"Hey, use that grenade launcher!" he heard Whitehorse yell.

"Got it" Rook yelled as he took out his launcher again and trained it on the tanker, the practice with the pickups made the tanker an easy shot, he squeezed the trigger and launched a grenade through the air and collided into the truck turning it into a large fireball as it exploded, the immense heat radiated off the fireball could be felt even from the wall, as quick as the fire started, it died out and smoke billowed out of the tank's carcass.

"Ok, now it's clear" Rook said as he sauntered over to the ladder and descended it to regroup with Whitehorse. He could see the sheriff speaking to another man, presumably to give him orders.

"Rodgers! There's an arc welder somewhere inside. Footy was using it last, get on it!" He ordered causing the man to run off to complete the order as Whitehorse walk away, he eyed Rook and kept walking.

"You're with me" he said as he kept walking through the yard.

Rook nodded without saying anything as he ran up next to the sheriff and walked with him as he gave orders, he looked at another man who looked like he wasn't doing anything.

"Start collecting scrap, and if you have to pull the doors off some of the cells, do it. Now hop to it we ain't got much time!" he ordered as he kept walking, the man in question ran off to complete his task.

The sheriff and deputy walked towards an open door ready to enter the building as two people came hurrying out of the building, a man and a woman carrying a stretcher with an injured man on board.

"There problems?" Whitehorse called out to the woman.

She turned to look at Earl to respond as she carefully climbed a small set of stairs to a closed door.

"No, couple of peggies scaled the wall somehow but we got 'em… door" she said as she jerked her head to the closed door behind her.

Rook took the initiative and ran up to the door and opened it, allowing the stretcher team to enter the building and Whitehorse slowly climbed the stairs behind them, he turned to look at Rook before entering.

"You know I was gonna retire last year, was worried I'd get bored" he said as he entered.

"Hey. You're gonna introduce us or we just going to stand around here all awkward and shit?" the woman said tilting her head to the deputy.

"Language!" a voice called out to scold the woman for swearing, then a middle aged, balding man with a small tin box came out from around a corner to open another door for the man and woman carrying the stretcher.

"Oh fuck off Virgil, not today" she groaned as she walked through the now open door.

"I have told you; a vulgar mind is a sign of—you're not wearing your button!" He complained as he peaked in through the doorway as the stretcher team and Whitehorse walked through.

"I'm not wearing it" she groaned again as Rook walked past the man and through the doorway, as he past the man he gave Rook this horror ridden look, Rook was unsure as to why he would react so badly, it was just a button, so what if she didn't wear it.

"I'll need a casualty report" Whitehorse said quietly to a woman who had been tending to something before she ran off to complete her goal.

"But we're cougars" the man whined.

"We're really not" the woman countered.

"Look I'm wearing my button; the sheriff is wearing his button" he said pointing off to the sheriff as he mentioned him before turning his finger to Rook.

"This person is—I'm sorry, who is this?" he asked unsure as to who Rook was or how he got in.

"This" Whitehorse said walking up and joining the groups conversation.

"Is one of my deputies" he said with a smile, patting Rook on the back.

"I thought you said your deputies were captured" the woman said, crossing her arms.

"This one wasn't, he's been giving Eden's Gate a hell of a time from what I hear.

Before Rook could say his piece, he was cut off by the woman.

"That so, well I hope you plan on pitching in, no room for free loaders" she said uncrossing her arms and walking out the door they had originally entered.

"Tracey's alright once she gets to know you" Whitehorse said with a wry smile.

"She's right though about the work, there's plenty to be done around here, you just have to ask" he finished as he began to walk out the door just as Tracey had.

"Good to have you back Ben" he said as he crossed Rook's path, giving him one final shoulder pat as he left.

"Thanks" Rook muttered as he watched Whitehorse leave, before he could say anymore, the balding man approached him, opening the tin box and pulled out a small clip on button of a roaring cougar on it, the mans lips twitched as if he was trying to formulate a sentence but couldn't find the right words, so instead he just said "Here" as he gave the deputy the button and left the room as well, most likely to complete some mental checklist. Leaving Rook alone in what looked to be a makeshift infirmary.

Rook looked at the pin before clipping it to his shirt, then looked at the room, it had a few cots spread around the room some had wounded people lying in them a few were empty, Rook shambled over to an empty cot and sat down on it, he looked up at the clock that hung on the wall, it read ten fifteen on the dot, it was a good enough time to stop and go over everything he had learned in his head. Sheriff Whitehorse was alive and well, which made Rook feel so relieved over that fact that he was safe as Whitehorse had decades of experience and knowledge, he'd know what to do unlike Rook who had barely three months on the force as a deputy, he also knew that the balding man's name is Virgil, what his particular role is unknown as it was clear he wasn't a fighter, and the woman with the mouth is named Tracey, she was wearing a hoodie in the exchange he just had with her and had her hood up, that coupled with the scolding over her swearing reminded him of Jess, it made him chuckle slightly before a fear rippled through him.

"Oh shit" he muttered "I totally forgot about Jess, she's so going to kill me"

Rook was not looking forward for that exchange, it was most likely going to involve a lot of swearing and yelling over her being left behind without even saying where he was going, he brought his hand down to his walkie talkie and retrieved it so he could call the woman hoping she wouldn't be to mad.

"Uh, hey Jess, you there?" he asked apprehensively, but instead of an angry voice jumping out at him, he was met with hard static, it was clear he wasn't going to get through to her.

He groaned as he put his walkie back and hoped she wouldn't get to upset but was pulled out of his dread by a voice behind him.

"So there you are" the voice came from behind the deputy.

"Huh?" Rook muttered, unaware someone had entered the room, he turned to face the voice, to be met with a friend of his, to his surprise standing behind him was Grace Armstrong.

"Oh shit, Grace?" Rook said surprised "What are you doing here?" jumping up from his seat

"Well it seemed like you had the valley handled so I thought I come out here and help people out" Grace shrugged.

"How long have you been out here?" Rook asked, still amazed his friend had showed up out of nowhere.

"About a week I believe" Grace guessed.

"Wow that's great to hear your helping people out here" Rook beamed.

"To be honest I'm kind of glad you showed up, it's been getting pretty bad out here, not just in the prison but the Henbane as a whole, a few people had been talking about you for a few days now, hoping you would just show up, I told them that we cant keep hoping for someone to come and help us, we gotta help ourselves, but ever since the peggies started throwing themselves at our doors I started to regret saying that and did hope you'd come and help, so imagine my surprise when I see you come waltzing into my scope during that firefight" Grace smirked.

"Well I'm glad to be here and help any way I can, but I'm sure you'll be more effective then me as you know this area far better" Rook admitted.

"Once you get your bearings I'm sure you'll be a wrecking ball again" Grace replied.

"Hey, since we're on the topic of you knowing more then me, can I uh, ask you a question?" Rook asked.

"Sure, what's on your mind" Grace said, detecting Rook's hesitation.

"So on my way here I passed by this field and in this field was a guy, I thought he was drunk or something so I went over to check on him, to make a long story short, he attacked me and I had to shoot him, I shot him with a sawed off right in the stomach, as usual he fell over and I left but somehow, some way he got back up again and attacked, I shot him like five more times before he finally died, I'm not like losing my mind am I?" Rook asked, unsure if his story sounded believable but Grace was aware of what he had described.

"Did he smell like he had a bucket of cologne on him?" Grace asked.

"Actually yes he did, I got super lightheaded when I got near him" Rook said shuttering at the though of the smell.

Grace knew exactly what he was talking about, sure maybe to anyone outside of the county would call his story crackpot, but she had seen what Rook had been describing.

"It sounds like you ran into an angel" Grace said.

"An angel, what's that?" Rook asked shaking his head not understanding what she was saying.

"There someone who has been heavily saturated with bliss" Grace stated.

"Wait what's bliss now, hat sounds familiar?" Rook said still not catching on to what Grace had been talking about.

It took a moment for it to click in Grace's head, Rook had no idea what bliss or angels were, he probably couldn't even identify what the bliss flower looked like.

"Rook how much do you know about the Henbane?" she asked.

"Not too much to be honest" Rook admitted.

Grace knew that he wouldn't survive if he wasn't told of the dangers of the land, if Faith had found the poor deputy before getting to the prison and he would have never been seen of again, he needed to be told.

"I think you should sit down, we got a lot to talk about" Grace said gesturing back to the cot he had once sat on.

* * *

Some where far away from the prison deep underground men and woman toiled away working hard in the bunker they buried themselves in working away to prepare for the end of the world, under the guidance of Faith Seed they worked hard producing barrel upon barrel of bliss, and under Joseph's guidance where those barrels should be taken and dispersed to help any and all sinners help see the light of truth, and at this moment in time Faith had begun to wish that the group of loyal boys and girls that went to capture the prison take some bliss with them, she sat in her personal space within the bunker watching the clock that sat on the desk in front of her, the clock read ten O'clock on the dot, she had sent a few of her good boys and girls to take back the prison days ago but still yielded no results, she still watched the clock as one of the boys that was spearheading this mission was supposed to report in fifteen minutes ago, she needed results, she needed something to tell Joseph, she was about to write him off as dead and the mission a failure but then the only door to her personal space creaked open and a man stepped through.

"Ma'am the prison team is reporting in" he said holding out a walkie talkie, Faith rose from her chair and took the walkie from him and held it to her mouth.

"Hello Timothy, have you gained control of the prison?"

"No I haven't I'm sorry ma'am I am very sorry I haven't yet but that is not why I am calling, I'm calling to warn you that the sinner is here, the sinner is at the prison and is working with others in the prison" he stammered.

Faith was silent as she thought of all her options before speaking.

"Do you think you can return here?" She asked.

"No, I do not think I can, I'm pressed up against the prison wall hiding from the sinners, if I step away from the wall they'll see me and I will be shot" Timothy stammered, trying to stay quiet.

"Then thank you for your hard work" Faith said as she clicked off the walkie and handed it back to the man and left the room,

Faith picked up the phone and entered the number, the phone rang as she pressed the button to put the call on speaker and placed her hands in her lap, the phone finally stopped ringing as the other person picked up.

"Hello Faith" he said.

"Hello Father" Faith smiled.

"Is there a problem?" He asked.

Faith's demeanor lowered as she hated having to bring bad news or anything that would dampen his mood.

"It's the sinner, I have received a report saying he is here in the Henbane River, working with those in the prison, I fear he may try to do what he has been doing in the Valley" Faith said trying to keep her composure.

The sound of the Father sighing through his nose could be heard through the speaker, making Faith tense up as she feared what he might say.

"Faith, do you trust my judgement?" He asked, voice still calm and relaxed

"Of course, I will never doubt you, it is your vision that will carry us to the new world" Faith praised.

"Then I want you to try what John has not, I want you take him into the bliss, show him what John hasn't, do not kill him for he does not know what he does" Joseph said.

"It will be done Father, the first chance I get I will show him the truth" Faith said.

"Thank you Faith, I trust your judgement as you do mine, so I trust you will not fail me" Joseph said.

"I will Father, thank you Father" she said feeling proud that the Father placed so much trust in her.

"Now before you go, I believe we should speak to John and Jacob about the matter" Joseph said.

"But why bring them in, the deputy is here in my region not there's" Faith pleaded not wanting the other two men to have a chance to take her goal away from her moments after Joseph had given her a very special task.

"Careful now Faith, envy is a sin, do not let their presence stop you from doing what I have asked of you" Joseph stated.

"Yes Father, I'm sorry, I did not mean to commit a sin" she begged again, she knew he couldn't have her sins tattooed to her flesh like everyone else as Joseph needed her to be flawless, it scared her to think of what he would possibly do as a substitute.

Joseph did not reply as the sounds of him pressing buttons could be heard and the phone ring started up again, it rang a few times before another phone was picked up.

"Hello?" A voice came, Faith knew this voice well, it was John, and by the gruff in his voice it sounded like the phone call was an inconvenience.

"Hello John" Joseph said voice still calm and relaxed.

"Oh, hello Father" John said, surprised he was on the other end of the line.

"Is there something wrong, has something happened?" He asked still sounding nervous.

"Faith is here with us, she says the deputy is in the Henbane River now, he has arrived at the prison and pushing back any who come to secure it" Joseph said.

"What!?" John nearly exclaimed as his anxiety turned back to aggravation at the news the deputy has left his reach.

"How do we even know this is true?" John huffed.

"One of my special helpers told me so" Faith replied.

"How do you know the bliss wasn't clouding his mind the deputy has been on everyone's mind as of late" John questioned.

"Enough, we will speak more of this when Jacob arrives" Joseph said.

"Who knows how long that might take, from what I've heard he's to busy dealing with the whitetails" John said annoyed.

"I'll always have time for you, little brother" Jacob's voice rolled through the speaker, his voice much more gruff then either John or Joseph.

"Is there a problem?" Jacob asked.

"The deputy has moved on to the Henbane River" Joseph said again.

"Why has he left the Valley, wasn't John supposed to take care of him" Jacob asked.

"That's what I want to know, why did he leave?" John asked.

"That's why I'm calling you John, you assured me that you would draw a confession and make him atone for it" Joseph stated.

"I-I have had my hands full for a while now, he has been creating such a mess here, he has been overthrowing many of the outposts and now that my sign is gone everyone has been questioning their will to fight the sinner, I can't have him killed if-"

"John" Joseph said, this time there was no calm to his voice, this time he spoke with no emotion, making John fall silent.

"I did not tell you to kill him, I asked you to baptize him, which might I add you've done just fine with, but everything after that has clearly become much more difficult for you it seems" Joseph said.

"I know I've made mistakes but nex-" John tried to say before being cut off again.

"Shhhh" Joseph hushed.

"I forgive you for your shortcomings"

Silence fell over the phone line as the three remained silent as they waited for the Father to speak again.

"I have instructed Faith to show him the bliss, if he is to ever enter the Valley or the mountains, you are too capture him alive, do not kill him" Joseph instructed.

"Father, if John says the deputy is as much as a danger as he says he is, then if I were to get my hands on him, may I subject him to the culling?" Jacob asked.

"No, I want him to come to us on his own, he can't do that if you give him a new purpose" Joseph said.

"Now Faith" Joseph said, directing all his attention to her.

"Can you show the deputy the error of his ways?" Joseph asked.

"Yes, I can, I will do it" she said proudly.

"Very good, I will be counting on you as the great collapse draws closer, now is there anything else that needs to be said before we end our phone call?" Joseph asked.

The line went silent as nobody spoke, no one had nothing to add.

"Then I wish you all the best, goodbye" Joseph said before hanging up.

"Be more careful John, the deputy isn't some fool with a gun, it looks like he knows what he's doing, your carelessness will get doom us all" Jacob said.

"What would you know, he isn't laying siege to your work" John spat.

But John was met with silence as Jacob had hung up.

"Just stick to playing with your mutts" John muttered as he also hung up.

Faith knew of John's temper, how he would fight back even when he shouldn't, she pray for him as she hung up the phone then picked it back up and dialed a new number, it rang a few times before it was picked up.

"Yes Lady Faith?" a woman said.

"Amanda please come to me, there is something I need to discuss with you" Faith said.

"Of course my lady I will be there as soon as possible" she said.

"Thank you Amanda" Faith said again and hung up the phone, she then stood up from her chair and dragged it to the center of the room, and waited for Amanda's arrival.

Eventually a knock at her door came, signaling Amanda's arrival. Faith walked over to the heavy door and turned the high-pressure valve, grunting as she did it, she understood their purpose but wish for normal doors, the door swung open revealing Amanda.

Amanda stood at a good six feet and dressed in the usual Eden's Gate black in the form of a skirt, tee shirt and vest, her tan skin lined with various tattoos and sins carved into her arms, and she wore the gate's logo on her whole face painted on in red paint, slightly hidden by her shoulder length black hair.

"Please, have a seat" Faith said raising a hand to the chair, Amanda nodded and entered the room and walked over to the chair and sat down, Faith followed her and stood in front of the woman as she sat.

"Now Amanda as my high priestess, I have called you here because we have been bless, the Father has called upon me to carry out his will" Faith beams, beginning to walk in very slow circles around the chair.

"The Father has asked me to show the deputy the bliss in hopes of him seeing the error of his ways and doing the right thing, joining our family" Faith said with a smile.

"I'm sure by now from what I have said you might have guessed that the deputy has come into our neck of the woods, that being said, I must do everything I can as the Father asks of me, but I know what the deputy has done in the Holland Valley and because of that there has been a lot of gossip lately, so now I have two little jobs for you" Faith said, placing her hands on Amanda's shoulders, by now she had worked her way around her high priestess and stood directly behind her.

"I want you to put a stop to this gossip, you know what they say, loose lips sink ships" Faith giggled.

"I want you to stop anything that sounds like it would make people sad, I don't want people to get sad when they see the deputy, he will be our friend, we can't have friends being afraid of friends now can we?" Faith asked.

"No ma'am" Amanda said.

"Good, good, I'm so glad you understand, all the more reason why I made you my high priestess" Faith said as she ran a hand through Amanda's hair.

"That's why I have a second little job for you, I want you to gather up a few of our best and brightest and have them ready so when I give the word they will head out into the world and find our little deputy, give him just a little bliss and bring him to the top of Angels Peak so I can have a small chat with him and see how willing he is to join our family" Faith asked.

"Yes ma'am, it will be done" Amanda said with no hesitation.

She believed in Amanda's devotion to the project as she had joined early on and always strived to do her best, she knew she could count on her to squash any rumors or gossip at might surround the deputy. She had heard from John a week ago that his people were getting a little twitchy that the deputy might come knocking on their doors like the big bad wolf, she couldn't allow that to spread into her neck of the woods, she needed to make her people stronger then that, because of this she had almost admire Jacob's unwavering diligence as he trained his wolves and his people, a part of her wish she could be as strong and immovable as her "brother" but she couldn't, she didn't have the fortitude, the best she could strive for was to make her people feel that, feel the same love and compassion Joseph had shown her when they first met, if she could get her people to believe how strong they were, how immovable they were, they could push back this growing rebellion and then Joseph would see just how loyal and useful she truly was. Faith could feel herself getting ahead of herself, almost giddy, she cleared her throat and sent her high priestess on her way, she had to be clear headed as she needed to prepare for her meeting with the great sinner that was Benjamin Rook.

* * *

"Ok let me get this straight, your telling me Faith has this flower that she uses to make some sort of drug that she's using to influence people?" Rook said, summing up what Grace had told him.

"And these 'angel' guys are just poor souls that have gone completely brain-dead from overdose and because of that they feel no pain or anything what so ever?"

"That's the gist of it" Grace nodded as she stood up from leaning against the wall next to the deputy.

"Jesus Christ on a crutch" Rook muttered, whipping his brow.

"And where is this stuff being made?"

"No one knows we can only assume it's being made wherever Faith is hiding out" Grace replied.

Rook sighed, it was clear the Henbane was worse off then the Valley, he could only imagine what the mountains were like, he decided maybe she should stay a few days and help people out, he trusted Jerome in keeping some semblance of peace there.

"So what would be step one on fighting back?" Rook asked.

"I honestly don't know, I've been mostly focused on getting people to safety lately, but I'd start by asking your sheriff or Virgil what do to" Grace admitted.

"Well as much as I hate to admit it, I think I should stay here for a bit and try to help out" Rook said standing up.

"Honestly I think that's a good idea, everyone in the Henbane is scared and feeling hopeless, they could use your help, this bliss crap is a wildfire" Grace said.

"So, Miss Armstrong, this region is still new too me, I'd really appreciate it if we could team up again and see if we can cause a little damage if you're not busy any time soon?" Rook asked hoping that he wouldn't have to brave the wilds by himself.

"That sounds like one of the best idea's all week, tell you what, you go scrounge up some leads and I'll get a truck ready to go in the parking lot" Grace grinned.

"Sounds good to me" Rook returned with a similar grin and held out a fist, awaiting a fist bump, Grace took no time to complete the fist bump.

"Go cougars" Rook said as he pulled his fist back.

Grace made a noise of agreement as she jokingly rolled her eyes at the deputy for his new-found team spirit. She turned to leave the room, retrieving a small set of keys from a pocket presumably to start up some vehicle.

Rooked followed after her briefly to leave the room to explore the prison, he never really been inside an actual prison before so to see the prison being used as a living space was bizarre. Seeing what was supposed to be holding criminals now be used as a home and fortress, watching people tend to the wounded while others focused on repairing the damages from the battle a mere twenty minutes before.

Rook still wandered the halls looking for Tracey or Virgil for a few more minutes before looping back into the main holding area he had been in three times now, growing frustrated he stopped a worker who didn't look particularly busy to ask where Virgil was, he was directed to a small office off to the side of one such hall that connected into the holding area, Rook thanked the man and followed his instructions, and opened the door he had mentioned revealing a room cluttered with papers and books and filing cabinets with a small desk tucked into a corner with the balding man sitting behind it, holding a framed photo in his hand, looking down at it with a sad expression, but perked up looking at the deputy, the sadness quickly to surprise as he did not expect anyone to enter the small office, he quickly put the photo down on the desk and stood up from his seat.

"Oh, um, hello there, I, well, can I help you?" he stuttered.

"Hello sir, I know we really didn't get a chance to introduce myself, so I'm here to try again; hello I am junior deputy Benjamin Rook" he smiled, extending a hand for a handshake.

"Oh, hello junior deputy Rook, I am Virgil Minkler, mayor, er, um, former mayor of Hope County, nice to meet you" Virgil said, smiling at the deputy's candor, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you too Mr. Minkler, now I was told that you were the man to talk to for something to do around here, what can I do to help?" Rook asked.

"Oh, I'm glad to see your willing to help out, well we could always use more guards on the wall to keep an eye out for those horrible men and woman" Virgil shuttered, thinking of the attack that came earlier.

"Well, I was kinda hoping for something a bit bigger, something that would really be a kick in the pants to the cult" Rook asked, hoping the former mayor would be on the ball just as pastor Jerome is.

"Oh my, Sheriff Whitehorse was right, you really are a hard worker" Virgil chuckled.

"We got one big job around here and that's to stop Faith. she uh, took everything from me, my uh, my job, my marriage… even my son, all because of that damn bliss…" Virgil said, his eyes eventually drifted off the deputy and onto the floor as all the things he lost had drifted through his mind, feeling grief flow through him, he cleared his throat and continued, remaking eye contact with Rook.

"Your one of us now, a cougar, we're a team that helps each other and I need your help right now, deputy" he said as he began opening the drawers in his desk and started digging around, looking for something.

"You know about our water treatment plant? The cult took it and started pumpin' it full of bliss, can you believe that? Right into the drinking water, what kind of monster does that?" Virgil continued as he closed one drawer and opened another and began rummaging through it.

"Well, she's not getting away with it any longer, I tell you straight, you shut it down fast and the whole county will thank you, whatdya, say?" he said as he pulled something out of the drawer and presented it to Rook, it was a folded up map, Rook could only assume it was directions to the water treatment plant.

"You got it mister mayor, Grace and I will make sure that water will be drinkable again, Rook smiled taking the map from the man.

"Thank you deputy, I speak for everyone when I say I really appreciate your willingness to help save this county" Virgil smiled.

"Whatever I can do to help" Rook smiled and nodded then placed the folded map into his back pocket and left the room before bidding the former mayor farewell, again feeling lost as he roamed a few halls, before finding sheriff Whitehorse leaning against a counter reading something off a clipboard. It still felt unreal to just see his boss, to see him back in the workplace, fighting back the cult, who knows how long the sheriff had shacked up here as it was apparent he was running the show, just the thought of having such a task made his chest tighten up, Rook swallowed the lump in his throat as he quickly realized that if he had ended up in the Henbane and Whitehorse in the Valley he would have done a terrible job trying to keep some sort of order within the prison most likely resulting in who knows how many deaths, something like that would have drove him crazy, there would have been no way from him to be able to handle that kind of stress.

Rook lingered on these thoughts for a moment before realizing how Whitehorse must have felt the same way, having all those people relying on you, how your decision would make or break the day, the stress was surely palpable, then it hit Rook, he remembered on his first few weeks as a deputy how Pratt and Hudson and told him to keep an eye on Whitehorse when he appeared rather stress as he had a minor heart attack a few years prior.

This made Rook very nervous as if anything were to happen to the sheriff would make both the prison's and the deputy's lives harder. Rook had to check on him to see how he was doing, he also knew that Whitehorse wasn't going to take to kindly to the concern over his heart, so he had to take this slow and be careful about it, he cleared his throat and approached his boss.

"Hey boss can I talk to you for sec?" Rook asked, dropping his volume a few decibels.

"Sure kid, what's up?" Whitehorse asked, placing the clipboard down and turned to face his deputy.

"So, uh, how you holding up?" Rook asked sounding somewhat concerned.

"I've been doing as well as can be expected, why, did Virgil say something?" he asked, eyeing the doorway Rook must have come from.

"What, no, no, I'm asking for myself" Rook said hooking his thumbs into his pockets.

"I uh, I'm asking because you've been taking charge of this place for what, two and a half, three weeks, that's pretty stressful" Rook said bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

"It is yea, but it's been a team effort, Tracey and Virgil have been really helping out taking care of the place" Whitehorse replied.

"but it is still pretty stressful, I mean people can die, having that weight, can be pretty taxing" Rook said, still sounding concerned.

"Rook what are you trying to get at here?" he asked, sounding slightly impatient.

"Well I'm just checking in on you and seeing how your holding up" Rook said as he brought a hand up to tap his left pectoral, right over his heart, hoping Whitehorse wouldn't take it the wrong way.

"Oh come on Rook, I'm fine" he groaned in annoyance, Whitehorse knew exactly what Rook had hinted at when he tapped his heart, he was referencing the mild heart attack that Whitehorse had a few years ago due to work stress.

"When was the last time you took your heart medication, do you even have any?" Rook asked, shrugging, voice full of concern.

"Benjamin" Whitehorse said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, I'm fine, I want you to knock it off" he said looking around to see if anyone was listening.

"I'm ok, we have more important things to worry about, so for now just forget about it" Whitehorse said sternly.

Rook didn't say anything for a moment before nodding.

"And I would appreciate it if you were to keep this under your hat, ok?" Whitehorse asked, his voice returning to a quiet and understanding tone.

"uh, yea sure" Rook muttered, still full of worry for his boss.

"So uh, Grace and I are headed out to the water treatment plant and stop the cult from dumping bliss into the water" Rook said placing his hands back into his pockets.

"Good luck Rookie kick those bastard's asses'' Whitehorse said patting Rook's back once before turning to retrieve his clipboard and walking off to complete whatever must have been on it.

Rook watched the sheriff leave, still not convinced that he was completely ok, despite the heart attack being a few years ago, it still had some hold over him as if it didn't the other deputies would not have said anything. Rook made a note in his head to get a doctor to look at him when he established some sort of connection with Falls End, as the sheriff's health reminded Rook of his father, how he also fell to health problems at the workplace while Rook was still in high school, he owed Earl that much as he had taught Rook so much within the almost three months, not only that but he was clearly working hard maintaining the prison, Rook had to hurry and find whatever was causing radio interference as soon as possible, but as of now the water treatment plant had taken priority.

Rook sighed and hoped the sheriff would take care of himself and walked off towards the front door off the prison to meet up with Grace.

* * *

**hey everyone, hope your enjoying the stories so far, I know I don`t slap authors notes on the end of these bad boys but this time I kind of have to; due to life coming at you as it is known to do, i will have to take a small break for the week, I know my upload schedule is somewhat inconsistent so the next week`s chapter might be a few days late and maybe the one after that, I won`t know till I get there, anyways I hope you enjoy the story and hope to see you down the road.**

**Cheers**


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on, what are you doing?!" Grace yelled at the deputy as she stomped on the gas pedal again.

"Keep that car steady!" Rook yelled back, leaning out the passenger window, desperately trying to get a clean shot on the drivers of the Peggie pickup truck that chased after them. This is not what he envisioned when he climbed into the car with Grace a mere ten minutes ago, he believed that her tour in Afghanistan had elevated her to a higher status in terms of strategy and gun fights, but he was clearly wrong as they past a couple of peggies in a truck pulled to the side of the road, they had seen the sniper and the deputy blow by and gave chase, Rook had expected some amazing pit maneuver or well placed shot but instead she just sped up and ordered the deputy to lean out the window and shoot.

As much as he didn't want to, he had to as more and more bullets pinged off their truck, he fired a few more bursts before having to retreat back into the car as bullets plinked off the truck dangerously close to Rook's torso.

"Shit, this is getting us nowhere, hey you got any suggestions?" Rook exclaimed.

"What the hell do you want me to do? I'm driving!" Grace spat.

"I don't know! You were in the military I was hoping for some sagely advice or something" Rook exclaimed.

"Shoot the god damned enemy!" Grace instructed angrily.

"Oh gee thanks" Rook grumbled as he leaned out the window again to fire a few more rounds at the enemy, the enemy had returned fire as well, causing Rook to retreated back into the car every now and again during the exchange. The fight growing on Grace and Rook's nerves as they couldn't be followed straight to the treatment plant nor could they just drive in circles all day.

"Oh screw this" Rook growled and he stowed his AK and pulled out his grenade launcher, it took him no time at all to line up a shot and pull the trigger, and explosion followed seconds later signaling the destruction of the pursuing vehicle.

While a sigh of relief, he sat back in his seat, relieved that the fight was over for now.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Grace groaned in annoyance.

"What you kidding, grenade rounds are expensive, I ain't just gonna fire then all willy nilly, it's for emergencies only" Rook stated.

"So was that or was not an emergency then?" Grace groaned as she had witnessed Rook's growing frustration in dealing with the pursuing advisories.

"That's not important, what is, is that we get to the treatment plant" Rook waved off.

"If you say so" Grace replied as she slowed the car down to a good pace now that the danger was gone.

"So how much further?" he asked.

"Bout five minutes, now that we were firing on all cylinders for most of the ride" Grace replied.

"See I that's why I took so long dealing with them, that was all a part of my plan" Rook joked.

"Boy am I glad to be working with such a master strategist" Grace said, going along with the joke.

* * *

The treatment plant was a lot bigger then Rook had expected, granted he had never really seen one in the first place either so this was new to him none the less, the plant was full of peggies, several patrolled the area as more pulled barrels of this light green fluid into the large cylindrical tubs half buried into the ground.

"Ok so how we going to play this?" Rook asked.

"Well I figure you go down there and neutralize as many as you can before you are noticed then I'll start picking them off from up her" Grace said plopping down her rifle ready to get to work.

"I was afraid you were going to say that" Rook said look down at the gun.

"Don't suppose you got a silencer for that thing" he asked.

"Nope" she grinned as she set up her sniper's post.

"Remind me why you don't have on again" Rook asked.

"I like them to hear me coming to make them run in fear" Grace smirked.

"Alright well, uh, what about the bliss in the system, how we gonna get that out" Rook asked.

"Deputy, we are at a water treatment plant, it was designed to filter out crap and supply us with clean drinking water" Grace clarified.

"I don't suppose you know how to operate such a facility?" Rook said tilting his head to the side slightly.

" No I do not, but we had similar machine in Afghanistan but a lot smaller and I've seen a few of them break, if most of the hydrogen diagnostics go offline the system will go into emergency detox mode and purge the system of any foreign substances and empty the results into the end receptacle" Grace explained.

"Ok so do uh, do you think you can say that again but dumbed down?" Rook asked hoping she wouldn't pick fun at him for not understanding.

"Break all the computers and we will have clean water" Grace stated.

"Wait, wait, wait, if we just destroy it all then how do we use it after we do the thing?" Rook questioned.

"Well that's the thing" Grace said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"We won't be able to for a while, we'd have to wait till the area gets safer or the cult loses interest then send technicians out to fix it"

"We can't just blow it up, we can't have an if we can't have it no one can mentality" Rook begged.

"Ben we can't spare people to protect this place all day everyday, well maybe down the line, but the important thing is we the people who can operate the system are few and far between, if we lose them then this place will be worthless" Grace countered.

Rook sighed, he knew she was right but didn't want to admit it.

"So, you ready to do this or what?" Rook asked, hoping to chance the subject.

"Just about, head down there when ever your ready" Grace said getting into position, looking down the scope of her gun and getting comfortable.

"Alrightly" Rook muttered as he took his eyes off Grace and looked backed down the hill at the treatment plant and all the hostiles that lurked with, he adjusted the collar of his shirt and slowly moved in.

The treatment plant was a good hundred feet down hill from the duo, the plant itself was full of enemies, from what he could see there were twelve moving about, on guard wandering around making sure no one tried anything funny, but they weren't as well guarded as they believed as the far right side of the plant consisted of chain link fences with an open gate, it only had one guard standing in the gateway, Rook couldn't see the peggies face put from their posture and how lax they looked, they were most likely bored as hell.

"Alright, I'm going to enter from the chain link fence area then work my way around that far building and if I somehow don't get spotted until then I'll try to deal with the guys over the water tanks" Rook explained.

"Roger that, I'll keep track of you up here, if I guy is about to get the drop on you I'll drop him before he gets the chance" Grace replied.

"Alright, action time go" Rook muttered to himself as he lowered himself down to a crouch and began creeping down the hill towards the plant, moving in a long arc towards his decided point, during the movement he could see a cluster of bushes close to the lone guard but off to the side enough to not be noticed.

Crouched down behind the bush, planting a hand into the ground to keep improve his balance, he was low enough that he was hidden behind the bush he could easily peak out to see bored looking woman standing in the gateway, holding a shotgun, humming some unknown tune.

Rook watched the woman trying to figure out how he'd get the jump on her without making any noise, sure he had a silencer on his pistol, but it just didn't feel right to kill this woman, sure she'd kill him in a heart beat but right now she was just standing there, nonthreatening, bored out of her mind.

He studied her more before having to readjust his hand in the ground as a rock had been pressed into his palm for some time now and the irritation grew into pain, he moved his hand and looked down to examine the rock, it was small as a face of a watch yet had a edge to hit, he looked at it momentarily before being stuck with genius, he grinned at the little plan that he had just concocted, he picked up the stone and looked back at the lone woman who had thankfully not moved an inch, he looked at the fence ten feet to his right and through the rock at the fence, it bounced off the chain link with a soft bang and tumbled to the ground.

The noise could be heard from the bush but apparently not from where the woman had stood as she did not even twitch, Rook pouted slightly as his ingenious plan to distract and neutralize her had not gone according to plan, but this did not discourage him as he placed his hands in the dirt again, searching for another rock, he search the ground for a few seconds before finding three rocks that would fit the job, he smiled as he placed two in his pocket and wound up the pitch with the third one.

He threw the stone a few feet closer this time, it bounced off the fence, producing the same noise as before, and just like before the woman did not twitch.

"Oh come on you know you want it" Rook whispered to himself as he pulled out the second from his pocket, this time he threw it even closer to the woman, the rock clanging off the fence, causing the woman to jump in fear briefly before pointing her gun at the source of the noise and slowly walked towards the section of the fence to investigate.

This was it, this what he had been waiting for, Rook snuck out from the bush and moved as fast as he could without creating to much, but he was moving to fast as he got within three feet of her she turned around to face Rook, no doubt that she had heard him. This scared the deputy just as much as he scared her, the two moved in silent fear as she raised his gun at him while Rook stood up and jump at the woman, fist clenched and ready to strike. Thankfully the deputy had been just seconds faster as sis fist hit her square on the nose, seconds before she could squeeze the trigger, causing blood to flow out of it, Rook felt bad as he was not one for violence against women, the woman stumbled back in pain, allowing Rook to step even closer and in one clean motion he ripped the shotgun from her hand and threw it to the ground, the woman sputtered as her hands zipped to her waist, most likely to retrieve some side arm, to stop her Rook grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close, she tried to punch and kick her way free but Rook held on tight and pulled her backwards to the ground, the peggies landing on the deputy.

The woman tried to say something but choked on spit and air as she struggled to break free, she managed to turn herself around trying to free herself, her back pressed into Rook's chest, but that's what he wanted, this allowed him to release his grip on her and wrap and arm around her neck and squeezed, the woman choked and sputtered even more as the deputy forcibly closed her windpipe.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep" he repeatedly whispered.

She flailed wildly for a few moments before movements grew lax before stopping all together.

Rook breathed a sigh of relief as he released the woman, and brought a hand to the side of her neck, she still had a pulse, he felt good as he did not outright kill her, he pushed her off and stood up, he looked around to make sure no one saw then turn up the hill to see Grace, she returned his look with what looked like a thumbs up, he nodded as he looked down at the unconscious woman then bent down to grab her arms and dragged her into the bush he had hid behind.

* * *

Now with the guard gone, Rook had entered the plant proper, to his twelve O'clock was a long building that had 'pump 2' stenciled on the side and to his nine O'clock was an identical building with 'pump 1' stenciled on it. Rook had his work cut out for him as the building that houses pump two stretched across the length of the plant, providing ample cover to work his way across the plant.

Rook scanned his surroundings before making a quick crouched run for the building, luckily no one saw him as he moved, he carefully moved to pump house number two and pressed against the side of the building he slid to the large metal door that sat in the center of the wall and grabbed the handle and pulled, put the door wouldn't budge.

"Oh come on" he muttered as he jiggled the large handle in hopes it would come free but to no avail.

He released the handle before noticing a small metal box protruding from the wall next to the door, upon closer inspection it was revealed was a card reader.

"Uh oh" Rook muttered.

There was no way he could break down the door so he had to find the key card, unable to do anything more Rook made a mental note about cards and continued to creep along the side of the building, but reluctantly stopped at the far corner as a shirtless man stood guard, back to the deputy, lazily twirling the rifle in his hands. Rook grinned slightly as he was in perfect position to choke him out. He slowly crept up behind him, this time much slower then before and quickly wrapped his arm around his neck and pulled him back. The man struggled and flailed as Rook pulled him back around the building then going limb, Rook released him and crept back to the side of the building, it was obvious the shirtless man was gone, but since the last two peggies were so relaxed Rook considered taking off his shirt to see if anyone would even notice but decided against as he didn't want it to work to well and get clipped by Grace.

Rook quietly and covertly crept over to a pallet of blue barrels and observed the peggies further, he could see a few still pouring barrels of green sludge into an open external holding tank, and several more patrolling the area. But other then that, there was no where to go, no cover to hide behind, nothing to use as a distraction, his only option really was to stand and shoot, as much as he absolutely hated the idea, it wasn't a bad one, shoot one or two then run behind the building, let Grace get her shots before actually doing something. If he was going to surprise the peggies he better do it right. The peggies dumping the bliss were pretty close to him so really any weapon he wanted, so he reached for his grenade launcher and peaked up over the barrels to line up a shot, the three men and woman that were dumping the chemicals wouldn't even know what hit them. He took a deep breath and stood up and quickly lined up his hot and pulled the trigger, a second later the three were engulfed in a fiery light green cloud, killing them all instantly, he could hear the rest of the peggies cry out in panic and fear as they all turned to the explosion.

"It's the sinner!" Rook heard a peggie shout, he turned to see who saw him, and saw a man in the usual black trench coat angrily pointing at him.

A loud pop rang out and the man dropped to the floor, blood pooling out of him.

"Sniper!" One of the peggies shouted, causing the rest to either dropped down behind some cover or scurried away to hide behind something.

The area became dead silent, it reminded him of the trailer park he and Jess had attacked the other day as this was a similar scenario as that one, so why not play it the same, he got out of that one so why not this one.

Rook brought his hands to his mouth.

"Ok, if y'all but your guns down and your hands up, you can walk out of here alive" Rook yelled.

"Go to Hell sinner!"

"Joseph will save you"

"Enter the bliss!"

A few peggies shouted while a few stayed quite.

"Ok that's what I thought" Rook deadpanned as he retrieved his AK, ready for anyone to make a move but then another loud pop echoed over the land.

"They got Kenny!" one of the peggies yelled out, Grace had been able to drop another.

The death of their friend caused a few to stir and murmur before fewer rose to kill the deputy, standing up and raising their gun.

Rook swore and ran back to the side of the building for cover, firing his gun along the way, he knew he wasn't hitting anything nor did they hit him as the running and spraying of bullets made it hard for both parties to land a hit, feeling his luck run out, Rook dove for the last few feet of clearance to the building's corner, he sailed through the air feeling relieved as he didn't get shot but felt regret as he slammed into the hard asphalt ground, he groaned in pain and rose to his feet as two more loud pops fill the air.

He could hear a few screams of fear and terror riddled orders to retreat as more pops filled the air, when Rook first began his attack he worried for Grace's safety as she had no cover up on the hill with no silencer, but now as more and more pops and screams filled the air, but if was clear she was more then capable of protecting herself, the woman of Hope's County were truly fierce.

Rook clutched his AK and ran up the side of the building again and past the locked metal door and re-emerged on the other side by the chain link fence he had started from, and rounded the corner again to come face to face with a bunch of scared peggies, a few were reloading their guns with shaky hands, others curled up behind cover, a few eyes drifted up to the deputy, a few jumped in terror frozen in fear, one actually jumped up and ran away, two brave souls rose to fire their guns but were quickly dispersed as he and Grace picked them off as their fear had cost them greatly, Rook looked up to see the runner to make sure they weren't up to anything funny, but he was to late as he could see a woman running away as fast as she could all the while bringing a walkie talkie and brought it to her lips.

"Amanda, ma'am he's here, h-" The woman yelled into the walkie before another pop echoed out and the woman dropped.

"Oh shit" Rook though, upset now that the peggie had radioed for help, he had to hurry.

Rook whipped around to face the final four peggies that were left slowly rising to their feet, two of them rose their gun to shoot and the other two ran for the external water tanks for cover to try to escape, Rook swore again as he jumped back behind the corner as bullets slammed into the edge of the building and not letting up. One loud pop rang out, but the firing still continued, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and poked his gun out and fired, causing the two to stop firing momentarily before starting up again.

"Hey, just drop the guns, and you can live!" Rook yelled.

"Go to hell sinner!" one of the peggies called.

Rook growled in annoyance as he wished to not have to kill every possible enemy, another loud pop echoed out.

"Fine, have it your way!" he argued back, before grabbing his shotgun in his off hand and poked his AK around the corner again and fired, causing them to stop momentarily, the break allowing Rook to jump and raise his shotgun to one of the peggies and fire, blowing him back, the second and last peggie jumped back in abhorrent fear as his friend died in front of him, but his fear was cut short as Rook fired the last shell at the last man, killing him instantly.

Rook looked down at the two dead men, not feeling proud of having to kill all the people he offered to let live, he stood there and listened, listened for anything that suggested that more peggies were around, but as the area was void of noise and Grace had stopped shooting that meant the are had to be clear.

He turned to the hill Grace was sitting on and brought his hands to his mouth to broadcast his voice to his friend on the hill.

"We're clear!" he yelled up and jogged up to pump one's metal door and gave it a tug, the door did not budge.

"Oh great" Rook groaned, rolling his eyes.

Instead of trying to open the door again he left it and walked to pump two's door, just like the first one they had both been locked, he saw a peggie radio someone so he needed to be fast so he couldn't just frisk every corpse here in time, he needed a plan, he looked back up to the hill.

"Hey, all the doors are locked, how to I get in?!" he yelled.

Grace did not respond for a moment.

"You can swim in through the holding tank!" she yelled back.

"But its like, packed with drugs!" Rook argued.

"Tell you what, if you don't come back in five minutes I'll come fish you out!" Grace offered.

"That doesn't make me feel any better!"

"We have no options left, get in there!" Grace yelled.

Rook weighed his options as he really didn't want jump into the bliss filled water, but if he didn't, who know who would drink it, he looked at the holding tank and walked over to it.

He could see that the water level was high enough if he jumped in the water would break his fall, he could also see two openings on either side of the tank, those must be what Grace had been talking about, he could swim up those to get to the pump rooms, as much as he hated it he had to do it.

"I'm going in!" he yelled then with a reluctant sigh he jumped into the water and was submerged in it.

The second water entered Rook's system he could immediately feel the bliss kick in, his vison was filled with dozens of tiny bright lights an everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, this scared Rook and desperately swam to the surface, coughing and sputtering for air, he needed a minute before diving into the tube. He took one final large breath and submerged himself again and swam for the open tube, he struggled as his vision was still obstructed by bright lights and an uncomfortable body, the tube seemed endless which was making him nervous as he was running out of air fast, he began to struggle to swim as he felt more and more lightheaded, he was really regretting this until he could see the tube curve upward, meaning the exit was near, Rook kicked and thrashed as hard as he could as he was dangerously low on air, he ascended as fast as he could, he couldn't see the surface so he prayed there actually was one, with no other choices he kept swimming upwards.

Rook broke the surface with a ragged gasp for air followed by a coughing fit as his body did not enjoy the oxygen deprivation, he climbed up out of the pool and onto dry land and leaned against a wall, he needed a minute to catch his breathe and to wait for the bright lights in his eyes to fade.

He let out one final cough before examining his surrounds, he was obviously inside a building as he could see 'pump house 1' stenciled along one of the walls, he could also see to big metal doors on either side of the building's length, and on one side of the building stood four large rectangular machines lined up next to each other four feet apart.

"Alrighty, let's get down to business" Rook muttered as he rubbed his nose.

He walked up to the two center pumps and examined them, they were large complicated machines, their method of operation was beyond him, so was the shutting down part, it wasn't like there was a big red button labeled 'off switch' Rook scratched his chin trying to figure out a way to break them.

They were very large and bulky so he couldn't just hit it with a stick nor shoot them as they were plated all over, he pondered over his all options for a few moments before settling on just blowing it up with explosives, he pulled out half of his total remote and proximity mines on the two center pumps and backed away hoping it would do, he knew detonating it with him in the room would kill him, and as much as he hated it the only safe place was the spiked water, he pulled pain from his belt and walked to the internal water tank he came from, he turned to face the pumps and pulled the pin.

He threw the grenade and jumped back into the water, the bright lights almost instantly returning as he had begun to feel lightheaded, then the explosion came, signaling he could climb out, he didn't feel to good as he climbed out as the bliss was soaking into him, his body felt like it was being pelted with hundreds of little harmless projectiles, it took him a moment to realized it was water, the explosion had triggered the sprinkler system, causing water to rain down from above, he mentally move passed the cool water raining down on him to see if he had dine the job, and sure enough all four pumps had been blown up, lights and sirens blared as the pumps were undergoing catastrophic failure and fire and smoke filled the room, the four pumps had thick black smoke billowing out of all of them, the sprinkler system was not capable of handling such a intense fire as the water was not enough to put out the blaze and the smoke continued to fill the room. Rook knew it was time to go, his mind still fuzzed from the bliss, staggered to one of the metal doors and pushed it open in hopes of an emergency unlock, and sure enough the metal door gave way and swung open, allowing fresh air into the room and the smoke to pour out, he ran out of the building and into the open, trying to get away from the fire, coughing again as some entered his lungs. He was getting really tired of all the coughing. Rook looked around to see that he was back where he started out in the middle of the plant, surrounded by peggie corpses and the external water tank fourteen feet away from him.

He looked up the hill to see Grace, he watched her for a moment before she raised an arm up to give the deputy a thumbs up, he released a shake exhale before returning the thumbs up, then turning his gaze back to the holding tank, he really wasn't looking forward to doing that again.

Rook reluctantly walked back to the tank and peered down inside of it, he could see the tube he had first entered, it was attached to the far right wall, that meant the tube he needed was on the far right, and sure enough there it was, it looked exactly the same but it went to pump two, Rook took a few deep breathes to expanded his lungs before he lifted himself over the railing and through himself back into the cold water and made his way through the tube.

He broke the water's surface coughing and dazed just as he had done in pump one and climbed out of the water, he leaned against the wall until his vision returned to normal before facing the pumps, again just like the first he could see the four large pumps lined up in a row, one next to each other and two metal doors on either side of the building, wasting no time he approached the two middle pumps and placed the remaining explosives he had on the pumps and walked back to the pool of water he emerged from and pulled out his final grenade, pulled the pin and through it at the pumps before jumping back into the water and waited, then the explosions came signaling Rook he could come out, he could clearly see all the pumps had been destroyed.

The pumps exploding causing heavy black smoke to fill the room, just like the previous room, along with the sprinkler system, a few lights an alarms turned on but this a whirling noise could be heard, it had to be the emergency detox mode kicking in, the act of the water cleansing would have made him happy but the sprinklers were not equipped to handle such a large fire and did not dispense enough water to extinguish the fire, causing the room to fill with strangling smoke, Rook could feel the smoke constrict his lungs and begin to sting his eyes, he had to get out. The deputy ran to the closest door he could see, by his mental map he was at the door he saw when he first entered the plant, the locked door that needed the key card, Rook staggered towards pushed open the door but for some reason the door only opened a few millimeters as if the safety release did not release properly.

The deputy shoved the door a few times to no avail as the door did not open.

"Oh, come on!" he coughed, air in the room was running out fast, he needed to get out.

He took a step away from the door then slammed his side into it hoping to shoulder it open, as he did the door made some clicking noise every time his shoulder hit, after the seventh shoulder check, he backed up again and began kicking the door.

"Open dammit!" He cried as the smoke was slowly blanketing the room, Rook's coughing got worse and worse as he was running out of breathable oxygen, the only thing he could do was keep kicking the door.

Giving up on the kicking he went back to the shoulder slamming he slammed into the door three more times before his body said there was no more air in the room, he coughed and choked as he slammed repeatedly against the door hoping Grace would come and open the door, just as he thought that the door finally flew open, swinging on its hinges and slamming on the wall it was attached to, causing Rook to fall through the door frame. He coughed and sputtering, he felt to his hands and knees coughing and trying to breathe as smoke had filled his lungs and burned his eyes, he couldn't he tried to stand back up, but as he did he heard a dull thump noise come from directly below him, he looked down through watering eyes to see some sort of small canister lying on the ground, he struggled to examine it for a few moments before the top of the canister blew off and light green clouds came billowing out and engulfed the air around him, the gas filled his nose then lungs, causing him to have another coughing fit but this time with every cough he grew more and more light headed as the green gas invaded him, his head swam and his body felt unreal as he felt himself fall over and hit the ground with a thud, he wasn't sure what was happening to him, but whatever it was, it didn't hurt as his eyelids felt to heavy too keep open.

Rook felt like he was dreaming, he felt weightless, drifting through endless light green clouds, white noise reverberated in his ears occasionally, it he felt like he was sleepwalking while awake, nothing was real but at the same time it was.

* * *

"I know you've heard stories about me, that I'm a liar, a manipulator" a woman's voice flowed into Rook's ear as if it was silk, almost like the light of a light house cutting through dark fog that clouded his mind, her voice split the endless clouds and returning his sight, his vision felt blurred like he could not truly seem to grasp the difference between the foreground and background, but then a blue butterfly drifted through his eye line, how blue and soft it was, his eyes followed it as it crossed his vison, as if he had forgotten the words just spoken to him, but was pulled back into what he thought was reality as he felt someone pull him by the arm, tugging him a few steps forward. Rook looked up to see his puller, it was a woman, dressed an intricate white sundress adorned with small flowers around the hip, her long brown hair slightly blowing in the breeze, this woman looked familiar to Rook but he couldn't place it, his memory felt scratchy, as if he had been staring a tv static for to long.

The woman began to walk away from him, slightly pulling his arm again, signalling him to follow, Rook couldn't find any reason not too, the way her voice rolled around in his head, how beautiful she looked as the warm light kissed her soft skin.

"That I poison people's minds… Well let me tell you a different story, a true story" she said as she held out her arms slightly to feel the tall grass around them, Rook couldn't help but do the same, the grass looked so warm, so inviting, everything about this environment said it was safe.

The woman quickly spun around and grabbed the deputy's outstretched arms and pulled him down gently to sit on the grass with her she wore a look of sadness for a moment before it was replaced with a bittersweet smile, she cast her gaze down as if she was unsure of something, Rook wanted to ask her what was wrong but decided against it as it didn't feel right. The woman looked up at Rook this time with a warm smile.

"There was once a young woman who had been ostracized by her community, bullied by her friends, abused by her family, she took to a needle for help, she was all alone, wanted to die" she said, the warm smile slowly disappearing to reveal a face of sadness.

She said nothing for a moment before the smile reappeared again.

"And that's when she met the Father" She beamed, standing up again, grabbing Rook in the process and breaking out into a run, again he felt weightless as he moved faster then ever before, suddenly the woman stopped abruptly to look at something up in the distance, Rook turned his head to see what she had been staring at. He could see way up in the distance, through all the clouds was a large statue of Joseph Seed holding an open book in one hand, the other raised in a fist, most likely a snapshot of one of his sermons and frozen in time in towering stone. Rook's vision slowly drifted down to the woman again, she was staring at him, she released his hands and moved away from him.

"He gave her hope, and confidence, the Father showed her how special she was, that she was full of love and life, he gave her a new family, one that accepted her just as she was" she said.

"The young woman no longer wished to die, she had been purpose" she said as she held her arms out to the sides as a puff of smoke emitted from her a she slowly rose up a few feet into the air. Rook was in awe as he could see the smoke behind her hung to her back, shifting and moving behind her, it almost looked the smoke had formed to be her wings. She held her hands out waiting for the deputy to take hold, he stepped towards the woman taking a hold of her hands, her smile grew as her grip tightened on Rook then the two floated higher up into the sky, much higher then she had originally done before.

"One day the Father brought her here, he asked is she had faith in him, he asked if she would be willing to die for him, the young woman, who very much wish to live, was scared. The Father told her that this was her test, he would have faith in her if she had faith in him" She said, releasing one of Rook's hands, the action did not cause Rook to be pulled down by gravity, he still hung there as if he was standing on the ground, the woman turned back to the statue began drifting towards it the drifting slowly picked up faster and faster until they were soaring through the air like birds, faster and faster towards the Father, as they approached they slowly began to slow down, the woman took Rook's other hand and slowly eased him onto the statue, onto the open book the statue was holding, the woman still hung in the air as Rook looked up at her.

"So she closed her eyes and leapt, and the Father kept his word" she said as she floated away from him towards the edge of the large concrete book, eventually another figure entered his view, he looked familiar to Rook, he could see the word 'U.S. Marshal' on his back, again his memory was all scratchy, the U.S. Marshal looked up at the woman as she glided over edge of the book and hung in the air.

"The path to Eden is clear to those who have faith" She said.

Rook watched the woman before another blue butterfly flew through his vision, he watched it fly across him and onto the marshal's hand, it caused him to look at the deputy with a warm smile and he extended a hand to him

"Walk the path" he said calmly as he threw himself off the large book and into the mist below.

Rook looked up to see the woman for some sort of confidence or whatever the deputy might have needed but she wasn't there, she had disappeared just as quick as the marshal had.

The deputy slowly walked over to the ledge and peered down into the gaping chasm below, a part of him felt some sort of animal panic due to the high altitude he stood at, another screamed about how this would be his certain death, another screamed about the woman another screamed about the marshal, it all didn't make sense, something was wrong, he wasn't sure if he should take the plunge.

His mind slowly filled with uncertainties as he took a step back, but the woman's voice echoed in his head once more.

"Let your faith guide be your guide, accept the word of the Father and I will give you purpose, I will set you free"

With that, Rook's mind was made up, he took one step forward to stand one the edge and then another to fall off, the fall didn't feel like a fall, sure he was going down at an alarming rate and he felt the wind on his body, but his body felt no change in movement it was as if he never moved, he watched the ground grow closer and closer as he free fell, feeling pure calm in his heart he closed his eyes and waited.

* * *

Rook's eyes fluttered open, the sunlight burning his eyes like salt in a wound, causing him to hiss in pain as he brought his hand up to shield his eyes. He groaned in pain, unaware of how he ended up like this, surely had not drank that much the night before.

He groaned in pain again as his senses returned to him, from what he could tell was he was lying on his back on the ground, the ground was cold and smooth, it felt almost nice against his skin but his head felt absolutely terrible, it pounded like a jackhammer, if not for the fact that he was outside somewhere in the open he would have just laid there for a while, but the vulnerability made him anxious enough to try to get somewhere safe, he groaned again as he knew sitting up was going to suck.

He sucked in what air he could and tucked his elbows under himself and rolled over and lifted himself onto a knee, he coughed and hacked as he fought off a wave of nausea, the sudden rise in movement and the sunlight made him feel awful.

"Aw geez" He moaned as he forced himself onto his feet, sunlight still burning his eyes, he brought an arm up to shield his eyes and squinted as he sucked in more air as he took a few unease steps forward before stumbling forward, almost tripping on something, he stumbled forward but was able to catch himself before falling over again, he swore and brought a hand to his head as the stumbling made his pounded just a little more irritating, he turned around to see what had tripped him, with his still adjusting eyes still squinted he could see some dark log like object lying on the ground, he could see there was a dozen of the littered all around the area we was lying in, he stared at it for a few moments as his eyes adjusted, as it finally cleared up he could see what it had been lying in front of him and his blood ran cold.

It was dead bodies, a dozen dead bodies in pools of blood had littered the area around him, the discovery kicked his body as awake as it could so Rook could get himself out of danger if needed, Rook did a quick spin to see if any threats still lurked near by. After a few unease three sixties he was able to deduce that no threats were near by, not only that but he was in some sort of gorge or small ravine, trees and other vegetation grew from the sides and barely touched upon the rocky ground he stood on.

That's when it hit him, he slowly began to remember, he hadn't drunk to much the night before, he already dealt with that, he actually had gone to the prison, found his boss and a few allies, met up with Grace, they cleared out the water treatment plant, then... Then what, the events next to Rook were foggy and lost to him,

So what could have possibly happened?

He had to figure out what had happened, he didn't want to touch the bodies, much less turn them over for a full examination. From what he could see, the bodies had no bullet or stab wounds on them, but what's more was the abundance of flies that hovered over the corpses and the smell that clung to them, Rook was no coroner, but he could tell they have been lying here for a few days. Bending down to examine a body caused the AK on his back to slide on his back and hang off his side due to the strap, he stood back up to readjust his weapon, doing this made him really think about his guns, prompting another thought, did he still have all his firearms? He felt his person to discover he still had all four guns, a dark thought drifted through his mind, what if he shot these people? With a quick check of his guns he discovered the right amount of ammo still rested in their clips and magazines, causing Rook to breath a sigh of relief as he re holstered his guns and continued his investigation.

Four men and three women, some face up some face down, all lying in pools of blood and no puncture wounds or signs of struggle besides decay, a quick frisk verifies that all seven victims had no items, possessions or personal effects on their persons.

Rook sighed as there was no information he could gleam from the crime scene, he had no idea what he was doing, nor has he ever been to a proper murder scene, there was nothing he could do, if anything he could make it back to civilization he could tell someone about the bodies if he could give proper directions back to the sight, and as much as he hated to leave these poor souls behind, he had bigger fish to fry, he had to get back to the prison, he needed to go, he gave the bodies a respectful nod before leaving for the gap in the gorge where the stone he was on lead to grassy mounds that sloped down into a hill, that made him somewhat nervous as he didn't like the idea of him being uphill somehow, with no memory of the what seemed like that last few hours. He looked down the apparent hill he rested on and looked down.

"Isn't there like three movies about what happened to me?" He muttered.

The trek down the hill was quicker and harder then he anticipated as the sloped hill made it hard to navigate down as his legs still felt stiff, thankfully he was situated near the base of the hill, but even reaching ground level the unfortunate deputy still had no idea where he was, the landscape consisted of trees spread sporadically, bushes and other vegetation that would be found in a forest, god how he wished he was in the Valley as he would have had a general idea where he was and have a working walkie talkie. Rook observed his surroundings in hopes of some sign of human life, and with the way he was feeling at this point, he didn't care if the human contact was friendly or not.

With no sign of human life in his area Rook groaned in annoyance and anguish as the whole time he had been unconscious on the ground he was exposed to the sun in some capacity and by the time, he could feel the beginnings of a sunburn on his neck and face, and by the time he made it to the bottom of the hill he realized how dehydrated he was, it had to be like four thirty, five O'clock in the afternoon, the last time he drank anything was the drinks he had with Nick the night before so he was feeling very dehydrated and on top of that, neither making his headache any better. With no options left other then drink his own urine, he began to walk forward into the unknown and hoped a road would show itself, Rook was so focused on walking and trying not to think about how awful he felt he lost track of time, he felt like he wandered for a hour, he might as well have walked an hour as it felt like he wasn't making any progress as the walk produced no results, no signs of human life, just more trees and wildlife, he was beginning to think maybe he was leaving the county all together and walking into what should be an near infinite forest, but the snapping of a twig behind him pulled him out of his thoughts, he quickly spun around to face the noise, drawing his AK, the noise sounded a good fifty feet back but I was still good to not take any chances.

He stood there for a moment, gun raised, waiting for any movement, but nothing was there, just trees, bushes and the occasional bird, nothing was there to produce such a noise, perhaps it was just a dehydration induced noise his brain told him he heard, still he watched his surroundings to see any possible threats, then a bush shook slightly, it moved unnaturally as there was no way wind could move the way it did, Rook stared at the bush as it shook lightly before a wolf crept out of the brush, staring at the deputy.

"Easy there, mister wolf I mean you no harm" Rook said in a steady voice, he didn't want to harm the animal as it was most likely just looking for a meal as nature intended. But the wolf crept forward slowly, letting out a low growl.

"Let's take it easy now" Rook said backing up slowly, as he placed a hand on his sawed off.

but the wolf still crept closer, watching the deputy intently.

"Hey, come on, think of your wolf children, you have children right?" Rook asked not expecting a response.

The wolf slowly began to pick up speed as it moved closer to Rook, the sudden pick up of speed made him quickly draw his shotgun and pointed at the ground in front of the wolf, he didn't want to kill the beast, scaring it off would be the best possible outcome.

Then the wolf growled loudly then barked twice and charged the deputy, but he was ready for the wolf's attack and fired his gun at the dirt, the wolf yelped in fear from the thundering sound and the exploding dirt in front of it, the beast jumped back and studied Rook for a moment before running to the side and close in on him from the side.

"Please buddy just go home, I don't want to put you down" Rook called out, hoping the wolf would somehow understand.

The wolf closed in faster then the last time, drawing dangerously close, desperate for the meal, but not fast enough as rook easily trained the gun on it, he hesitated for a moment before pulling the trigger, the wold yelped in pain as it collapsed and crumbled into the ground, he sighed feeling bad about killing the animal, now that he thought about it he had seen very few wolves since he came to the county, he had know wolves thrived in this part of the country, so why had there been so few over these past few weeks.

He approached the wolf and patted a patch of undamaged fur then continued his journey to civilization.

Rook wiped the sweat off his brow for what felt like the millionth time, the sun was beating down on him causing him to sweat profusely, dehydrating him even faster

He stopped abruptly as he heard another noise, this time it was not the snapping of a twig or a noise of a predator, it was the sound of a car in the distance.

"Oh, thank god" Rook moaned as he picked up speed and ran through the tall grass hoping to catch a glimpse of a car or someone who looked halfway decent.

He wasn't sure just how far it was, but he didn't care he just wanted to get out of the endless flat lands, he just kept jogging hoping he'd see something and there it was, he could see the sparse tree line finally broke up as a hill slowly formed, he prayed that there was a road on the other side of it, he sucked in just a little more air and ran up the hill and made it to the top, he stopped to catch his breath and looked down the hill and there it was, road.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, land" Rook moaned in relief over the discovery of road.

His eyes traced the road in hopes of people, signs, or cars, put nothing could be seen as far as the eye could see except a small turnoff down the road. Despite being dehydrated and sore he powered through it and jogged to the turnoff, hoping it would lead to some sort of help, he'd settle for a boat load of peggies at this point, but instead as he turned the corner he could see the road opened up to a trailer park, a part of him subconsciously remembered the trailer park he and Jess had snuck into, but by the looks of things it was not the same as the one that held the defector as this park was a lot more open and the trailer park was littered with propane tanks and a few vehicles dismantled and on fire to some degree.

The fire made the deputy nervous, the fires looked fresh, he grabbed the AK off his back and clutched it tight ready to fight off any foes that may appear, he lowered himself down into a crouch and entered the trailer park proper, the trailer park split into two paths going off to the sides as the center of the park had a small green concrete kiddie pool built onto a elevated concrete platform, the roads wrapped around it before meeting back up on the other side, and from what he could see trailers and mobile offices littered the far side of the roads, and of course enemies could be hiding within the house, he had to be on his guard and be ready for anything, Rook gritted his teeth, ready to spring into action if the need arises.

"Hey, my dude, welcome to utopia!" A man's voice shouted excitedly.

Rook jumped in fear then craned his neck up to the roof of a mobile office where the voice had come from, it had originated from mobile office planted into the ground, and on the office stood a man dressed in a green sweater and baseball cap and brandishing a flamethrower waving him over with a happy smile. This made Rook uneasy as he was getting many mixed signals from the man, he was welcoming some wandering stranger into what looked like his home while showing off his arms, Rook wasn't sure if it was an intimation move or something all together. Rook stood up straight and took a half step back as he thought of what to say to the strange man.

"Uh, hey there" Rook said, unsure if he should just leave or not, if he ran now he could clear the flamethrowers range.

"Come on up here man" the man said happily, waving the man up.

Despite the heavy duty weapon, the man displayed no direct or non-direct threat to the deputy, another day Rook would have just asked for directions, but he was desperate for help, so he walked up and try to climb up the building with a grunt and struggled to get atop, unable to fully pull himself up, he running out of breath fast, he was about to dismount and try again before the green sweater man approached and held out a hand to help Rook up, Rook hesitated for a moment before taking the man's hand and was pulled up.

"Geez man, pull ups, am I right?" The man grinned.

"Yea, that really sucked, thanks by the way, I appreciate the assist, I'm Rook by the way" Rook said trying to catch his breath.

"I am Charlemagne Victor Boshaw, now if you require more brevity in your day to day life, you can just call me Sharky" he said with a big grin.

"Alright then Sharky sounds good, nice to me" Rook said regaining his breath and re-examining the trailer park.

"So what is this place, it's uh, it's a super danger zone out here"

"Welcome to my disco inferno, man, it's my special place where I can just be without prying eyes of my P.O. or witnesses or law enforcement types such as yourself" Sharky grinned.

"wait how do you know I'm with law enforcement?" Rook asked as he knew he had nothing to suggest he was a deputy on his person"

"Oh that's easy man, it's my cousin Hurk, we hang out like all the time, he tells me all kinds of things like how you and him blew up some trucks in a forest and spoke to a blood wolf or something I don't know dude I'm not really into that kinda stuff" Sharky shrugged.

"You know what that doesn't surprise me" Rook said emotionlessly shaking his head, he had known when he entered the trailer park that the owner was more then your everyday weirdo if he was anything like Hurk then this man was cool with doing just about anything regardless of how illegal it was or dangerous it was to his or anyone's health.

"So uh, what is Hurk here now?" Rook asked again.

"Naah, he's off doing something in the Valley I think he said something about strapping bombs to turkeys to defeat the cult" Sharky guessed as if he was unsure if that was correct.

"Holy shit Hurk" Rook groaned as he rubbed his chin, he made a mental note to tell Jerome and Mary, or anyone who handles livestock about the possibility of the turkey bombs, but to do that he would have to regain his bearings and make it back to familiar land.

"So uh, where am exactly I'm kind of lost, I think I passed out a while ago" Rook admitted sheepishly.

"its all good dude, we all have those times where we just drink and drink and drink. But this! This here is where I am free to unleash my fire and mayhem in a pants free, consequence fee environment, I have my pants on now yes, but who knows what the next half-hour, forty-five minutes holds for us" Sharky said.

"I, um appreciate the answer but, uh, I think I'm going to keep my pants on" Rook replied.

"That's cool dude, totally, totally, do what you gotta, the pants free lifestyle is not for everyone" Sharky said, nodding his head, agreeing with the deputy.

"So uh, looks like your planning for a concert out here?" Rook asked, eyeing a microphone stand that was positioned next to a few floor pedals with a bevy of wires snaking out from it and running off in all directions.

"Naah man, but I got a sweet ass sound system rigged for a one hundred and ten decibels of the hottest music ever created" Sharky smirked.

"You got any rock and roll or something good hooked up to this thing?" Rook asked, his eyes beginning to follow the wires that connected to all speakers that were scattered around the trailer park, despite his head pounding like sledgehammer he kind of wanted to hear some Queen or some other rock band blasting out of these impressive looking speakers.

"Rock and roll?! What you kidding, no way man, I'm all about that disco, that stuff moved the world, just you wait when it comes back no one will listen to that stuff"

"Disco?" Rook echoed back in disbelief, he had been quite knowledgeable in music and never had he ever heard anything that would suggest the return of disco much less hear anyone talk about it.

"Yea guy, disco, Donna Summers, Bee Gees, Chic, the father, son and righteous ghost or music dude you into disco?" asked, getting excited again.

"So, uh, disco huh, I'm more of a rock and roller, disco isn't really my thing, but I can appreciate it" Rook admitted.

"That's cool man I know it's not for everyone, music is music, it's all great... Well except country, that stuff is for the Satan worshippers and people who posts their live reactions to stuff online" Sharky simmering down a little bit.

Rook simply nodded and hummed a noise of agreement.

"You seem like a cool guy, if you like disco maybe your as cool as I think, if you ever bring some brewskis over maybe we can blast some Clash or Talking Head and shoot peggies or something" Sharky offered.

"Sure, dude sounds good" Rook said, having no intention of doing what had just ben proposed, he couldn't waste his time drinking and shooting stuff for the hell of it, he did enough of that with Nick anyways.

"But I have a teensy weensy prob, maybe you can help a fellow appreciator of music out, I'll give you a bonafide Sharky I.O.U." Sharky asked.

"Sure I don't mind seeing what I can do" Rook said, Rook really didn't want to be doing favors for strangers as he felt like shit, he also wasn't one for expecting rewards for his good deeds but if he could cash one in this would be it as he desperately needed help getting back to the prison or at least some water.

"Ok sweet, so like every time I crank up my music, those dipshit cult angels, they just come runnin' and I can't tell if they love it or hate it but I'm telling you it sure is fun to melt their faces off, but don't worry man, the angels, they is already brain dead, I'm just giving them a glorious send off to disco heaven, hey, you wanna help? It's good fun, man, I promise not to tell anyone… we don't even have to wear pants or nothing"

"So what do you need me to do exactly?" Rook asked, clearly not grasping what Sharky was asking.

"Can you help me clear out the remaining bliss angels so I can jam out in peace?" Sharky asked.

"Um, yea, sure I'll help, but uh, I think I'll keep my pants on" Rook said nodding.

"Ok sweet, I supply the music and use the flamethrower to make 'em dance, and you use your… I don't know, whatever it is you got, you seem like you got samurai cop vibes coming off ya' but I don't see your katana so just do whatever you do, let's burn this mother down!" Sharky exclaimed while jumping up slightly in excitement.

"Wait so your going to turn on the music that will bring them all down here right?" Rook asked.

"Hell yeah man, it will be great" Sharky grinned.

"Wait hold on, you want me to shoot a bunch of dudes down there" Rook said, gesturing to the trailer park littered with propane tanks and other highly flammable items.

"That's the plan dude" Sharky replied.

"But it's a minefield down there, what if a stray bullet hits something explosive or something, this place is a huge safety hazard, we gotta clean this place up" Rook argued.

"Well yea, but without it, it wouldn't be as cool right" Sharky replied hoping to appeal to the deputy's sense of excitement.

Rook stared at the man before replying.

"Screw it, I feel to shitty to argue, hit it Boshaw" Rook sighed, and dismounted the condo.

"Fuck yea my dude" Sharky cried happily as he stopped on the floor pedal causing Disco Inferno by The Trammps started to blast out of all the speakers that surrounded the park accompanied by fireworks and pyrotechnics

The cacophonous orchestra boomed and echoed out of the park, the noise bounced around in Rook's skull, making regret doing this whole thing as the noise was increasing his headache, he brought his hands up to cover his ears, he was sure he heard Sharky said something but he didn't care, his head hurt to much, he just kept staring at the front gate for the angels to show up, but nothing came down the road.

"Where are they!" Rook yelled looking up at the pyromaniac.

Sharky shouted something as he pointed back to the front gate, Rook followed his point to a herd of angels had magically appeared and was running up the driveway and towards the two.

"Aw crap, here we go" Rook muttered as he removed his hands from his head and regretted intermediately as the music assaulted his ears even louder then before, causing him to wince in pain, he gritted his teeth and retrieved his AK and fired upon the herd.

Bullets buried themselves into several angels, causing them to stumble and falter, a few slowed down and pushed back to the back of the herd, there had to be fifteen of them all shoving each other, all trying to pass one another to get to their newfound attacker, Rook shot a few more rounds into the herd to no effect.

"Shit, Grace wasn't kidding" Rook mumbled as he began backing away, the herd drew ever closer, getting twenty feet from the front gate.

"Hey dude, I'd get up here if I were you" Sharky called out.

Rook mentally agreed with the man as he would be quickly swarmed by the herd of angels, he turned and ran back to the condo Sharky stood on.

"Hey please help me up!" Rook cried as he struggled to climb up the condo again.

"On my way" Sharky replied as he ran over and pulled the deputy up and the two stood side by side as the angel horde entered the park and charged the pair.

"Here we go" Rook muttered.

* * *

The angels charged the men, a few bee lined straight for the men, a few broke off to climb near by trailers that were connected via wood and sheet metal that bridged the trailers. Sharky handled those charging on the ground while Rook dealt with those crossing the trailers, he emptied what remained his clip into one angel, causing it to fall over, hopefully to drift into death as another one in close pursuit, with no time to reload he waited for the angel to draw within arms length and bashed him with the butt of his gun causing him to stagger, Rook used this to grab him by the collar and shoved him off the side of the trailer, allowing Sharky to cook him.

"I used to dream about doin' this at a Grateful Dead concert" Sharky laughed as he sprayed fire everywhere.

"To be honest I once dreamed of doing something less lethal at a Queen concert" Rook replied, really beginning to sweat due to being so close to the fire.

"Hey easy with that, yea?" Rook said.

"You got it dude" Sharky replied.

And the two fought the group of angels, as they near cleared one group another came running down up the driveway, Rook new the cult's reach was big but not to this extent, aside from the seemingly endless peggies that stood in his way, there was also dozens if not hundreds of these drug addled souls, clad in all white, shaven bald and adorned with medical masks, and if they were like anything like the one he encountered in the field, then god knows how many poor souls were left to wander the county, Rook knew Faith was not as aggressive as her family, she still had abandoned so many people and left them to die, she needed to be stopped, he wasn't sure who to really go after now, he had spent so long dealing with John, now that he could see just how bad Faith and touched the Henbane, and then there was Jacob, he had rarely been in the mountains but Rook knew just how vicious he truly was, Rook knew if he truly wanted to make a difference, he would have to be better.

"Dang, I tell you what man, I am spent! I'm gonna shut 'er down for a bit! Take a breather my dude!" Sharky shouted.

The shout pulled Rook out of his thoughts as he truly examined his surroundings, he could see that the herd gone, and no more angels coming down the road, Rook felt relieved that the worst was over, but that was quickly replaced with disgusted as he realized he was drenched in sweat from the adrenaline and close proximity to the flamethrower

"Yes please!" Rook shouted back as all the gunfire and music had amplified his headache into something truly awful, out of the corner of his eye he could see Sharky stomping a floor pedal a few times, by the looks and sounds of things it the pedal did nothing.

"What the—ah shitty shit, my pedal busted on me! I can't stop the music! The angels are going to keep comin'!"

Rook groaned in pain as the music and pyrotechnics assaulted his ears.

"What do we do?!" Rook hollered.

"Ok amigo, I need yer help! Go hit the kill switches!"

"Where are they?!" Rook groaned again.

"There's one up here with me, I already hit it obviously, another is by the buildin' on your left, the third is up the watchtower by the entrance and the last is on the fallen pole on the far right!" called to the departing deputy.

"Why would you install so many, so far apart from each other?!" Rook yelled.

"It sounded like a good idea at the time!" Sharky hollered back.

Rook growled and rolled his eyes, this was bullshit.

The deputy leapt from the roof and hit the ground running for the far-left switch, he could hear angels being cooked and others breaking off and giving chase, some on fire, some not. He dared not look back at the ensuing enemies, he just kept staring ahead, he could see the switch, it had a large red light next to it, as he approached the lever he scrambled for his shotgun and pulled it close to his chest and as he got within arms length he quickly spun around and fired twice causing the horde to stagger giving him time to pull the lever, making the red light turned bright green, relieved he shelved the shotgun and sprinted to the watchtower that stood by the park entrance,

He threw himself against the ladder and desperately tried to climb up as the angels were mere feet behind him, he shakily placed his feet on the rungs and ascended a few rungs before feeling fingers wrap around his belt and legs, the angels had grabbed him and began pulling him back down, Rook tightened his grip on the ladder and flailed his legs in hopes of kick himself free, he could feel himself landing a few good kicks but the angel refused to let go, Rook bucked and kicked several more times before he was able to shake himself free, but he needed to hurry as he could here a few more getting to close for comfort, he wasted no time and scampered up the ladder and entered the booth. He took a few uneven breaths and pulled the lever in front of him, it had been the only thing that sat in the box with him, the red light turned green and Rook felt just a little closer to peace and quiet, despite all the music, pyrotechnics and fireworks, he could hear some climb the ladder, he fished around in his pockets for a few more shotgun shells, he despite him not using the shotgun today he only found seven, he loaded one shell into the gun before a angel poked his head up into the booth, scaring the deputy, out of fear he pulled his foot back and kicked the angel in the face, causing him to fall off the ladder, with a few seconds of bought time he loaded the second shell in and looked down the ladder and saw two more angels climbing up, in response to this, Rook leaned over and pointed his shotgun and fired both rounds, causing both to fall off, he quickly reloaded again and slid down the ladder in mere seconds, with his feet firmly on the ground he felt impressed with himself as the only experience he had sliding down ladders was watching people do it in movies.

But his feelings of accomplishment were quickly washed away as a wall of fire sprang up in front of him, he was mere feet away from the burn zone.

"holy shit!" Rook cried as he instinctively raised an arm to shield himself, the immense heat caused him to shut his eyes until it subsided, the heat lasted for a few seconds before the fire died out and the early summer breeze returned.

The deputy opened his eyes to see a few charred bodies and a cheering Sharky off to the side.

"Woowee, you see that man, they didn't see me comin' while you kung fu copped 'em!" he cheered.

Rook didn't have time to reply as during Sharky's showboating an angel had risen behind him and charged at him, metal pipe in hand.

Sharky jogged up to Rook with a big goofy smile, hand held in the air wanting a high five.

"Behind you!" Rook shouted as he dropped his shotgun and his hand shot to his pistol holster and pulled out his pistol and trained it on the braindead addict charged Sharky and fired a single round, the bullet lodging itself in the angel's head, causing him to drop to the floor and roll toward Sharky.

"Holy shit dude!" Sharky yelled as he ran out of the way.

"We got to stay focused!" Rook called out as he quickly retrieved his discarded shotgun, as he did he could see several angels moving in.

"Can you cover me?" he yelled.

"You got it dude" Sharky replied as he sprayed fire, waving the thrower around to discourage any angels from approaching.

Rook used this time to reload all his weapons and eyeball the general area of the final lever.

"OK you ready to hit the final switch?" Rook asked.

"Let's do it!" Sharky retorted as he ceased the flame sprayer and ran towards the final switch, the lack of flames allowed the angels to move in, despite killing several angels, there were several more in the park, Rook followed Sharky as he fired at the encroaching angels.

Sharky ran through the park, past a burning car and several explosive containers, occasionally spraying fire to push back angels and moved towards some fallen telephone poll or lamp post with speakers strapped to it with the deputy in tow, guarding their six.

"Where is it?!" Rook yelled, looking over his shoulder, scanning the area for a red light.

"Right there, dude" Shark called out as he steadied his flamethrower to cook more incoming angels

"Right where?" Rook asked as Sharky had made no indication to the light other then saying 'right there'.

"Like, right there, in this area" Sharky said, cooking a few more angels.

Rook growled as no progress was being made.

"Screw it, watch the fire, I'm going in" Rook said as he pushed past the pyro and moved into the general area of the lever.

"Come on, come on" Rook grumbled as he desperately looked around while occasionally shoot at an angel that gets to close for comfort.

Rook's eyes swept over an area for the dozenth time before seeing a small red light glowing on an upturned poll.

"Oh, thank god" Rook moaned as he vaulted over a stack of wooden pallets and ran for the lever, he would have thought himself as mighty impressive as he had been doing so good but as his feet toughed the ground he was tackled to the ground.

"Ah, son-itch" he coughed as the angel knocked the wind out of him and begun punching him repeatedly.

"Hang on dude!" he heard Sharky yell.

Rook tried to bring his hands up to protect himself from the beating, but couldn't as the angel had overpowered him.

The angel roared and punched Rook again, before getting knocked over as Sharky had slammed his flamethrower into the side of the angel.

"Go for the lever dude" Sharky called out as he turned and shot flames what the few angels that were left.

Rook stumbled to his feet while coughing, trying to regain his balance as he trudged forward to the lever, his head pounded like a jackhammer as he got closer to the lever, it was a mere ten feet from a blasting speaker. He stumbled forward, grabbing the pole that the lever was strapped too, he sucked in one last shaky breath and pulled the lever. With that the music came to an abrupt stop and silence flooded the area, aside from the crackling of fire, he could only assume Sharky had dealt with the remaining angels, Rook tilted his head back in relief as the headache inducing noise had been shut off.

"Dude that was awesome!" He heard Sharky boast.

"Uh, yea that was great" Rook said lifting his head back up.

"We crushed those guys, dude you rocked it!" he laughed.

"Yeah, we really did a number on them" Rook said strapping his AK to his back and began rubbing his temple.

"What can I say amigo, you and me, we got chemistry, we're like… we're like a frickin' team" Sharky praised.

"Uh yeah we really kicked butt" Rook said unsure if the statement was true ask he had done most of the work.

"Hey listen dude, if you ever need anything ever, you hit me up and I'll help out" Sharky offered.

"Well know that you mentioned it I could really use a ride to the county jail in the Henbane river... Are we even in the Henbane, my day has had more blackouts then I'd like to admit" Rook said rubbing the back off his head.

"Oh yea, we totally in the Henbane, the prison isn't that far actually, I don't really have a car or anything but I'll totally walk you there" Sharky offered.

"I'd really appreciate it" Rook nodded.

"Alright!" Sharky said clapping his hands together then rubbing them.

"Quit yer grinnin' and drop your linen, let's move out!" He cheered as he pointed off into the distance, Rook could only assume that's where the prison was.

"Alright, sweet let's go" Rook said beginning to march off in that direction.

"Oh, hey dude before we get moving do you want somethin' to drink or somethin, you don't look to hot, well I mean you do look hot that's why I'm offering?" Sharky asked.

The previous skirmish Rook had endured made him completely forget about his great thirst and pounding headache, the idea of getting some fluid in him sounded fantastic.

"You know what, I would really love something to drink" rook nodded.

"Righteous my guy, follow me, I got drinks back at my place" Sharky said as he waved to Rook, signaling him to follow, the two climbed down the trailer they stood on and began walking to the trailer park entrance.

"So uh, where is your house?" Rook asked, confused as to where the house would be since they were leaving the compound.

"It's just down the road there" Sharky said pointing to a small condo three hundred feet down the road, barely poking out of the treeline.

"oh uh, nice, hey you said you don't have a car right?" Rook asked.

"Yea, not anymore, unfortunately it kinda blew up a few weeks ago" Sharky admitted leading the way to the condo.

"Peggies huh?"

"Nawh, I blew her up by accident" Sharky admitted.

"Oh, well, uh, I can't say I really had that problem myself" Rook replied, trying to hide his surprise.

"I'm not surprised, you seem like a real upstanding dude, I bet you never get in trouble since yer a deputy and all"

"Yea, I tend to keep my head down, so, uh, it seems pretty quiet out here, peggies bother you much?" Rook asked.

"Eeeh, kinda, when ever I blasted my music those angels keep coming down the hill, and occasionally some actual peggies come down shoutin' about how I'm disrupting their pilgrimage or whatever they do" Sharky shrugged.

"What's the pilgrimage?"

"Hell, if I know dude, I think its something they do to look cool in front of the new guys or something" Sharky guessed.

"I might have to look into this, it sounds nefarious, so besides blasting disco what do you do at your trailer park?" rook asked.

"Oh, y'know, blow shit up, make things to set on fire, find new ways to set things on fire, try to shoot bees with a B.B. gun" Sharky rambled on.

"You must really like fire then?" Rook asked, trying to get to know the bizarre man.

"Hey what can I say, fire is like, this beautiful thing, it's so majestic, it's like a two headed unicorn with light sabers for horns, y'know what I'm saying?" Sharky grinned.

"No, not at all" Rook deadpanned.

"Eh, don't worry about it then you'll find your duel headed unicorn one day" Sharky waved off.

"I hope so, I never really been in the Henbane before so is there anything I gotta know?" Rook asked.

"Uuuh, I don't know actually not too much happens out here, cult shut just about everything cool, like the old haunted house, man O'hara was really cool, uh, I'd stay clear of the lake water, I think they dump that bliss crap in there and they got these gun boats patrolling the river or whatever, but nothings really not happening but there is some pretty cool places out here like there's a cool taxidermy place up north, my auntie's marina, the prison but you already know that, uh, there is a pretty sweet geothermal park but I'm pretty sure the cult got their hands on that, but still it's a pretty dope place, I'd still check it out if I were you, um, Faith's got a bunch of the bliss flowers growin' all over the place let me tell you man you do not , repeat do not wanna get that stuff in you man, bliss is a real wild ride" Sharky replied.

"Yea you don't have to tell me that, bliss is really rough" Rook stated, thinking back to how bad he felt when he first woke and how much worse he had gotten since then.

"Yea but that Faith though, talk about psycho radar failin' me man, when I first met Faith I tell ya, I was ready to eat her up like a dog on a peanut butter biscuit, you see, I ain't had much luck with woman in my life and Faith was sweet and gentle- she'd come around we'd chit chat, course my brain wasn't actually registerin' the words she was sayin' my ears were paying way to much attention to the soothing sound of her voice and like the pitch, the cadence, it melted my heart, guess there's a downfall to being so musically inclined, man if she was in a band I'd totally listen that, hell man I'd try to be in that band, hey you could be apart of it too due" Sharky rambled on.

"Wait hold on, you talk to Faith?!" Rook said shocked over the in Sharky had with the cult.

"Yea but not anymore, this was when the cult first moved in and they weren't really a big deal, I kinda bailed on her once they did start to get big, y'know with all the land stealin' and shady shit they did" Sharky replied.

"Welp, here we are" Sharky said as they approached the front lawn of the condo.

Sharky led him to the door of the building, he pulled out a key from his pocket and slipped it into the lock and opened the door.

"Welcome to Cassa La Sharkagedon" Sharky laughed and entered, placing his flamethrower down, leaning it up against the wall next to the door.

The trailer door opened up to a small common room attached to a kitchen, there were a few doors attached to the building, they obviously to bathroom and bedroom, but in general it was a lot cleaner then Rook had expected, he had expected piles of junk everywhere as if a teenager lived here but it was clean, sure there was some organized chaos throughout the main room as there was a few piles of stuff here and there but it was clear some piles had things he used repeatedly as others were just piles of dirty clothes, a few signs littered the floor, no smoking, flammable keep away, caution do not enter, he clearly did not obtained these legally, but the oddest thing he had was in the corner of the room next to the tv was a big bright blue carton wolf head, it looked like it belonged to some sports team mascot suit, but it made no sense as the county mascot was a cougar so how and why did he have a big blue wolf head?

"So, what do you want, I got water, OJ, beer, you wanna have a few brewskis before we hit the road?" Sharky called from the open fridge.

"I'm fine with water, thanks" Rook answered looking back to the man digging around in the fridge.

"You got it dude" he said standing back up and closing the fridge door and walked to a cupboard next to the fridge and opened it up to reveal a case of bottled water, he pulled one from the case and underhand tossed it to Rook.

"Thanks" Rook said as he twisted the cap off and tilted his head back to drink.

The water was warm but yet so cold as the liquid entered his mouth, it was only till now just how thirsty he was as it hurt to swallow and how refreshing it was as he gulped down nearly half the bottle in one go.

"Oh, thank god" he moaned in relief as he pulled the bottle from his lips, it felt the water had purified his dried-out body.

"Feelin' better?" Sharky laughed.

"Oh, you have no idea" Rook replied.

"You need anythin' else"

"Naah, I'm ready to go whenever you are" Rook stated.

"Then let's blow this Popsicle stand!" Sharky exclaimed as he over dramatically pointed to the front door and smiled at the deputy.

Rook chuckled slightly, maybe this Sharky fellow wasn't so bad as he originally thought after all.

* * *

**Hey y'all I'm back in the saddle, everything is back on track and I feel confident in saying I will be back on my "schedule" and will update regularly.**

**Cheers. **


	8. Chapter 8

The walk to the prison was not as far as Rook had thought as it only took half and hour to make it the prison, granted they were slowed by a few peggies here and there but were quickly dispatched as Sharky's flamethrower made as an excellent distraction. But the walk had been simple as "Manor Boshaw" was attached to a road the broke off into a winding road that snaked through the trees and ended at an asphalt road with the prison on the other side of it.

"Oh shit" Rook muttered.

"Yea see, I told you I'd get you back" Sharky grinned as he patted the deputy on the back.

"Hey, you wanna come in, maybe stay the night, I don't wanna send you back home by yourself at night?" Rook asked.

Sharky thought about it for a moment before replying.

"Uhh I Don't know man, I've never really gone to jail without being in some sort of trouble or being able to get out with a get out of jail free card" Sharky said, showing some concern.

"No one will arrest you, trust me, we have bigger fish to fry then a man with a flamethrower

"Well, sure but still people may not be happy with the things I may or may not have done, you feel me?" Sharky asked.

"Listen, if anything happens I'll vouch for you, you totally saved my life, and we could really use your firepower, tell you what, come with me and get some dinner and I'll get someone to drive you home" Rook offered.

Sharky scratched his chin, thinking over what the deputy had said.

"Alright dude, I trust you" he said calmly.

"Sweet, follow me" Rook said nodding, looking both ways before crossing the road then crossing.

From the walk up the prison's driveway he could see that the prison looked quiet besides the guards lining the walls it looked like nothing had happened since he left this morning, maybe news of his disappearance had not reached the prison yet. The two approached the front gate, a few guards had noticed them approached the gate.

"Hey guys, I'm back" Rook waved up to the wall guards.

"Holy shit deputy, is that you?" One of the guards called.

The few more guards looked down at the deputy and pyromaniac in surprise, rather they looked at just they deputy, they're curiosity of who was at their door quickly became a worried panic.

"Uh yeah, hey I have a feeling I've been gone for a little longer then expected" Rook winced, as he could see the shock and worry on the guards and feel a little bad about it, who knew who else was aware of his vanishing act, Grace for sure, she most likely searched for him and or told Whitehorse, which would have trickled down to Virgil and Tracey then they would have probably told any outgoing parties and anyone on watch, at that point Rook just assumed everyone knew.

"Dude get inside now, everyone's been looking for you!" one of them hollered, pointing to the door.

"Uh, yea, sure" Rook mumbled, feeling the pit in his grow as he felt worse over worrying everyone.

As Rook and Sharky pushed through the first gate of the prison Rook could feel the eyes of the few people milling about the courtyard on him, they stared at him wide-eyed a few even whispered to each other.

"Uh hey guys, I'm back" Rook smiled awkwardly hoping nothing horrible had happened within his missing time.

"Holy shit, deputy is that you?!" one of the resistance members finally spoke up and ran up to him.

"Uh, hey there" Rook said hoping the man wouldn't rip him apart for the vanishing act.

"Where have you been, everyone's been out looking for you, Grace came back few hours ago saying how you just never came out of the treatment plant, what happened?!" the man exclaimed.

Rook drew in air through clenched teeth, he was starting to feel real scummy over what had happened, sure it wasn't his fault of course, but still the resistance member said search groups had been deployed, everyone must no he had disappeared.

"Yea, bout that" Rook groaned as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What happened?!" the man exclaimed again.

"It's all good man" Sharky cut in nonchalantly.

"What?" the man breathed, turning to look at the man with the flamethrower next to the deputy.

"The dude just had a few to many, it we all do it, so why not let bygones be bygones?" Sharky waved off.

"No, no, no, that's not what happened!" Rook exclaimed desperately trying to dismiss the idea of him getting black out drunk in the middle of nowhere.

"Just tell me what happened!" the man exclaimed again, just wanting a straight forward answer.

"I think I got blissed ok?" Rook replied, saying that just loud enough so anyone who was watching the whole exchange could here.

"Listen, please just point me towards Virgil or the sheriff, I really need to talk to them" Rook begged.

"Virgil is in his office and I don't know where the sheriff is" the man spoke quickly.

"Alrighty, thanks chief" Rook said and thanked the man before he and Sharky broke off from the conversation and headed indoor.

Inside the prison the air was nice and cool, there was no air conditioning yet the air still felt cool and it felt nice as Rook's clothes were full of sweat, despite how gross he felt, it was nothing compared to his head that still pounded like a drum, the fight at the trailer park had not treated him kindly. As the duo walked through the prison halls more and more people looked at him as he passed, some whispered to someone else, others some simply stared, Rook knew now his disappearance had made waves within the prison, he needed to find the sheriff or someone fast.

"Wow man this place looks pretty cool when you're not in trouble" Sharky said looking around, pulling Rook out of his thoughts.

"Uh yea, it's a cool place, it's good at keeping people in and out" Rook replied.

"Yea man it's like a castle or something, hey where we goin?" Sharky asked.

"We're going to see one of the guys that run this place" Rook said pointing to an open door at the end of the hall they were in.

"Radical" Sharky said extending this index and pinky finger to throw up the devils' horns.

* * *

The office door was wide open, Rook came close to the door frame and poked his head in, he could see Virgil sitting at his desk, he was speaking to a woman standing at the other side of his desk, he looked quite nervous as he spoke fast and stammered quite often and sweat had built up on his brow, as quickly as he spoke, he dismissed the woman and she turned and quickly left the room, she past by Rook giving him a wide eyed stare as she pasted, he gave her a small nod before looking back into the room, he could she Virgil reach into his breast pocket to retrieve a handkerchief and wiped his brow and sighed.

"Hey Virgil" Rook called out, unsure what to really say, much less what to expect as he entered the room, out the corner of his eye he could see Sharky follow him in.

Virgil turned and saw the deputy, he looked at him with great shock before it melt into relief, then stood up and moved as fast as he could to the deputy.

"Oh deputy, thank goodness your alive, you've had everyone very, very worried about you!" Virgil exclaimed, gripping Rook's forearms tightly as if he let go he would disappear again.

"Yea sorry about that, I didn't really intend to disappear like that" Rook sighed feeling truly awful for making everyone worry about him.

"Wh-where did you go, what happened out t-there, Miss Armstrong waited for you to exit the building, when you didn't come out she looked and looked for you, but couldn't find you!" He exclaimed again.

"Well to be honest with you, Mister Minkler" Rook mumbled while rubbing his neck.

"I kinda don't remember"

"Y-you do- you don't remember!" Virgil hiccuped.

"What do you mean you don't remember!"

"I don't know remember anything" Rook shrugged, unable to properly answer.

"There must be some sort of explanation to this!" Virgil said loudly.

"What, we all get blasted every now and again, no biggie" Sharky shrugged, finally chiming in.

"Stop saying that!" Rook begged, turning to Sharky, raising his arms slightly.

"Well I'll ha- wait a minute who are you?!" Virgil asked, suddenly aware and nervous of the man with the flamethrower in the room.

"I, sir am known as Sharky" Sharky smiled, placing his free hand on his chest.

Virgil stared at Sharky and his flamethrower for a moment.

"I- how did you get in here?" Virgil asked nervously.

"Like in the room or the prison dude?" Sharky said, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"The prison!"

"I came in with this badass here" Sharky grinned as he placed a hand on Rook's shoulder.

"Wait you just brought this deviant into our home!" Virgil cried as he turned back to the deputy.

"Wait, deviant, I mean yeah sure he's not as cautious or uh, serious as us but he has really helped me out and I think he can really help us out" Rook replied.

"Regardless of what he may or may not have done for you, this man is a danger to everyone around him" Virgil tried to explain.

"Ok yes, he can be a little reckless with his flamethrower but come on, aren't you being a little harsh?" Rook asked.

"No not at all, don't think I have forgotten about you Mister Boshaw, just because the cult has overtaken the county doesn't mean I have forgotten how you burned down the town roller rink some years back" Virgil said, pointing an accusing finger at Sharky.

"Not only that but you have been arrested multiple times for arson and public masturbation"

"Wait he did what?" Rook muttered.

"Now hold on there, my dude, if I may interject, it's not technically public masturbation as I was in my car" Sharky clarified.

"That does not excuse your indecency" Virgil countered.

"Guys!" Rook exclaimed, shutting both men up and pulling all attention onto himself, he was getting really sick of this, all he wanted was to have a normal conversation with someone and find out what had happened in his absence then get some food and more water then a nice nap in hopes of getting rid of this horrible headache.

"Let's roll it back a minute here ok, Mister Minkler, Sharky here really helped me out, if not for him I would probably still be lost in the middle of nowhere or worse, and in the time I had spent with him, I never felt like he was a bad guy or anything, sure he has a love of fire, so as long as he doesn't fire his flamethrower in the prison I believe he should be treated like any other member of the resistance"

Virgil was silent for a moment, his lips twitched as if he wanted to say something.

"Very well, but if he so much as touches the trigger on his weapon, he will be removed from the premises" He huffed.

"And I expect you to keep an eye on him, if I find out he's been causing anyone trouble, I will have to ask you to make him leave"

"Don't worry dude, I'll keep my head down, no trouble here" Sharky smiled, holding his right hand up as if he was talking an oath in a courtroom.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me" Virgil said, giving the two men a small nod and quickly left the room.

"Alright my dude, sounds like we can roam the halls" Sharky smirked.

"Yea, so let's go, I gotta find my boss then we can get dinner or something" Rook offered.

"Sweetness, I actually like prison food, its pretty good" Sharky grinned.

"Uh, yea but we really got to talk about that roller rink and public masturbation later" Rook replied.

"Um, yea sure dude I got nothin' to hide" Sharky returned.

"Well ok then, let's get a move on shall we?" Rook said motioning to the door.

* * *

The two walked down the halls, he could feel eyes back on him and Sharky, news of his return had not spread to the whole prison just yet. The stares were making Rook uncomfortable but for Sharky he was rather enjoying it for some reason, he was using the attention to give finger guns and asked them how they were doing to all the women that watched the two pass by them.

"Dude you know that's not why their staring at us" Rook mumbled.

"Yea I know, but why not make the best of the situation?" Sharky suggested.

"I guess, but really wish everyone would stop staring, it's not making me feel to good" Rook admitted.

"Yea I get you, it reminds me of how people looked at me when I accidently burned the roller rink down" Sharky replied.

"Let's just find the sheriff or something and get this clear this up, to be honest I don't know the layout of this place or where anyone would be so we might be at this for a while"

"No biggie, I got nothing goin' on back home" Sharky waved off.

"Holy shit, you really are back!" a surprised woman's voice came from behind the two men, followed by the sounds of footfalls in quick repartition, someone was running towards them. The two men turned in time to see Tracey jogging up to them.

"So is it true, did you get blissed?" Tracey asked, leaning towards him slightly, staring into Rook's eyes intently as if searching for something

"Um yea, I don't really remember how I got hit with it or anything but after that it's all scratchy, I remember talking to someone and I remember being up high somewhere but that's about it" Rook said rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, that sounds like bliss, sounds like a low dose too, you should feel real fucking lucky all things considered, not just anyone gets a light dose" Tracey replied, placing her hands in her hoodie pockets, her eyes drifting to the man that was with the deputy, he looked familiar to her but couldn't quite place it, but the large flamethrower he carried made her nervous as a lot of the rooms were on the small side so if he decided to let loose he could do a lot of damage, but if he came here with the deputy then maybe he could be trusted, she didn't particularly trust either man, but if Whitehorse says Rook is good then he had to be good.

"Yeah no kidding" Rook mumbled, he felt really awkward for some reason but couldn't understand why.

"So do you remember anything that was talked about while high?" Tracey asked.

"No not at all, I'm pretty sure I did most of the listening anyways" Rook shrugged.

"That's how she gets you though, she schemes and lies to get what she wants" Tracey seethed, her face scrunched in anger.

"What are you talking about, who are you talking about?" Rook asked.

"Faith" Tracy spat, her words full of venom and vitriol.

"She gets you by lying and manipulating you into thinking she's this perfect like sweetheart that can't do no fucking wrong" she said, disgusted.

"Then once your trapped in her fucking spiderweb she'll load you up with more bliss so you'll do whatever the fuck she asks"

"When uh, when I was at the water treatment plant with Grace, when we got there we could she peggies just dumping literal barrels of bliss into the system, that's, um, that's a really messed up thing to do" Rook muttered.

"Exactly" she spat, pointing a finger at Rook.

"That sounds exactly like something that bitch would do, I bet she'd dump it all in the lake if she could, fuck up all the fish and anything that goes near the water"

"Shit, I never thought about it like that" Rook shuttered.

"All the more reason to crush the fucking cult sooner then later" Tracey replied.

"Yeah, so uh, I really need to check in with the sheriff, do you know where he is?" Rook asked.

"He's in the command center doing his thing"

"Thanks, I should probably go pop my head in and let him know I'm alive, thanks for uh, checking in on me" Rook said as he began to disengage from the conversation and head to the command room before another idea popped into his mind.

"Oh, before you go!" Rook waving Tracey back over.

"What about Grace, where is she?" Rook asked, he couldn't imagine how Grace was feeling, she was either blaming herself for his disappearance or angry that he just up and left without her. He heard Sharky say something in regards to Grace's name being brought up but neither Rook or Tracey acknowledged it as they were to focused on Grace's whereabouts.

"Right, Grace is still out there looking for you, she came back here a while ago to let us know what happened and we sent a bunch of dudes out to get the clean water and to help find you"

"Oh shit, you serious?!" Rook cried, now he was feeling horrible physical and emotionally as Grace and a few people were most likely overturning every stone to find him for the last few hours.

"Unfortunately yeah, and since the radios are jammed we can't call them to let them know your back so we're going to have to send someone to let her know" Tracey said.

"Screw it, I'll go get her, this is my mess" Rook said turning to leave but was stopped as Tracey had grabbed his arm.

"Listen deputy, I'm sure your a badass and all, but, you kinda look like shit" she put bluntly.

"Yea dude, I didn't want to say anything since you're a cool dude and all but your not lookin' to hot" Sharky chimed in.

As much as Rook wanted to tell them they was wrong, he knew they were right, his head still pounding, the water bottle Sharky had given him only did so much, he hadn't eaten anything today and was coated in a very light layer of ever present sweat, he couldn't imagine what he smelt like.

"Tell you what" she said, tightening her grip on him slightly and tugging him back gently.

"I'll go tell Whitehorse your back and get someone out to grab Armstrong, you go to the cafeteria get something to eat then go crash, you look like you could really use some sleep".

Rook sighed in defeat, as much as he would have loved to go get Grace, the idea of nourishment and sleep called to him, he needed it.

"Alright fine, where's the cafeteria?" Rook sighed.

"Down that hall and to the left, third door on the left it should be open" Tracey replied releasing her grip on the man.

"Thanks" he muttered and started shuffling down the hall towards the cafeteria, his mind drifted over the events of the day, about how he and Grace worked together to clear the treatment plant, they had done it at what, nine O'clock, ten O'clock, he didn't know, his internal clock was to distorted to know what time it was even know, during the walk to the prison the sun had begun to drop down into those first shades of orange, Grace most likely will not return until the orange sky becomes black night. Rook sighed again feeling absolutely terrible over abandoning his friend and making her waste so much time.

"Hey man don't worry about ol' Gracie" Sharky said trying to reassure his friend, pulling Rook out of his head.

"Don't worry about her man, I've known her since high school, she's like one of the toughest women in Hope's County"

"Yea I know, but still, I feel pretty scummy for just leaving her out there" rook admitted.

"Did you do it on purpose?"

"Naah, I think me being blissed is what separated us" Rook answered, turning left and into and new smaller hallway, he could easily see the door Tracey had mentioned.

"Then it's not your fault, it's not like you asked to get high or anything, now Grace may not look it but she can be a very forgiving woman, I may have done something to her accidentally that I'm not to proud of but she forgave me eventually… Ok that sounded better in my head but what I'm trying to say is you can't just blame yourself for ever lil' thing outta yer control, if that makes sense" Sharky said, trying to make his friend feel better.

Sharky was right, he wasn't the most eloquent man in the county but the point he made did make it across, the events of this afternoon was not his fault, there was nothing he could do, his only real option was to apologize to Grace when she returned and try to move on.

"Thanks, Sharky I appreciate the pick me up, and uh, thanks for not jumping in a bunch when I was talking to Tracey"

"No probs man, she was pretty intense when she was talkin' about Faith, I didn't want that" Sharky admitted.

"Yea no kidding, she was pretty pissed" Rook said as the two pasted through the open door to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was a lot smaller then rook had expected as the room was littered with twenty something small plastic tables, the tables themselves were sporadically occupied by a few people here and there, one entire wall of the cafeteria had dedicated to the tray line where prisoners once got their meals.

"Aw yeah let's get are grub on" He said enthusiastically as he jogged over to the far end of the room through the few people and placed his flamethrower on an unoccupied table then returned to the deputy.

"Got a seat saved for us" he grinned.

"Sweet thanks" Rook nodded, eyeing the room and the few people in the room and how it was today unnecessary.

The two men walked up to the trey line and picked up trays and stepped up to the tired looking kitchen staff and they wordlessly plopped a large pile of what looked like a mixture of mashed potatoes and beans, Rook looked at it oddly, unsure if the combination would even work while Sharky seemed like he couldn't wait to eat it, the two pick up plastic forks at the end of the tray line and returned to the table, Sharky removed his flamethrower and sat down and the two began eating. Sharky dove in and ate the meal with no problem while Rook was reluctant to start but after a few moments he was able to determine the meal was edible.

"Man, what a day huh?" Rook said, after swallowing.

"Yea man I feel you, it's not everyday I set a bunch of stuff on fire and then go to jail to not get arrested for it" Sharky said before stuffing his mouth again.

"Uh, yeah, Faith really made me feel welcome with all those angels" Rook shrugged.

"Aw hell yea man that was crazy, thanks again for savin' my bacon, but man, I can't get that idea out of my head, you, me an' Faith in a band, that would be so fuckin' rad" Sharky praised.

"Why you so big on the idea?" Rook asked.

"I don't know man" Sharky said putting down his fork.

"I guess with all the killin' and anger that's been going around this last while maybe we need something cool goin' down, but just think 'bout it, Faith got this voice, man it's the smoothest thing ever, the way she talks you could listen to her fer hours 'bout anything, she could be famous singer if she tried, so I was thinkin' man what if we convince her to get off team peggie and join us?" Sharky surmised.

"Well I don't know if she'll swing for that dude" Rook guessed.

"Yea, yea, yea, of course that's why we gotta sweeten the pot y'know , so to make it better I'll break out the trumpet of something, or maybe the bass guitar or saxophone and I'll learn how to play one or two of 'em so we will have like two band members right there, and if your in on it, maybe she'll come around because all those peggies want you dead, so if everyone sees you, me an Faith joinin' forces to make some righteous disco then maybe people will see maybe we really can set aside our differences" Sharky said, bright-eyed.

"You're a dreamer, I'll give you that" Rook said cracking a small smile.

"But if it would work, would you join?" Sharky questioned.

"Sure, why the hell not, anything beats shooting people" Rook stated.

"So, do you have any experience with instruments?"

"Well, uh, not to get you even more excited or anything, but, uh, when I was in high school I was a part of a crappy garage band" Rook admitted, feeling a little embarrassed over it.

"What are you for real?!" Sharky said getting exciting again.

"Uh yea, we weren't anything special, we weren't half bad either I guess" Rook shrugged, putting his fork down.

"What was your band name, what did you play?!" Sharky asked excitedly.-

"I uh, played the electric guitar, I was alright on it I guess, never wrote any songs but I learned a bunch though, me and a few friends played at the yearly talent show in high school in hopes of gaining traction, we called ourselves Dead On Arrival"

"Ooooh man, dude that's amazing see we could totally be a band, see if you can play the electric you can play bass and we can be a righteous disco band" Sharky absolutely thrilled.

At this point, people had begun turning to look at the noise the pyro had been generating, Rook took notice and began apologizing for the noise all the while trying to get his friend to calm down.

"Sorry, sorry, music is my jam" Sharky said clearing his throat.

"It's cool man, I'm big on music too" Rook said.

Sharky made a noise of agreement as he shoved his face full of food and the two began eating again, the two ate in silence for a time before they were interrupted by a loud voice.

"There you are, you motherfucker!" An angry voice boomed from the other side of the room.

A few people had lifted their heads to look at the person who had stormed into the room others simply didn't care and would rather just stick to their meals. But Rook near instantly recognized the voice and a chill ran down his spine, he had been fearing this encounter, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and turned to face his caller, he tried to think of something to say as he turned as he hoped it would lessen whatever would come next, and there standing in the doorway at the far side of the room was a furious Jess Black.

"Hey Jess, funny thing actu-" he stuttered before another wave of venom cut him off.

"You think you can make me just spill my guts to you and just fucking vanish?!" She shouted as she stomped her way over to the nervous deputy.

"Hey dude, do you know her?" Sharky asked.

A few more people took interest in what was happening and watched the spectacle play out.

"Nah uh, that shit doesn't fly around here dick bag!"

Rook stood up from his seat and began backing away from the approaching woman, holding his hands up as if that would help him in the confrontation, he heard Sharky say something but he wasn't listening, he had much bigger problems at the moment.

"Wait, wait, wait, there's been a misunderstanding" Rook stammered.

"Your god damn right there's a misunderstanding, it seems you think you can just abuse what little fucking trust I have in you then try to hide from me, me, I know this county like the back of my hand, no matter where you go I will find you, so when I hear that the oh so great deputy Rook is just dicking around at the only jail in the county, you bet your ass I will find you!" Jess shouted as she closed the gap between the two and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to her level.

"Jess come on, just listen to me" Rook begged as he tugged on the arm that pulled him down.

"No you listen motherfucker" Jess hissed as she shoved a scolding finger into his face with her free hand.

"You know I actually thought maybe I could trust you maybe if you took that stick out of your ass, but now fuck it, your just another notch on the list of mistakes, if maybe I didn't tell you that stuff about me then maybe I would have let it go but no, you just had to drag my past out and then just abandon me you fucking asshole, I'm going to ki-"

"What the fuck is going on in here!?" Another angry voice rang out, cutting off Jess's verbal rampage.

Rook peeked over Jess's shoulder to see who had come forth to try to stop Jess. Rook sighed in relief as the person who had stepped up was Tracey.

"Oh thank god, Tracey" Rook moaned as he felt somewhat at ease, he knew that Tracey wouldn't let something like this be.

Jess turned her head to see this 'Tracey' she turned to see some woman in a grey hoodie standing in the far door she had come from, she looked nothing special as she looked like any other person she'd see on the streets and of course she wasn't to happy looking, Jess could only assume it was because she was about kick the shit out of their oh so precious deputy.

"Hey there, come back in five minutes or somethin'?" Jess said as she turned back to the deputy, she saw his face as she turned back to him, he looked almost relieved as he looked at the new woman over her shoulder but quickly turned back to fear as he and Jess made eye contact.

"How about you let the deputy go and get the fuck out!" Tracey retorted, not easing off the aggression slowly moving towards her and the deputy.

Jess exhaled out her nose angrily as she knew she couldn't get her payback with this bitch in the room, she seemed like she wasn't that tough anyways, Jess felt like she could just get into the new girl's personal space, push her around a bit, make a threat here and there and she'd crumple like cardboard, she had scared off worse people in high school. Jess gave Rook one last angry glare before releasing him and turned to face Tracey.

"Ok listen bitch" she growled as she stepping away from the deputy and towards Tracey and met her in the center of the room, standing feet apart, the few people that existed the room were watching the two woman intently as a physical fight was sure to break out at this rate.

"That piece of shit really fucked with me, so I'm going to fuck with him, if you wanna stop me you better make your first move count" Jess hissed.

"Ok you hot topic reject, I want you to listen to me real close, that deputy there is more important then you will ever be so if you wanna just come in to my place and start making threats your going to get shot real fucking fast, so I would suggest to you to pack up your tough girl shtick and get the fuck out" Tracey spat.

"You going to make me?" Jess growled taking another step closer to Tracey, entering her personal space so close their noses almost touched.

Everyone in the room stopped to watch what would happen next as they were seconds away from fighting if no one stepped in.

The two stood there staring each other down with aggressive intent, waiting for the other to make some sort of move but neither didn't so much as blink.

Eventually Jess finally took a step back still staring Tracey down before turning away, and re-approached the deputy.

"That's what I fucking thought, an ex cult bitch ain't got no authority here" she grinned feeling victorious.

And that's when Tracey jumped into action as she jumped towards Jess and kicked her in the back of the knee causing her to stagger and drop to a knee, she swore as she lost her balance momentarily as Tracey reached up and put her in a head lock, keeping her at an awkward angle, and begun to try to pull an enraged Jess out of the room.

"Ok bitch time to go now" she tired to yell over Jess torrent of swearing and yelling prompting Tracey to start swearing and shouting at jess, and at this point Rook had finally jumped in.

"Hey, hey, hey, time out, let her go this isn't right" Rook stammered as he ran up to the struggling duo but was drowned out as the two girls had started yelling at each other, their voices had overtaken the room, seeing as verbal input would not relieve the problem, the a physical one would have to do. Rook reach out and grabbed Tracey's arm to pry her off Jess's neck.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Tracey shouted at Rook, as she tried to maintain a grip on the angry woman as she and Rook fought against her, but it wasn't enough as her hand popped off her forearm and Jess dropped out of her grip and scampered away.

"Ok now that's over with let's deal with this like mature adults" Rook said stepping in between the two in hopes that would actually do something. But whatever peace he held was quickly dashed away as Jess rose to her feet and shoved Rook out of the way and swung a fist at Tracey and missed by mere inches, if not for the deputy standing where he did the punch would have landed.

"I'm going to fucking break you" Tracey shouted as she lunged at Jess, swing her fists at her.

And the two collided, throwing punches at each other, landing hits on the others face and torso, shouting and swearing all the while, the people that watch the fight happen, but no one moved to stop it, a few rose from their seats, Rook thought they would help but instead they ran out of the room.

Rook looked back to Sharky who had not left his seat and watched the whole spectacle play out.

"Can you lend me a hand?" Rook called to him.

But Sharky just shrugged, clearly to nervous to get in between the two furious women, his face pulled down in an apologetic frown.

Rook let out a growl of annoyance as the only other person in the room he could really count on had tapped out as the few people still in the room just watched the fight play out instead of actually help.

"Hey, enough!" Rook shouted as he came up behind Jess and slipped his arms under her arms and looped them over her shoulders in an attempt to restrain but was made difficult as she still had her bow and quiver on but the attempt was near fruitless as all it did was leave her defenseless as Tracey lay into her.

"What the fuck!?" She shrieked when she realized who had grabbed her and tried to shake free as Rook tried to pull her away from Tracey to end the fight but before he could leave her range, Jess pulled her legs up and kicked forward as hard as she could, planting her feet thoroughly in Tracey's stomach and knocking her to the ground.

"Enough!" Rook yelled again, as he turned at the waist and put all his momentum into throwing Jess as hard as he could in the opposite direction of Tracey, Jess dropped from Rook's arms and tried to regain her balance but falling to her hands and knees.

"Ok enough, for real this time, if either of you keep this up I will lock both of you up in a cell for a few hours!" Rook commanded.

But his threat fell on deaf ears as the two women slowly stood up again and moved to each other again.

Rook was getting steadily angry as no one heeded his warning, the screaming and yelling wasn't doing his head any favors, this whole thing had been cause by a simple miscommunication on his part and was given no chance to smooth it over, he had been handling this fight as if it were between two friends but it was clearly not working so he had to handle it like a junior deputy.

The two woman were about to close in on each other another again with Rook in between them, he used this to advantage and turned to Tracey, before she could get close enough to Jess he stepped toward her and shoved her back as hard as he could.

"What the fuck!?" Tracey yelled as she stumbled back.

Rook offered no reply as he turned back to Jess who was right behind him and ready to push him aside to get to her target, but before she could Rook grabbed her by the shoulders and summon all the gravel and grit in his vocal range as he could.

"Black, I am ordering you to stand down now!" He boomed as loud as he could.

Jess stopped in her tracks, she looked at Rook, almost surprised as if she didn't think he was capable of asserting himself the way he did.

And just as quick as he had stopped Jess he turned around again to face Tracey who had take a few steps closer but had stopped when she heard Rook yell.

"And you! I am ordering you to stand down as well!" He yelled.

"What the fuck are you doing, I ha-"

"Shut up!" Rook ordered, not letting off the gas, he was in full deputy mode and had a foothold in this fight, he wasn't going to let this go so easy.

"I don't give a damn what your going to say, your supposed to be a joint leader of this facility, if this is how you are going to handle all your problems then I will see to it you are replaced, I am a junior deputy of the Montana State Sheriff's Department, I do not need you to fight my battles for me, if I need your assistance I will ask for it, do I make myself clear?" Rook commanded with fire in his voice.

"That bitch wa-" Tracey argued.

"Do I make myself clear!" Rook boomed again.

"Fine sure whatever" Tracey yelled.

Rook nodded and turned back to Jess.

"And you, what the hell are you thinking, stomping in here threatening violence upon me, your upset I get that but that is not how we handle things out here, people are high strung as is, we don't need you yelling and picking fights with people, that's how you get shot, I need you to pull your head out of your ass and think for once, just because you disagree with someone doesn't give you the right to throw down with them!" Rook ordered.

"I don't give a-"

"You will be quiet when I am speaking!" Rook boomed again.

"We are supposed to be working together, if we keep doing shit like this then are we any better then the peggies, we need to be better then this!" Rook ordered while turning his head repeatedly to look at one woman then the other.

"We need to be better" Rook said, his voice returning to normal.

"Tracey I get the you wanted to help but you only made things worse, please don't just throw yourself into every fight" he stated.

Tracey began angrily mumbling something as she stomped off to some unknown part of the prison, while Jess still stood in her spot. Rook turned back to her.

"Ok your angry at me for leaving you, ok I get that, so come on we are going to talk it out like adults" he said as he walked towards another door, motioning her to follow.

"Where the fuck do you think your going?" She demanded.

"Somewhere quiet" he replied.

* * *

"Please, please let us go, we'll do whatever you want just please let us go!" a man cried.

He was tied down to a chair, burlap sack over his head, his girlfriend next to him in the same predicament, crying as well.

A lone woman approached the two captives and removed their burlap sacks and threw them to the ground.

Two couple looked up at the woman, squinting as their eyes adjusting to the new light in the room became silent for a moment before drying and begging again.

"Silence!" the high priestess ordered.

The couple fell silent again, quivering and terrified about what fate will befall them.

"I don't think I need to say why you're here" Amanda said sternly.

"After everything you two did, do you really think you will just walk out of here?"

"Your fucking crazy, you've lost your mind" the man shouted his voice mixed with fear and anger.

"Silence!" Amanda demanded as she struck the man across the face with an open hand.

"We made clocks together for three months, does that mean nothing to you!" he shouted again.

Amanda raised her hand ready to strike him again, but her attention was pulled away as the door to the room squeaked opened, and a man stumbled through.

"High priestess I really need to speak with you" he spoke quickly, clearly nervous, but quickly realized what he had interrupted and fell silent and tried to quickly exit the room again.

"It's to late Edgar, you have already intruded, so just come in, you can't ruin it twice" Amanda said, annoyed at the man's sudden entry into the ceremony.

"I'm so sorry ma'am I didn't mean to interrupt but I have very serious news, apparently the deputy has managed to escape!" He cried.

"What!?" Amanda said startled, something like this could never happen, she had sought to it to have all of the deputy's weapons removed before he got anywhere near Faith.

"How did he escape, Lady Faith had him... Is she ok!" She demanded.

"I-I don't know, but what I do know is Lady Faith is fine, not a scratch on her" Edgar reported.

"This... This is… The sinner is clearly more resourceful then we had anticipated, I want increased security around the bunker entrance and guards on alert all times, do I make myself clear?" Amanda ordered, her voice full of confidence and control.

"Yes High Priestess, it will be done" Edgar said then gave a small bow before hurrying out of the chamber and promptly sealed the door behind him. The high priestess looked back down at her bound captives who had gone silent as Edgar appeared, but now their attention turned back to the woman before them, eyes filled with terror and sadness.

"Now what to do with you?" She asked herself, bringing a hand to her lips.

The couple burst into tears again, crying and whining to be set free, scared for their lives. Amanda sighed, Edgar had ruined the ceremony by barging in the way he did. She might as well just start over, but to just start over right here right now wouldn't feel right, it wouldn't be something Faith would want. Amanda sighed again, she might as well address the whole deputy problem then start again. She bent down to collect the burlap bags off the floor and approached the bound couple again, they had caught wind of what she was going to do, they flailed wrenched their heads every which way to prevent the high priestess from placing the bags over their heads again, and with minimal effort she was able to get the bags back on, with the two properly stored Amanda walked to the only door in the room and opened the door.

She needed to get to the bottom of how the sinner had escaped Lady Faith's grasp without so much as hurting her, he had to have some sort of help from the inside, it had to be, how else could he have possibly got away, even when she gathered up her team under Lady Faith's instructions a few were hesitant in capturing him alive, killing him would be so much easier, it might have been one of them, since the deputy had arrived to the Henbane her people just started disappearing, they could only assume they were dead as the deputy killed with no remorse, a traitor could easily use this to slip away, after all a confirmed traitor had run into the arms of the resistance a few days ago, there were so many leads, they needed to be investigated with Faith's approval.

The high priestess quickly moved down the halls and corridors of the bunker, passing by her brothers and sisters, making her way to Faith's quarters. And stopped in front of a large man clad in riot gear stood at her door, brandishing a very large machine gun, Amanda approached the man.

"I need you to open the door, I must speak with Lady Faith immediately" Amanda spoke.

"One moment" the man said before turning around to access an intercom built into the wall next to the door. A soft crackle filled the air momentarily.

"Lady Faith, the high priestess would like a word with you" he said.

The two were met with silence for a few seconds before the static returned momentarily.

"Please let her in" Faith's voice flowed through the intercom.

And with that the man grabbed the valve on the door next to him and turned it, the heavy valve gave way and slowly turned, he rotated it with a full pulls and the door unlocked and slowly swung open.

Amanda stepped through the door and the guard closed and sealed the door behind her. She looked ahead to see Faith stand before her in the center of the room.

"Amanda, what brings you by?" Faith asked, smiling softly.

"Ma'am, are you ok?" She asked her voice falter slightly in concern.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"I-I was told the sinner had escaped, I wanted to make sure you were unharmed" Amanda asked.

Faith examined her high priestess before turning to her desk and retrieved the chair that was tucked into it and pulled it into the center of the room just as she did the last time Amanda had entered the room.

"Please have a seat" Faith said gesturing to the seat.

Amanda did as she was told and sat down on the chair, and Faith moved behind her and back to her desk and opened a drawer. Inside the drawer was a small plain black comb, she picked it up and returned to Amanda and stood behind her.

"So what have you heard?" Faith asked as she begun to run the comb through the high priestess's hair.

"I was told that the sinner had slipped away with you unharmed, now I do believe a traitor was able t-"

"Amanda" Faith cooed causing the woman to fall silence.

"I let him go" Faith said.

"What?!" Amanda cried trying to turn around in her seat to see Faith as if seeing her would dispel the words she had just said but was unable to full turn her head as Faith had lightly clasped her head and gently applied pressure to make her face forward so she could resume her combing.

"Why would you do that, you could have stopped him" Amanda cried, not understanding Faith's reasoning.

"Do you remember what I asked you last time you were here?" Faith asked, running the comb through Amanda's hair again.

"You asked me to get a few of the best and brightest together so we can catch the sinner" Amanda said trying to regain her composure.

Faith stopped combing to lean in over Amanda's shoulder slightly to whisper in her ear.

"And the other thing?"

"The other thing?" Amanda echoed back, not remembering what it was.

Faith giggled softly before pulling back and begun combing again.

"This is why I love you Amanda, once you set your mind to something you will be so dead set on it until you complete your goal, but" Faith.

"But that's also one of your faults, once you set your mind to something you are so dead set that you tend to forget what else is asked of you" Faith cooed.

"Ma'am I'm so sorry I didn't mean to let you down, I promise you I will never let anything like this ever happen again.

"Shhhh" Faith hushed, stopped combing and placed her hands on Amanda's shoulders.

"I forgive you for your shortcomings" she said then begun combing again.

"The second thing I asked you was to stop any bad mouthing about the deputy because he will be joining our family, we can't have misgivings or ill will towards family now can we?" Faith asked.

"N-no ma'am" Amanda stuttered.

"I let the deputy go because you can't just force someone into our family, we need him to come willingly, I asked you to bring him to me so I can talk him, and for him to talk to me, I learned a great deal about him, and he a great deal about me, and the next time I meet with him we will talk more and hopefully he will come around and see the light of truth, if not next time then maybe the next does this make sense to you?"

"Yes ma'am I understand what your trying to do" Amanda muttered.

"Good" Faith giggled.

"I'm so glad you understand, you've always been such a quick learner, I admire that" Faith said, ending the combing session by pulling the comb from her hair and moved back to her desk and returned the comb in the drawer.

"Now, Amanda I will ask you the same thing as I did before but with a little extra something" Faith cooed, standing behind her again.

"I want you to gather up a few of our best and brightest and be ready to head out again to find our little deputy, and I want you to stop any rumors or bad mouthing him, and the little extra thing I want you to do is I want you to keep a open mind, don't let your need to fulfill your roll and don't let it cloud your judgment again, do you think you can do that for me?" Faith asked.

"Yes ma'am, it will be done" Amanda replied.

"Excellent" Faith giggled again.

"Now that you understand, can you please hop to it then, we are both busy people" Faith said applying light pressure on her back, signalling her to stand up.

Amanda took the hint and rose from the chair and Faith grabbed the chair and pulled it back to the desk.

"Lady faith, again, I apologize for my failures" Amanda muttered, head tilted down, eyes downcast, and bowing slightly.

Faith approached her high priestess and placed a hand on her shoulder and with the other hand, placed to fingers under her chin and lifted Amanda's head up.

"No need to look so sad, just keep doing what I ask of you and you will see the new world" Faith smiled.

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am" Amanda said then slowly backed away from Faith, and quickly moved to the door.

She banged on the door twice and the valve turned from the other side and the door popped open and she scurried through and shut the door behind her.

Faith watched her high priestess leave out the room, she felt worry in her heart for her as she knew her desire to complete her tasks would indirectly slow her down, she knew this behavior wouldn't be tolerated if John or Jacob had witnessed this, perhaps she needed to be firmer with her flock.

* * *

"I don't give a shit if you got blissed, in fact you deserved it you piece of shit!" Jess exclaimed.

"Jess come on, I'm sorry ok I didn't mean to leave you behind my mind was on other things" Rook pleaded, he had been arguing with her for five minutes now, he didn't know what else to say to the woman other then I'm sorry.

"I told you, I don't give a fuck if your sorry, you don't just get me to spill myself and just ghost me like that!"

"That wasn't my intention, if I calmed down and thought about what to do I would have said something to you"

"That's your fucking fault for being stupid" Jess argued.

"Ok, fine geez, I'm sorry ok, I did the bad thing" Rook huffed, giving up on explaining his side of the story.

"What can I do to make you feel better that wouldn't involve hurting anyone"

She stared at him for a moment, still staring at him with angry eyes, trying to think of something.

"I want you to tell me something" she finally demanded.

"Tell you what?" Rook shrugged.

"I want something embarrassing, I want something to hold over you so we'll be even" she demanded.

"Aw geez" Rook muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, half thinking if her terms were acceptance and the other half thinking of an embarrassing story.

"I'm waiting" she scolded, un-crossing her arms and placing her hands on her hips.

"Ok, ok, ok" Rook said patting the air.

"I got one so listen up, I'm only going to say this once, so when I was in kindergarten we did this thing where our teacher read us the gingerbread man fairy tale or whatever it is and then afterwards she gave us gingerbread men to decorate then she would take it to the staff room to bake them during recess, so we did the decorating no problem then we went for recess and we did our thing, running around, being dumb, so when we come back inside the teacher is there in the classroom and is all like oh gee kids you'll never believe it but during the break all the gingerbread men came to life and ran away, now they're hiding somewhere in the school"

Rook paused briefly to release a sigh, by the slowly building red on his face, it was evident that he was getting embarrassed.

"And for some reason that really freaked me out for some reason, just the idea of a dozen gingerbread men hiding in the school, for some reason I thought they were going to hurt us or something because we were going to eat them, so anyways our teacher says we're going to go out into the hallways to look for them and I'm silently panicking and then just as we're about to go looking for the gingerbread men the principal walks in, obviously in on the whole thing and is like oh hey class, good to see y'all so I hear the gingerbread men are hiding somewhere so I'm here to help. And for some reason the idea of the highest school authority helping us track down these tiny attackers just freaked me out to much and I just starting crying, and I mean I was bawling I was so freaked, I thought we were in danger or something, so I since I was crying super hard the teacher swooped in and placed me in another classroom to burn myself out so I don't freak out the other kids and I was given my gingerbread man back to eat while the other kids went to do the thing, then the principal had to call my mom to let her know what happened"

Rook finished, he was completely embarrassed that he told someone the story, he had never told anyone of that story before.

Jess continued to stare at him angrily, hands on her hips for a few seconds before the threatening visage crumbled into laughter.

"Holy fuck that's embarrassing!" She cackled, head tilted back in laughter.

"Oh come on, I didn't laugh at you" Rook groaned as his darted back and forth up and down the hallway, praying no one would hear Jess and investigate.

"Oh fuck, that's great" she giggled, trying to contain herself.

"There, we're even now" Rook said indignity, adjusting his shirt collar trying to regain some sort of self confidence.

"Oh no we're not" she giggled as she wiped a tear from her eye, she cleared her throat before continuing.

"That happened when you were a kid, kids are gullible I want something more recent, high school or older" she said with a shark tooth grin.

"What no, come on!" Rook moaned.

"Nah uh uh, you agreed to the deal so pay up, crybaby"

Rook groaned again, he knew he wasn't getting out of this with his dignity, maybe if he had some set time he could craft some bullshit story but he was cornered and had to speak the truth.

"Ok... Fine... you wouldn't know this but outside of work my coworkers still call me by Rook because it's a nickname that just works with my name, Rook the Rookie they called me, because when I was a rookie cop I made a big dumb mistake during a training thing, we were going over pepper spray training and they wanted us to get the feeling of pepper spraying someone so they got this big muscle guy wearing a big face mask to protect him and he'd walk up to us and shove us and whatever to justify the spray use, and when it was my turn I was pretty nervous about it so when he started shoving me and whatnot I go to pull out the spray but I fumbled it a little bit but no one called it out so I guessed it was cool so I bring it up to spray him, I press the button and it turned out during the fumble it rotated in my hand and I totally just pepper sprayed myself in the face in front of the trainer and my superiors" Rook admitted with a fresh shade of red over his face.

Rook felt bad when Jess laughed at him the first time, but the second time was even worse as her laughter was much louder and longer as she even leaned in on herself, placing her hands on her knees to support herself as she howled in laughter at Rook's failures.

"H-how the-e fuck di-id you fuck th-at up?" She gasped in-between laughs.

"I don't know" he stammered.

"The spray can was super small and had no markings, you couldn't tell where tell where the nozzle was unless you looked!"

But his pleas fell on deaf ears as Jess continued to laugh herself sick, still laughing, she stood up straight again to point and laugh at the deputy.

"Oh come on, that's a bit much" Rook pouted.

Jess laughed some more before calming down.

"Aw fuck, how are you the hero that no one shuts up about in the valley?" Jess asked as the last few giggled subsided.

"I don't know, I'm just trying my best" Rook shrugged sheepishly.

"So we good now or what?"

"Oh fuck yea, we good, fuck dude I'm never going to let that shit go" Jess smiled.

"Gee thanks, I'm glad to know my suffering has made you feel better" Rook deadpanned.

"Well I'm outta here, see ya I guess" she said as she turned and walked away.

"Wait hold up" Rook called out.

"What?" she said stopping to face the deputy again.

"You know you don't have to go" Rook spoke.

"Yea I don't know about that" Jess putting her hands on her hips, sounding a little angry again.

"Well I know your kinda angry with me still I think but if I'm going to be any help to the people here, I'm going to need all the help I can get, I'm no black ops super solider, I can't fight everything head to head, I need more then guns and dumb luck, I'm going to need someone who knows what their doing, in the time I worked with you, you have been a ghost except when I screw us up and get you out in the open, and you said it yourself, you know the county like the back of your hand, you and me are two different people, we come from two different worlds with two different lives, but since we're so different we see and know things the other doesn't, please Jess lend me your master marksmanship and skill sets to beat the cult and save lives" Rook asked hoping she would agree.

Jess continued to stare at the Deputy with an annoyed look, hands still on her hips, she growled lightly before speaking.

"If we gonna do this, we gonna throw down some ground rules, ya hear?" Jess huffed.

"Of course" rook returned.

"If we're going to be like a team or whatever the fuck you wanna call us then rule one is when you need me then you call me, you don't need me then you tell me and I go home, rule two is none of this disappearing shit, don't just jump all over the county without saying something, I had to ask Fairgrave where you went, she was pretty antsy when she said you were out here, I'm not going to look all over the county for you, and rule three; don't go ordering me around like I'm your bitch, we're equals you got that?"

"You got it, thank you Jess" Rook said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, don't make me regret this" Jess said waving him off.

"Oh by the way, that thing I wanna call us is friends"

"Well your shit at pickin 'em" she muttered.

"I don't know, I think your pretty cool" Rook shrugged.

"So uh, you guys cool?" Sharky's voice echoed down the hall.

The two turned their heads to look down the hall to see Sharky poking his head around the corner and staring at the two.

"Yeah dude, we're cool" Rook called back.

"Ok sweet, there's like a sheriff here he wants to talk to you" Sharky said, fully coming around the corner.

"Whitehorse, where is he?" Rook asked, walking towards Sharky.

"I'm right here" Whitehorse said, coming around the corner behind Sharky.

"Sorry about that Ben, your um, friend here kind of ran off to find you" Whitehorse said, sticking a thumb out to point to Sharky.

"Hey boss, uh sorry for uh, getting high on the job I guess" Rook said awkwardly as he met Whitehorse in the middle of the hall with Jess and Sharky behind them and joining the conversation.

"It's alright kid, Virgil and Tracey told me everything, including the uh.. confrontation in the cafeteria" Whitehorse said, eyeing Jess.

"She started it" Jess limply shrugged.

"Anyways" Rook started, somewhat loudly, trying to draw attention off the fight.

"Is Grace here, I really want to apologize for just disappearing on her"

"She's still out there, but we're about to send some guys out to pick her up, but Rook your friend Boshaw told me what you went through, you had a pretty long day so tell you what, we got some beds ready in the holding area, why not you and your lady friend here hit the hay and then tomorrow we get to work on stopping the cult and you can say what you need to Grace" Whitehorse offered.

As much as Rook wanted to stay up and wait for Grace, what Tracey and Sharky had said to him earlier, he let out a dejected sigh and agreed to calling it a night.

"Good to here, you two get some sleep, you deserved it, Boshaw here mentioned needed a ride home, he'll hitch a ride with the guys who will pick up Grace" Whitehorse said then begun to turn away to get the pick-up team ready but stopped to give Rook one final piece of information"

"And Ben, Good to have you back" he said as he gave him a light tap on the shoulder before departing, leaving the three alone, with Sharky awkwardly staring at the duo.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Sharky asked Jess.

"Pretty sure you don't" Jess bluntly.

"I'm pretty sure I do" he said as he began snapping his fingers a few times as if it would help him remember.

"Oh, right, I remember you now, your Jess Black, I bought weed off you all the time before I dropped out" Sharky said lighting up.

"I sold weed to a lot off people" she said blankly.

"I'm the dude that burnt down the roller rink, I threw up on Grace Armstrong in gym class"

"Sharky Boshaw?" Jess asked, showing a pinch of interest in the conversation.

"Yea see, I knew you'd never forget little ol' me" Sharky laughed.

"How the fuck you even still alive?"

"With the help of this girl here" Sharky said, holding his flamethrower up slightly.

"What about you, how you doing, I can't help but notice you got a bow still, so you got your bow licence yet?" Sharky asked

"Got your flamethrower licence yet?" she returned.

"Don't need one" he said proudly.

"Well that's fucking terrifying" Jess said bluntly again.

"Yeah it's pretty cool, hey speaking of selling weed in high school I don't suppose you got any, uhhhh" Sharky trailed off as his eyes slowly drifted off Jess and towards the Rook, and quickly realized he was trying to buy marijuana in front of a junior deputy in a prison.

"Uhh, um, uhh" he stammered, snapping his eyes back to Jess.

"Oregano" He finally said, snapping his fingers once and dawning a smile.

"Yea oregano got some baking to do" he smirked.

"Sorry, smoked it all" Jess stated.

"Aw shit man, I could really use some" he moaned.

"Well I guess I'll see you guys later then, but hey Deputy Awesome, hit me up if you ever need anything" he said as he turned to catch up with the sheriff.

With Sharky gone Rook turned to Jess.

"Well I'm going to hit the hay, you tired" Rook asked.

"I have a feeling if I answer truthfully you'll just drag me to the church again" she muttered.

"If I remember right, you dragged me there" Rook joked.

Jess let out a single laugh.

"Well shit you got me there... Well come on let's get this over with" She said as she began walking away.

The two left the hallway and made their way to the main holding area, the area itself was lined with walkways three stories high, all the walkways gave access to rows of prison cells that lined the walls, the higher up cells were used bedroom while the lower to the ground cells and main floor were used and the control and staging room for any operations against the cult, a few people were in the room, a few poured over papers and radios with no reception, others took orders from others. Virgil and Tracey were also in the room, Rook positioned himself in between her and Jess as they looked for open cells to prevent another fight. Eventually they came across an empty cell with to cots, the beds were a basic metal framed five-foot-high bunk bed.

"I call top bunk" Jess said taking off her quiver and bow and throwing it on the top bunk.

"No problems here" Rook replied upholstering all his guns and tucking them under the bed.

The two crawled into their beds, light noise hummed from the main room but wasn't enough to keep either awake.

"Fuck I don't remember the last time I slept in one of these" Jess muttered.

"Yea me neither, well I'm an only child so I never really had the option for it" Rook said before yawning.

The two laid in their beds in silences for a few moments.

"Did you really mean it?" Jess asked.

"Mean what, that I was an only child?" Rook asked.

He could hear Jess scoff at him.

"No dumb ass, I mean, I.. Did you really mean it when you said you still wanna try to be my friend?"

"Of course, I did" Rook said not missing a beat.

"I threatened to kick your ass and I fought your friend.

"I'm shot at on a daily basis, do you think I really care; besides Tracey isn't really a friend, I know nothing about her"

"Your still shit at pickin' friends" she said.

"Yea well, I you can be a good person if you tried, anyone can" Rook replied.

Jess didn't reply for a few moments.

"Good night don't let the gingerbread men bite" Jess said before rolling over.

"Oh, your so funny" Rook said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

* * *

**Howdy everyone me again, unfortunately I have to say again as work and other things in my life are picking up and taking up my time so the next two or three chapters maybe be somewhat late, I'm not entirely sure, and I would also like to shout out Ragnarok666 for really helping in making this story better with constant feedback and recommendations to help polish up the story. **


	9. Chapter 9

The firing boomed a loud cacophonous, never-ending roar that never seemed to end, eventually the firing did slow. Rook could hear the peggies voices, they had indeed moved up as they sounded to be twentyish feet, and possibly closing in further, Rook coughed again trying to re-control his breath as it was shaky and hard to inhale, with hands shaking greatly he ejected the magazine from his gun and pulled out a fresh clip and tried to insert the new magazine but struggled as his shaking hands made it hard to fit it in to the slot, missing by mere millimeters each time before the magazine slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Rook swore as he was to afraid to reach out to pick up the magazine as he felt it would leave him exposed to being shot, the struggled breathing became near impossible as he pushed his back into the freezer as if it would make him smaller, he could feel the sweat coating his back, and most likely his front, he furiously tried to think of something but nothing came to him, he was trapped behind the chest freezer, the AR fell from his grip and his hands fell to his thighs and gripped them tightly, desperate for something to pull him out of this nightmare. Then he saw it, he saw a figure move into his left, Rook turned his head slowly to see a woman, dressed in a black Eden's Gate trench coat slowly move up to the trailer, unaware of the paralyzed Deputy, Rook could feel is heart practically beat out of his chest, he couldn't die here, to many people relied on him, he unhinged his right hand off his thighs and drifted over to the pistol strapped to it and unsheathed it and limply lifted it up and pulled it up across his chest and pointed it up at the woman, he shuddered as he squeezed the trigger, discharging the weapon, but the shaking that had consumed the deputy caused him to miss the shot, bullet whizzing by the woman, despite the sheer noise of a dozen automatic firearms going off, she somehow heard the deputy's discharge and took a step back in fear as she turned her head to see the him frozen in fear curled up against the freezer, she rose her AK-47 and pointed it at his face.

And then he woke up.

Rook shot up from his bed choking and coughing as his chest felt so tight it could strangle him. He sat up in his bed so fast that he forgot he was in a bunk bed and banged his head off the mattress frame above him, groaning in pain he lowered himself back down into his own bed, he brought his hands up to clasp the bruised spot. He lay there for a bit, panting slightly, going over what had happened and understood that what had just happened was nothing more then a nightmare. As the dull pain subsided he pulled himself out of bed and retrieved his weapons, with all his equipment ready to go he was about to leave his cell before he remembered that he had shared the room with Jess, he looked up to her bunk to see that she was not there, he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing as who knows where she was or what she could be doing, he hoped she was not getting into any trouble and stepped out of the cell. The command center and makeshift bedrooms was a lot quieter for being a command center, he approached the railing and looked over the room; he could see the few tables lining the center of the room with papers and various items littered the table, a few people were talking to other people while went through the papers that lay on the tables, he could also see sheriff Whitehorse talking with Grace.

Rook's breath picked up for a second and hurried down to the to the main floor and approached the two.

"Uh hey Grace" Rook said awkwardly, unsure how to approach her.

The sheriff's eyes flicked up to his deputy while Grace turned to Rook and offered him a small smile.

"Mornin' Ben" the sheriff said.

"Good morning, Mister Rook" she greeted.

"Hey so uh, mornin' y'all, so uh, Grace -about the treatment plant" he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Rook its alright" Grace stated.

"It is?" he replied.

"The sheriff explained what happened to you and your whole journey back, I do admit you did give me a scare, but I don't hold it against you"

"What are you sure, I mean you were out there for like hours" Rook said.

"Rook, if anything I should be apologizing to you, I told you I'd keep you covered while you did the mission, I failed the mission and almost got you killed, Ben I'm sorry I couldn't save you" Grace said, looking more and more sad as she went on.

"I understand if you don't want to partner up with me for a while, perhaps I could use that time to get better and then help out other people"

"woah, woah hold on" Rook interjected.

"This is clearly not your fault, I left the building from the far end, you couldn't even see me so how could you have saved me, I know you, you're not the type to be at fifty percent on these kind of things, I would still really appreciate having an expert marks-woman watching my back"

"Sorry Rook, it's just when I was in Afghanistan if something like this ever happened there would be serious trouble for everyone involved and usually this is how trust issues develop, and with all things considered, something like this could happen anytime" Grace said.

"Tell you what, why not we say we're both in the wrong and keep working together?" Rook offered, holding out his hand.

Grace stared at his hand for a few seconds before shaking it.

"Alright, sounds good" she said.

"Now that's out of the way" the sheriff spoke.

"I take it your ready to get to work?"

"Yes sir" Rook said, bringing his and up to give his boss a salute.

Whitehorse cracked a small smile for a second before continuing.

"Alright so we have a lot on our plate if we want to stand a chance against Faith, we believe the first step to stopping her is being able to talk to our guys while their out in the field, we need to find that radio jammer, but we need to find it first so when your out there keep your eyes and ears open for any info on it, secondly as you personally know, the bliss, we need to find and shut down as many bliss factories as we can, we don't know where any are so we have to look, we can also use more weapons, ammo and fuel, the attack yesterday has left us dangerously low so we have to be careful moving forward, and of course, our dear marshal; Burke, we can't just leave him with the cult, and then there's that god-awful Joseph statue, if we blow that up that would really land a hard blow to their morale" Whitehorse instructed.

Rook snickered at the idea of blowing up the statue, as if it was as simple as Whitehorse explained.

"Yea sure, let me just get my dump truck of dynamite and bring it down" Rook joked.

"I'm serious Rook"

"Wait, seriously?" Rook asked, caught off guard by the seriousness in Whitehorse's voice.

"Yes, the statue is a monument to the cult's beliefs, if we take it out that will demoralize them, and Tracey believes some of Joseph's original writings are stored in the statue so it will be a double win for us" Whitehorse explained.

"Ok, I'm trying to keep an open mind on this but, can you please tell me how we would possibly pull that off?" Rook asked in disbelief that the sheriff was actually green-lighting the destruction of the peggie statue of liberty.

"The statue is made with a rebar frame with a layer of cement over it, so it wouldn't take too much to bring it down" Whitehorse explained.

"Earl, ok, I have several serious concerns with this whole thing" Rook said nervously, clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing.

"This statue is obviously going to be guarded to some degree, even more so if Joseph's writings or whatever is in there, so I don't think I can just roll up there unnoticed and start taking guys out, even if I somehow get up there without being noticed how will I even bring it down, don't get me wrong, I've done some crazy stuff that I thought I'd never do but come on you want me to just blow up a statue, that's crazy where would we even get the ordinance for it?" Rook prattled on nervously.

"Easy there deputy, you don't need to bite off more then you can chew, you don't have to take on every little mission we come up with your not a one man army, we have a resistance, people want to fight back, we can get a team of people to pull the statue job at a later date" Whitehorse said trying to reassure his anxious deputy.

"Speaking of help" he said, his voice dropping a little bit.

"What's with this Jess Black character you've been associating with?"

"What about her?" Rook asked.

"Well I've talked to a few people about what she's like, not too many people know her but very few do, and those who do it say she's a bit of a bad apple, so Rook, why would you be running with someone like her?" the sheriff probed.

Rook grimaced mentally as he knew this would come up sooner or later as Jess was quite abrasive at times and sure she was rude, he really didn't think she'd cause to much trouble but after the fight she had with Tracey last night, it did make things complicated.

"Ok sure she may be a little aggressive here and there and yeah sure, she speaks her mind for better or for worse but she's someone I trust and have no problem with her watching my back out in the field" Rook stated.

"Didn't she come her with the express purpose to beat you up?"

"Ok yes she did, but I kind of unintentionally made her angry at me due to a miscommunication and we handled it like adults" Rook admitted.

"But this was after she and Tracey fought in the cafeteria" Whitehorse countered.

"Yeah I'll give you that, she's a bit impulsive but no one is perfect right?" Rook shrugged.

"Do I dare ask what you did to piss that young woman off?" Whitehorse inquired.

"Well about that" Rook said, rubbing the back of his neck and breaking eye contact.

"You see, I'm sure you know by now what kind of woman she is and well she felt comfortable around me enough to reveal some info about herself, info that she didn't feel comfortable sharing with strangers and then the next day I got in my car to come here, and well, err, I may have forgotten to tell her I was headed here and when she found out she felt like I betrayed that trust so she tracked me down to talk it out like adults" Rook surmised.

"And by that you mean threatening to beat you up" Whitehorse said.

"Well yeah, um but we broke even as I told her some info about myself and now were cool" Rook replied.

"And you feel comfortable working with this woman?" the sheriff asked.

"Well yeah sure she can be scary sometimes but yes I trust her when we work together" Rook spoke confidently, glancing at Grace hoping she wasn't one of the people that spoke ill of her and help turn the sheriff's opinion.

"Sheriff, he does have a point" Grace finally spoke up.

"I have actually spoken with her several times since the cult became a threat and yes Jess does have major attitude, teamwork, and sensitivity problems and has an unhealthy obsession with killing peggies, but I have seen her work with a bow Sheriff, Rook and myself know full well what she is capable of with a bow, her skill is so refined I even offered to vouch for her skills if she were to enlist in any military service, I will admit that she may cause a few little problems here and there but with what she could bring to the table I believe her help will outweigh the problems and she has made it clear that she prefers to work alone but for some reason she has repeatedly worked with Rook, and from what you have told me about Rook and from I have learned about him, he is well, he is someone who tries to stick to the rules, despite that the two have been working together for some time now, so if she and Rook were to work together frequently then Rook could keep a handle on her more aggressive traits" Grace surmised.

"Ok she's not an animal, she's a person and I'd like to think my friend, so I would appreciate it if we talk about her like a person" Rook cut in.

"You know what I mean Rook, she can be aggressive but for some reason she tends to work just fine with you" Grace stated.

"Well to say we work just fine is a bit of a stretch" Rook admitted.

"We uh, tend to fight a little every now and again, even out in the field"

"Speaking of you back in the field, how you feeling Rook" Grace asked.

"I'm actually feeling a lot better, my headache is gone and I don't feel like a bag of garbage anymore and I think my memory from being blissed is coming back, it's coming in hazy pieces, I think Faith told me how she got into the cult I think" rook said, scratching his head, trying to remember.

"Try not to dwell on it Ben, she lies and manipulates people to get her way, you be careful kid" the sheriff warned.

"Yeah, I'll uh, make note of that, so where is Jess anyways, have you seen her, I haven't seen her since I woke up?"

The sheriff made an uncomfortable face before responding.

"That's why I brought her up in the first place, she and Tracey started bickering at each other again, I was able to get between the before anything serious happened but from what I gather Tracey had made a poor attempt to tell Jess that if she wanted to stay she'd have to earn her keep other then killing the peggies, Jess didn't take to kindly to Tracey's choice of words and told her off" Whitehorse said before exhaling out his nose.

"You know I thought raising two daughters would prepare me for something like this, but these girls are something else"

"You don't have to tell me that" Rook said cracking a smile.

"Jess stormed off out the front gate, the front guard came in a little bit ago saying she's doing something off to the side of the parking lot out front" Grace said.

"Is she still out there now?" Rook asked.

"We don't know neither of us have gone to check on her, but I feel confident she's still out there doing god know what" Grace informed.

"alrighty well I guess I'll go check on her to make and see what she's up too, I'll come back in a bit and get to work" Rook offered.

"Sounds good, I'll have something for you when you return" Whitehorse said.

Rook gave both Grace and Earl a polite nod before leaving the two and left the command center and towards the front gate, as he pushed open the front door and stepped outside, sunlight blinded him momentarily before his eyes adjusted, from the sun's position it had to be around nine thirty in the morning. Rook rubbed his eyes and made his way to the front gate and pushed the heavy door open and into the dangers on Hope's County, to his immediate left he could hear the dull scrape of metal, he looked to it's source to see Jess lugging what looked like a seat from a pickup truck he had blown up the day before, a piece of charred metal hung to the underside of the chair, it scraped along the asphalt parking lot, thus creating the noise, he had no idea how she wrenched the seat out of one of the broken down pick up trucks put for some reason she was dragging it into a clearing on the lot.

"Mornin' Jess, what you up too?" Rook asked, a part of him curious, another part of him nervous.

She let go of the seat and turned around to face the deputy.

"There you are, took you long enough to wake up" she said.

"Yeah sorry about that, yesterday was killer, so uh, what are you doing out here?" He asked again.

"I'm helping you" she responded quickly.

"By dragging a truck seat around?" He asked, eyes drifting back to the seat lying in the parking lot.

Jess scoffed before explaining.

"Yes detective, by dragging a seat around, if you and me are going to work together killin' shit we're going to need more game plans other then you go head to head with those fucks and I pick them off from the distance, so I'm going to try to teach you how to use a bow" Jess explained.

"A bow? I appreciate the gesture and all put I have a handgun with a silencer on it" Rook said, tapping the holstered weapon.

Jess's face scrunched up in disgust for a few seconds before her face relaxed back into her usually cold stoicism.

"Fuck guns, they jam, their loud and they always need ammo, I don't like people who complain about the ammo shortages, bitch, get a bow make your own ammo from sticks and rocks, and there silent and can't jam,

"Ok again, I appreciate the gesture but what does this have to do with a seat?" He asked again.

"Just shut up and let me finish" she demanded as she turned around and dug around in her pocket for a moment before pulling out a sharpie marker and removing it's cap.

She stepped forward to the seat and drew a large circle in the fabric, the marker ink was wet as the ink did not settle into the fabric right. She drew another circle inside of the previous circle, then a third smaller one and then a forth tiny one.

"There" she said as she placed the cap back on the marker and put it back in her pocket and took a step away from her handiwork.

Now that Rook could see it finished it was clear that what she drew was a target onto the seat, it clicked in his head that she intended him to fire arrows into said target.

"Oooooh, now I see where your going with this" Rook said, slightly impressed with her creativity.

"Glad to see your investigation skills to use there deputy" she said.

"So does this mean your going to let me use your bow?" He asked.

"What, hell no, I ain't just going to let anyone touch my bow, fuck that" She spat as she walked over to one of the wrecked trucks that had been push off the asphalt and retrieved something from inside.

"No, your going to start at the bottom, your going to use shit so you appreciate real archery equipment" she said as she approached the deputy with a crudely made bow and a dirty plastic bag with just as crudely made arrows, bundled together with a piece of copper wire and held them out to him.

With the bow in hand Rook could properly inspect it; the bow was a long piece of dark wood, pulled to a curve with a thin metal wire acting as the bowstring. The bowstring was taunt but still able to be pulled back. Rook brought a finger up to the string and hooked it onto the wire, he pulled it back slightly and released it, the wire snapped back into place and vibrated slightly from snapping back into place.

"Wow Jess did you make this?" Rook asked, impress with her handiwork.

"Yeah it was no big deal" she said nonchalantly.

"I don't know about archery but this looks really well made" he said, still examining the bow.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awesome don't forget it, so you gonna stand there and stare at it or are you gonna learn how to use it?" Jess replied.

"Ok I'm ready let's do this" Rook smiled.

"Then start backing up, archery is a distance thing so move back" she instructed.

Rook did as he was told and backed away from the target.

"Come on, more, more" she shooed him and didn't stop until he was fifty feet away then joined him where he stood.

"Alright that's good enough alright, listen close ok, step one is to stand up straight and keep your feet at shoulder width apart"

Rook did what he was told and placed his feet shoulder width apart.

"Place the arrow on the little hook looking thing, that's the arrow rest push the tail of the arrow onto the string between the two black marks I made on the sting with the sharpie" Jess instructed while demonstrating with her own bow, following through with her instructions.

"Now grab the string with your index finger, middle finger and thumb, three fingers only. The string should sit in the crease of your fingers"

"Do not grip the arrow with your fingers, gently hold it with the three fingers you got on it, pull back the string using your back muscles, not your bicep or arm, pull back the string so that the index finger of your pulling hand is under the chin, and the string touches your nose and lips"

"Like this?" He asked.

"Keep your elbow raised more, if the arrow isn't level, when you fire that thing the arrow will be way off target" she instructed.

Rook readjusted his arm and Jess continued.

"Ok your just about ready to fire so when your ready let go of the arrow, not to fast and not to slow" she said.

Rook breathed slowly a few times, and kept his eye on the target and let the arrow go.

The arrow launched from the bow and sailed through the air for a good seven feet before falling to the ground like a deflated football.

Jess sighed in annoyance as she buried her face in her hand.

"What was that?" She groaned.

"I don't know I just did what you told me" Rook said trying to defend himself.

"Well clearly you didn't" she argued, gesturing to the arrow on the floor.

"But you said I was good to go" Rook retorted.

"Shut up, stop arguing with your instructor, get another arrow and try again" she ordered.

Rook knew there was no point in arguing back and just do what she says, he picked up and arrow and tried again. He planted his feet in the ground at shoulder length and held the bow close to him with the arrow pulled back then let go, sending the arrow flying out only to have it fall mere feet from the first arrow.

"Come on, it's not that hard" Jess groaned again.

"You can't just expect me to get this on the first try" Rook replied.

"Yes, you can, if you can kill a fuck ton of peggies everyday, you can do this, shut up and focus" Jess ordered.

"Then you show me how to do it" Rook said, holding out the bow to her in hopes of a demonstration.

Jess stepped forward and took the bow from Rook, and in one swift motion she scooped up an arrow from the plastic bag and loaded it into the bow and with a very relaxed posture, fired the arrow, it sailed through the air gracefully and pierced the bulls-eye of the target.

"See, fuckin' easy peasy" she gloated with a shit eating grin as she held out the bow to the deputy.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just sucking on purpose to make you look good" he pouted as he took the bow back.

"sure you are boy scout, tell you what, you even hit the chair this time I'll give you your archery badge" she teased.

"I'll have you know I never was apart of the boy scouts, you can just call me Ben or Rook" Rook offered.

"No, no I got a better idea, you even hit the chair I'll give you a gingerbread man" she teased with the same shit eating grin, ignoring what he had just said.

"Oh ha, ha, your sooo hilarious" Rook groaned, feeling his cheeks burn ever so slightly.

"what, it's fuckin' funny, come on" Jess shrugged as Rook fired the bow again to no avail as the arrow flopped out of the bow and sunk to the ground.

"Dude come on, we could be killing peggies by now if you did better" Jess said.

"We can go right now if you really want, I have guns, I can just shoot them" Rook offered.

"No, I told you, we need more then just one game plan, you got to learn how to silently kill peggies" she ordered.

"You know, killing peggies is all you talk about, how many have you even killed?" Rook asked.

"I have killed so many peggies I lost count, must be around five hundred by now" Jess guessed.

"Holy shit Jess, you're dangerous, you're like addicted to the fight or something" Rook said in awe.

"Hey, I may be addicted to killing peggies, but at least I'm not addicted to drugs" she shrugged.

Rook reached down and grabbed another arrow and loaded it into the bow.

"Ok, keep the arrow level and your elbow up" she said.

"I am" Rook muttered as he focused on getting a good shot on the target and fired, the arrow sailed through the air, this time making it twice as far as the previous arrows but still landing on the ground, a good distance from the target.

"Well I guess your doing something right" Jess said, looking at the fallen arrow.

"Ok you think you can do that but better?" she asked.

"there's only one way to find out" Rook replied.

He picked up another arrow and tried again, he slowly repeated the steps Jess had told him in his mind and slowly followed through and trained the tip of the arrow on the target, he exhaled slowly as his fingers slowly crept off the arrow and the string pulled taunt again, causing the arrow to shot out of the bow, the arrow flew through the air much stronger then any of the previous arrows and impaled the edge of the target.

"Fuck yeah! Your learning a lot faster then I thought, fuck we're saving hours" Jess said.

"Holy shit I did it" Rook grinned.

"See that, you did it, now do it again but better" Jess ordered.

"Alright, alright, I feel confident, I think I can do it" Rook said, feeling confident in his archery ability.

With his new-found confidence he loaded another arrow and drew back the string and fired, the arrow barely touched the seat.

"Come on dude, you're killin' me" Jess moaned

"I'm trying" Rook pouted.

"You can do better" Jess ordered.

"Yeah, yeah, I know" Rook muttered and tried again, this time the arrow soared through the air and planted itself into the seat a few inches from the demonstration arrow Jess fired.

"Fuck yeah, alright, now your not shit, we're going to show that bitch a thing or two about earning they're keep" Jess said smiling a shark tooth grin.

"Wait what did you just say" Rook asked, getting nervous about what she could be implying.

"We gonna show that bitch Tracey a thing or two about how to get things done around here, she can hide in the prison all she wants, we will do the work and show her how to get things done" she smirked.

"That doesn't really answer my question" Rook said nervously.

"There's this youth camp around here to the north west, it's one of those shitty feel good about yourself camps, a bunch of peggies moved in there a long time ago, it's perfect for us because it's one of those camps that teaches you to start campfires and fishing and all that basic shit but most importantly they have some archery shit for the older kids so after we clear the place you'll earn an actual bow" Jess surmised.

"Alright, I'm down with taking back places from the peggies and taking their stuff for the resistance, but I don't think we should do it to spite each other" Rook replied.

"Who gives a shit, your getting an actual bow and something to make you feel like your making a difference, why are you complaining?" Jess moaned.

"Well again I'm cool with taking their things but we're a team we shouldn't just do things to spite each other like this, if you want to take this youth camp we should notify the sheriff to see if it's cool and maybe get some extra hands on board" Rook offered.

"What, how old are you?!" Jess moaned.

"You're a twenty-two-year-old man, why do you need the sheriff's permission to do things around here, I'm not sure if you noticed but there is no law enforcement around here, you can do whatever you want"

"I'm twenty-four thank you very much, and I'm not asking for his permission, he's my boss, if we're going to beat Joseph and his gang we need to cooperate with a chain of command to unify and work as a team" Rook spoke.

"Fuck that, that's stupid, I ain't taking orders from anyone, especially that ex peggie bitch" Jess exclaimed.

"What are you talking about" Rook questioned.

"What the fuck do you think I mean dumbass, Tracey was with the cult when they first showed up" Jess exclaimed.

"What no way, if Tracey was a cult member then how did she just get out" Rook protested.

"She jumped in when the cult first showed up and saw just how bad it was when they started amping up their shit, people hated her guts when she came to back begging for help" Jess explained.

"If that's true then how do you know, you're not exactly a social butterfly" Rook countered.

"Then ask her yourself then if you don't believe me" Jess returned.

Just the way Jess spoke of Tracey, it sounded different then how she spoke before, sure there was anger in her voice as she spoke of her but there was something there, some sort of confidence in herself, it made Rook believe her when she said Tracey was apart of the cult at some point.

"Ok tell you what I'll put that on the to do list and get around to it when I see her" Rook said.

"I mean it, don't trust that bitch" Jess said sternly, pointing a finger at Rook.

"Ok I feel like were going to go in circles again, so I'll just take your word on it and move on" Rook offered.

"Whatever dude, let's just go to the youth camp, kill them and take their shit" she groaned.

"Ok but I want to make something clear, we aren't doing this to spite our allies, we are doing this to fight the cult, ok?" Rook asked.

"Ugh, ok fine, can we just go now, we've wasted enough time already" she groaned.

"Alright, alright we can go now" Rook muttered as he dug around his pockets for his car keys.

"Nuh uh, we ain't taking a car" Jess intercepted.

"Wait what, why?" Rook asked, looking up at the woman.

"This is my thing, I say we walk, car's make to much noise and if we get spotted we can jump into the woods" she explained.

Rook sighed as he didn't want to walk, who knows how far it was, but she had a point, the last time he was in a car it was with Grace and that went south real quick, perhaps a quiet approach would be good.

"Alright, fine, but is it far?"

"Naah, we can get there within an hour" Jess replied as she collected all the fired arrows.

"Wait hold on a minute" Rook said as he jogged over to the ruined truck off to the side of the road Jess had retrieved the makeshift bow from and pulled off the grenade launcher from his person and placed it inside the broken vehicle, he knew he couldn't keep all these firearms on himself, he had the AK, pistol, sawed off, grenade launcher and now a bow, to carry all of these and be effective was impossible. He looked at the bundle of arrows held together copper wire and undid the copper tie and looped it through one of his belt loops on the back of his pants and re-did the tie.

"Alrighty, I'm ready as I'll ever be" he said as he jogged up to Jess and she handed him the arrow and he placed in his makeshift quiver and the two made their way down the driveway.

* * *

Fifteen minutes into the walk and the two hopped off the main roads and into the sparse forest. Rook was really regretting that he still hasn't found a hat to keep the early summer sun off him, he could feel a small breeze blow every now and again but that didn't help him to much, he looked over at Jess who walked beside him, she still wore her usual blue flannel with the green jacket over top, she didn't look like she was breaking a sweat let alone be bothered by the heat at all.

"What are you lookin' at?" She asked, turning her head to meet the deputy's gaze.

"Oh uh, sorry" Rook muttered, feeling embarrassed he got caught for staring for to long.

"I uh, was just thinking how hot it was and how you must be cooking in that big jacket there" Rook explained.

"Naah, not really, this thing is like a second skin for me, that and I'm always outside so I'm used to the heat" Jess replied, looking ahead again.

"I've lived one state over all my life; Wyoming, and I still haven't gotten used to the heat, man I hope we find some deodorant at the camp" Rook admitted.

"Deodorant? Fuck, you'd be lucky if you even find a razor, I don't think those fuckers even shave" Jess joked.

"Now that you mention it, your totally right, if not for all the guns and religious mumbo jumbo they shout I'd think I was shooting homeless people" Rook replied.

"Yeah, I don't think they even shower, as much as I love killin' them I try not to touch 'em their all greasy and sweaty" Jess said disgusted

"Ugh, I know what you mean, I've been grabbed a few times by them" Rook said.

Jess made a noise of agreement before falling silent again, she had said it they would get there within an hour, they were fifteen minutes in, and the silence was already boring, it wasn't often he could just talk to someone casually without any work talk, he had been in work mode since he arrived to the county, he knew Jess wasn't exactly a talker but he had to try.

"So uh, you read any good books lately?" Rook asked, immediately regretting his opener.

"Your joking right?" Jess asked, giving him a weird look.

"Hey if I've learned anything about you; it's your full of surprises" Rook replied.

"No, I don't even remember the last time I read a book" she said.

"Yeah, cool…" Rook trailed off, feeling stupid, he thought that would go better in his head somehow. His mind flipped through things he could use to start an actual conversation, his mind fluttered over their time in the prison and settled on Sharky recognizing Jess.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Rook asked.

"Does it have anything to do with books?" she responded.

"No, it's just last night, Sharky recognized you, did you two hang out much in high school?" he asked.

"Boshaw? Fuck no, he's a fucking weirdo and obsessed with fire, people stay away from him just as much as they did me" she replied.

"Ok, I know he's a bit wet behind the ears and tends to be more relaxed then he should be, but he couldn't be that bad back before the cult rolled in" Rook asked.

"Then prepare to have your mind blown boy scout, I got a story for you; it was the Friday before Halloween at our high school, the teachers let us dress up a bit, but no masks, weapons or anything sketchy for security reasons, so me and a few of my friends were out back, smoking and shootin' the shit, and one of them just looks over and sees this person in a big blue wolf costume, and I don't mean like a shitty Halloween costume, I mean like a mascot suit you see at sports events, and my friend is like what the fuck, who's this idiot, and I'm like who cares, let's tip this fucker over, they won't be getting up any time soon, so we go over to this idiot and I guess he heard us coming because he turned around when we got close and this person goes oh hey Jess, I don't suppose you have any weed on ya?" Jess said.

"Oh my god" rook muttered, not being able to imagine where this story was going.

"And I actually recognize his voice, it was Boshaw in there, and my friends recognize him too, they're laughing at him, taking pictures of him while I'm talking to him, so I ask him why the fuck would he possibly think it would be a good idea to wear that thing, and this fucking weirdo actually says, I swear to god I'm not lying to you he said this was is best way to come out as a furry" Jess continued.

"Nooooo" Rook groaned in awe, mouth agape and eyes wide. Rook never thought someone like Sharky would ever be a furry, he knew there was nothing wrong with being one, sure there was a weird side to it, but what culture didn't.

"And my friends are just losing their minds laughing, and I'm just standing there looking at him, and I fucking lock up" she said looking back at the deputy to take in his shock.

"I really wasn't expecting that, sure if he told me in any other way I woulda taken him apart for it, but to see him in the suit and how blunt he was about, it just threw me through a loop, and well to be honest I was a little afraid he'd set me on fire for it, who knows what he was packing under that suit"

"Holy shit I would have never guessed he was a furry, don't get me wrong that doesn't change my views on him, but wow" Rook said shaking his head, his mind jumped back to the time he was at Sharky's house, he remembered seeing a blue wolf's head in a corner, now it all made sense.

"And then what happened?"

"This was right at the end of lunch so the bell rang and I just went inside, I didn't really know what to say or where to go from there so I just left, but later one of my friends said they pushed him over and filmed him trying to get up for five minutes" Jess explained.

"Holy crap, that's wild, nothing like that ever happened at my high school, the closest thing I can think of was this one time one of my friends just had a random nose bleed in class, then went to the washroom to let it drain out, and when people asked me what caused the nose bleed I said I had enough of his back talk and I bopped him on the nose, next thing I know I'm in the principal's office being yelled at for assaulting a fellow student, man that wasn't a fun one to explain" Rook said.

Jess let out a small laugh.

"Holy shit you, hitting someone for back talking? please that's such bullshit, you're such a pushover when you're not killing peggies, I bet you never even got into an actual fight in high school" Jess teased.

"In all fairness, your right, I'm from a kinda small town, so people did know my dad was a cop, so I was left alone to a degree" Rook admitted.

"I bet you were just a riot at parties" Jess said.

"I never really went to parties unless it was a friend's party, I don't really know what to do once I'm there, sure there's girls and maybe weed and or beer, But I didn't drink back then and no way in hell could I go home smelling like weed, and I'm sure you could figure out why I didn't talk to girls" Rook said.

"Oh yeah I can see the whole conversation now, Ex-excuse me uh, you, um, you read any books recently" Jess teased in her best Rook impersonation.

"Yeah, yeah, thank you for summing up my charismatic personality" he said, jokingly rolling his eyes.

"But yeah, my high school life was pretty boring, didn't really do much, played my guitar with my friends, did the usual dumb teenager junk, looked at girls that would never be caught dead with me, got decent grades, went to a school play or two"

Jess let out a single laugh.

"you actually went to the school plays?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that, sometimes it's a musical and they can be pretty catchy" Rook admitted, feeling a tad embarrassed.

Jess turned her head to look at the deputy.

"I woulda torn you apart if we went to the same high school"

"Well, I don't know about that" Rook replied.

"My dad was a cop remember; he wouldn't take kindly to your misbehavior"

"Like you said, I'm full have surprises" she smirked.

"Maybe so but I think your underestimating the power of bored cops in a small Wyoming town" Rook returned.

* * *

"And Hurk's then Hurk just gives his buddy a harpoon launcher, and not those little ones with the rope on the end, I'm taking about a whale hunting harpoon gun" Rook spoke.

"Where the fuck would he get something like that?" Jess asked.

"Hell, if I know where he gets half the things he has" Rook shrugged.

Jess made a noise of agreement and continued to walk side by side with the deputy, the walk so far had been near flawless aside a few wandering predators poking around but were quickly scared away by the master huntress. The trees grew sparser as they journeyed, Rook hoped that if they were exiting onto the road, no peggies were near by.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, hold up" Jess suddenly said in a hushed voice as she held her arm out to the side to keep the deputy from advancing.

"What, what's wrong?" Rook said in a strained quiet voice, trying to not let the surprise and worry make him sound loud.

"We're here shit we are closer then I thought" Jess replied crouching down and advancing, signaling Rook to follow.

"Alrighty, let's take a look at what we're working with" he whispered back.

"Keep quiet and keep up" she whispered.

Rook silently nodded and followed her, the trees became fewer and fewer as they crept up a slight incline of a hill that evened out onto a small rocky overlook.

"Ok here we go" Jess muttered as the camp came into view, and they could see most of the camp.

There were a few cabins scattered along the plot of land with a large main cabin in the middle, now the roofs dawn large white Eden's Gate symbols. What was once the camp totem poll was torn down and reduced to kindling to fuel the fire the peggies used to burn god knows what, a few watchtowers littered the park, clearly not apart of the usual camp curriculum but worst of all; almost the entire camp ground was covered in bliss plants, rows and rows of bliss grew over nearly the entire camp. As Rook stared down at the camp he remembered what Jess had told him of the place, who it taught young teens how to start camp fires, fish and set up tents, it really made a chasm open up in his stomach to think that in the two and a half weeks he had been in the county he had not seen a single child or teenager, nor had he even seen signs to suggest any children. Rook prayed to whatever god that still looked over this forsaken county that all kids got out before the cult truly got serious.

"Up there" Jess whispered as she pointed out to a lone tree with a circular hunter's stand with a ladder handing on the side. It had a zip-line attached to it and lead downhill somewhere out of their view.

"Roger doger" Rook quietly replied as the two moved for the ladder thankfully the stand was far enough away from the camp that it wasn't looked after by the enemy.

The two quietly climbed up the ladder and from their closer position they could see the peggies and their activities, most of them tended to the plants while a few patrolled the grounds.

"Ok you see that motherfucker up there?" Jess said pointing to watchtower at there one O'clock.

"Yeah I see 'em" rook replied.

"Take 'em out with your bow" Jess ordered.

"What? no way he's like twice as far as the truck seat" Rook complained.

He was right the seat was almost twice as far as the target from this morning, not only that but due to the hill the stand sat on, they were slightly above the man in terms of height, Rook would have to aim down a few degrees and hope for the best.

"No, you got this, fucking try" Jess ordered.

"No way, you take the shot, this is above my skill level" Rook countered.

"You're not gonna get any better if you don't try, so take the fucking shot" Jess growled. Rook sighed in annoyance, he knew this was a losing battle, she wasn't going to stop until he did it, his only solace was when he missed and eventually get caught, he could just use his AK-47 to pick them off.

"Ok fine, I'll do it just don't give me a hard time while I'm aiming ok?" He asked.

"yeah, yeah, sure whatever" she said.

Rook inched up on the stand and got on one knee and pulled the bow off his back and an arrow off his makeshift quiver and loaded it into his bow.

"Aw son of a bitch" he whispered to himself as he could feel the self doubt settle in, he could see it now; the arrow will whizz right by the peggie and pass through the watchtower booth and into the bliss field behind and will somehow alert a peggie tending to the plants, which will in turn alert every living thing within earshot.

He could hear Jess make a noise of impatience indirectly at him as he followed through with the steps he learned an hour before.

Rook pulled the string back and pointed and trained the tip on the man's head, Rook felt a tiny bit better now that he could see his target didn't have a helmet on. He breathed in and out slowly to keep the arrow tip trained on the man's head, the man swayed ever so slightly. He took one final breath and let the arrow fly, it launched through the air gracefully and sailed towards the man, Rook felt relief wash over him as the air appeared to have a trajectory on the man's head but as quick as the relief came, it disappeared as the arrow flew past the man and through the watchtower booth and disappeared into a bliss field.

"Seriously?" Jess cried in disbelief but was quickly shushed by Rook for being a little to loud.

"Are you fucking, serious? How did you miss? He was standing still" she hissed.

"I told you this was going to happen; this is the first time I even touched a bow" Rook countered.

Jess scoffed angrily before staring down the deputy.

"Well try again" she ordered.

"You can't be serious; I'm just going to miss again" Rook said in disbelief.

"Then don't miss" she retorted.

"That doesn't make me feel any better" Rook replied.

"Dude listen, we can sit here and argue all day, but these shitheels won't die and you won't get any better until you take the shot and I'm pretty sure some famous guy said you miss one hundred of the shots you don't take or something"

"Ok, geez fine, I'll do it but if I miss again, you get him ok" Rook asked.

"Ugh, your fuckin' killing me here boy scout, fine, let's just kill them already" Jess moaned.

Rook withdrew another arrow and lined up a shot and trained it on the man's head and breathed slowly a few times before trying again.

The arrow glided through the air and flew just like the last arrow on the same trajectory, Rook felt the self doubt kick in and waited for the arrow to fly right past the man, but instead of missing the target, the arrow flew straight into the man, embedding itself into the base of the man's neck, causing the unsuspecting man to stagger in pain and tried to call out for help but could not as blood filled his throat, he gargled and flailed for a few more seconds as he tried to scrape and claw at the protrusion that choked him before collapsing in the booth.

"Fuck yeah, you see that, you got that bitch, he's getting what he deserves" Jess cheered as she playfully punched Rook in the arm.

Jess was being a little louder then she should have again, Rook wanted to shush her but he felt to uncomfortable, he didn't like how the man suffered and flailed before death, sure he was a peggie and most likely killed innocent people, but he was still another human being, a person with thoughts and feelings, a life and dreams, it didn't feel right to snuff him out like that, he would have preferred to use a bullet for a clean kill.

"Fuck that guy, man that look liked it hurt" Jess laughed.

"Uh yeah, hey let's get a move on yeah?" Rook offered.

"Yeah sure dude let's go" Jess said and moved to the ladder.

Rook's eyes drifted to the watchtower for a moment before following the woman.

They descended the ladder and crept along the outskirts of the camp towards the left side of the camp and towards a small river. Another watchtower loomed over them and on the other side was a bliss field but thankfully the ladder to the booth was facing the same side as them, the tower itself was tall but not so tall that Jess could not take a shot at him, she backed away from the camp and through the small river and fired her bow, dropping the man silently.

Jess grinned at her fresh kill then turned her attention back to Rook and gave him a hand signal to enter the bliss fields. Rook looked at the fields reluctantly as he was not interested in going near the bliss but before he could protest Jess past by him and silently disappeared into the field, with no way to argue, he followed after her.

The smell of the bliss was familiar to him, the sickly-sweet smell of the plant filled his lungs and permeated his clothes, it made him slightly lightheaded, he could even see small lights develop in his vision, memories of swimming through the treatment plant surfaced in his mind, not only that but he remembered a fuzzy imagine of the U.S. marshal; Burke, saying to walk some sort of path but anything other then that tried to swim to the top was pushed back down as he walked straight into Jess's outstretched arm, stopping him from moving forward.

"What, what's going on?" he asked, trying not to breathe in to much.

"Look, there" Jess whispered as she pointed a finger up to two peggies in front of them, one was a shirtless man on his knees, tending to plants in an adjacent field while the second man clad in full riot gear with an LMG in his hands patrolled up and down the path in-between the two field.

"How do you wanna play this?" Rook asked.

"You drop the shirtless dickhead and I'll move him before the big guy sees" Jess instructed.

"You think you can move that fast?" Rook said watching the armored man marched up and down the path, the path itself was a good fifty feet before he was met with another bliss field.

"You think you can get a head shot?" Jess replied, watching the shirtless man was on the shoulder of the path, twelve feet in front of the duo, she knew he could obviously hit him if he didn't fuck it up.

"Get your bow ready" she ordered and Rook reluctantly readied himself.

The armored man stomped down the path again, the duo watching him, looking for some opportune moment to strike.

With each passing second Rook could feel his nerves slowly get the best of him, self doubt crept in again, fears of the man standing up and walking away, fears of someone seeing, fears of the arrow would slip from his grasp and kill the man *.

The armored man reached the bottom of the path that touched the outskirts and turned around to start his march his way back up again.

"Ok get ready" Jess whispered.

"Fire" she whispered, Rook silently nodded and let the arrow go, in the blink of an eye the arrow flew from one field to the other and embedded itself in the base of the man's neck, the man fell over, emitting his death rattle, the second he hit the ground Jess jumped up from the field and quickly crept into the next field over, momentarily stopping to grab the dead man's body and dragging it deeper into the bliss.

Rook's eyes scanned the brush carefully to be sure there was no evidence to suggest fowl play but thankful Jess had moved fast enough before the blood really started to pour.

A few moments later and the armored man was drawing near where the first man originally was, stomping down the path, the disappearance of the shirtless man did not falter his patrol and carried on as if nothing happened, suddenly an arrow found its way into the man's neck, narrowly avoiding the armor and finding the slit in-between the helmet and collar, the man silently struggled and flailed before succumbing to his injuries, moments later Jess emerged from the field.

"Holy shit Jess, that was an amazing shot" he whispered in awe.

"Fuck right it was, bitch didn't know what hit 'em" she smirked.

"I don't know how you pulled that off but we got to move the body" Rook replied.

Jess made another noise of agreement before the two grabbed the fallen man and dragged him into the field. Then the two moved on down the now cleared path towards another field and entered it, this field and ventured to the edge of the other side where they could see another long peggie tending to the field adjacent to the one across from them, Jess briefly stuck her head out and looked both ways to check if it was clear.

"Ok you got this, get that motherfucker" she ordered.

Rook nodded and prepared his bow just as he did before and fired, this time the arrow hit the man in the back of the head, causing the man to silently collapse into the brush.

"Fuckin' murdered him" cheered quietly, punching Rook in the arm.

"Ow, come on" Rook muttered, rubbing his arm, he was sure the punch was intended to be congratulatory, but it felt like an actual punch.

"Oh, grow some balls" she replied as she scampered out of the brush and towards the fresh kill and pulled him fully into the field.

She returned momentarily to give Rook a thumbs up, signalling it was all clear, regardless if it was true or not he still poked his head out and looked both ways before cross over and settled down next to the body and retrieved his arrow.

The two repeated this tactic, going from field to field, eliminating all those who tended to the fields and those who patrolled it, when Rook first acquired the bow he felt very apprehensive about the whole idea but now, now that he had gotten some practice under his belt with the help with Jess, he could really see how effective this was over using a silenced weapon, he almost preferred this over the constant running and gunning, he could see more then ever that he was right to agree with Jess that they needed more then one strategy when it came to dealing with the cult, but he knew as much as this was easier, the bow and arrow wouldn't help him in an live firefight and needed to be ready to drop the bow and properly arm himself.

"Hey boy scout" Jess whispered, poking him in the side with the end of her bow.

"What's up?" he asked, brushing the bow out of his side.

"I think we got all the asshats in the fields, we should move up to the cabins" she said pointing up to a cabin up on a hill with a rock wall serving as the hillside.

"Yes please, let's get out of the bliss, I've had enough bliss to last a lifetime" he replied.

The two made their way to the end of the field towards the cliff side cabin but stopped as a female's voice boomed over the area fields.

"Hey, if anyone one is out in the field speak up!" the voice rang out.

Rook jumped in fear and Jess quietly swore as the two knew the jig was up.

The peggies knew something was up.

"See I told you everyone just disappeared" the woman exclaimed.

They looked up to the top cliff side hill to see a man and a woman standing on the edge of the cliff, looking down over the several fields. Rook feared that he would be spotted by them but thankfully the two peggies turned back to the cabin and ran to it.

"Alright everyone in groups of two, go up and down the rows, look for anything suspicious!" a male voice ordered.

A flurry of voices responded to the command and six people ran down the two paths that led off the hill and into rows of bliss.

"Shit, this is going to be tough" Rook moaned.

"Relax, we got this, just do what we did before" Jess replied.

"But there's two of them, how are we going to do it?" he asked.

"We kill them at the same time and we both drag 'em away" she said.

"Alright, if you think we can do it, then I believe" Rook said nodding.

"Then let's roll" Jess said and crept through the bliss

Rook nodded and the two moved back through the bliss field to catch up with the peggies, then Jess stopped and slowly stood up slightly to get a better look at her surroundings before lowering back down into the bliss.

"Ok you get the dude on the left, I'll get the dude on the right, fire when you see my dude drop" Jess instructed.

"You got it" Rook replied nodding.

With that Jess watched the two investigating peggies to pass by before poking out of the brush and creeping over to the adjacent field to get a better angle on the peggie on the right. As the two progressed down the road it made it harder for Rook to get a clean shot on the left most man, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and poked his head out to check up and down the path to determine if it was clear to lean out of the brush, once he declared it safe, he half step out of the brush and took a knee and aimed his bow at the left most man and waited for Jess.

The men moved another ten feet down the path before a arrow suddenly appeared in the side of the right most man's head, causing him to silently fall over, the left man recoiled in fear for a moment before Rook let his arrow go, burying it in the man's rib cage, causing him to fall to the ground, in silent agony as he writhed and squirmed on the ground, Rook checked over his shoulder to make sure the coast was still clear before creeping up to the suffering man before withdrawing his silenced pistol and ended the man's suffering.

"Why'd you waste a bullet?" Jess asked coming out of the field.

"Seriously?" Rook asked, a little stunned over Jess's callous indifference for the suffering man.

"Do you even need to ask?" Jess shrugged.

"You know what I mean" Rook said as he watched Jess wrench the arrow out of the man's skull, he didn't feel comfortable retrieving so instead he just dragged him into the field.

"Told ya we could do, boy scout" She muttered as they pulled they're kills into the brush.

* * *

With two of the six men dispatched the duo reoriented themselves and slowly stalked another pair, they had patrolled the other side of the camp and had no idea what they were walking into, as the two men walked down the path they came to a split in the road as the path ended at another bliss field and instead of the two sticking together the two men broke off and ventured down separate paths, one went towards a few cabins while the other headed towards a camp entrance.

"Dammit, they split up" Rook whispered, standing slightly in the bliss field, trying to keep an eye on the two men.

"Looks like we gotta split up too" Jess replied.

"Shit alrighty, I got the guy headed for the cabins, you get the other guy" Rook asked.

"He's as good as dead" she replied as she crept off to get her target.

Rook watched Jess disappear into the depths of the field as she stalked her prey, before turning to pursue his target.

He crept through the bliss, following the peggie towards a small cabin, as Rook came to the end of the field he looked both ways before exiting, fresh air filled his lungs as he exited, the small intake of bliss was slowly getting to him, he was glad to have chosen to go after the cabin bound man as there was barely any bliss in between him and his target.

Rook sped up just a little bit to catch up to the peggie as he walked along the side of the cabin then rounded the corner when he reached the end causing the deputy to speed up more to catch up, the last thing Rook needed was for the peggie to turn around and work his way back.

Rook cautiously rounded the corner and watched the peggie slowly moved in between a cluster of large wooden crates and the wall of the cabin. Rook could see that the lone peggie's were legs were bent slightly and moved at a snail's pace, it was obvious to the deputy the man was shaking like a leaf, scared of what he might find, scared of dying.

Something about seeing the scared peggie reluctantly scout the area resonated with Rook, how many times had he felt fear as peggies tried to fight for their cause. The peggie in front of the deputy looked young, he had to be mid twenties and not that intimidating, he most likely had a string of bad luck that allowed Joseph's recruiters to prey on, Jess had run off to deal with her target, maybe she would take long enough for the man to put down his arms and run away.

Rook picked up speed a little bit to close that gap and drew back his bow.

"drop the weapon" Rook ordered quietly.

The young man flinched hard at the sound of the deputy's voice and practically through his firearm to the ground and raised his hands in the air.

"I-I-I-I'm not afraid of you s-s-s-sinner" he stuttered.

"Sure you are kid, listen just run ok, if you leave right now I won't kill you" Rook spoke.

The man stood there, unmoving, he turned his head slightly to try to get a look at the deputy, unsure if he really could flee the area, but before he could do anything a low animistic growl came from behind the large stack of boxes to their side. Both the peggie and the deputy turned to look at what made the noise, but before they could identify it, a large light brown blur jumped out and onto the peggie, loud screams of terror and pain came from the man as the animal tore into him, now that the thing was out in the open, killing the man, Rook could clearly see it was a cougar.

"Holy shit!" Rook yelled as he jumped back, half terrified, half frozen in fear and hoping the predator wouldn't take an interest in him, but was not lucky enough as the animal's ears perked up before it's head followed after and looked right at the scared deputy and took a few curious steps forward.

"Oh shit!, oh shit!, oh shit!" Rook thought as the animal crept a little bit closer, blood dripping from its maw, with every movement it made with it's head a small metallic jingling sound chimed, the noise pulled Rook out of his mental mantra and could clearly see what made the noise, it was a metal tag of a name tag attached to a collar that was firmly strapped to the beast's neck, this confused Rook as who in their right mind would put a collar and name tag on such a dangerous animal.

The cougar roared, causing Rook to nearly jump out of his skin, he could hear the few surrounding peggies yell in fear and surprise.

"Easy there kitty" Rook mumbled, scared out of his mind that the cougar would jump on him, but instead the feline's ears perked up again and let out a low growl.

The cougar sniffed in Rook's general direction a few times, then went back to staring down the deputy, it's growls grew louder for a few moments before suddenly pouncing, darting off to the deputy's side, causing him to jump back again, stifling a scared yelp as the cougar disappeared around the cabin in the blink of an eye.

Rook could hear more terrified screams of peggies emanate from the direction the feline ran off, gunshots rang out quickly after, the cougar roared again and the gunshots and screaming fell silent.

"Holy shit, I'm super lucky" Rook muttered to himself as he stared off in the direction of the screams.

"Was that a fucking cougar?" Jess's voice came from behind him.

Hearing Jess's voice behind him startled him, causing him to jump forward.

"Jesus, you always that jumpy?" she asked.

"Jumpy? I almost got mauled by a cougar and you ask if I'm jumpy? Seriously?" Rook said still shook up.

"Your fine, come on let's finish off these losers, it sounds like the cougar got most of them let's make sure" said walking away from the deputy.

Rook stood there for a minute, watching her walk away, trying to catch his breath and slow his racing heart before catching up to Jess, he couldn't imagine where the cougar was as it was so fast and silent it could be creeping up on Jess now, Rook prayed the cougar was satisfied with eating the two men it just killed and left them be, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and began jogging to catch up to Jess, she had worked her way up to the cliff side cabin, a window must have been open as the front door was closed but the woman's voice still rang out.

"Is anyone still out there? I need help!" the woman yelled.

"I got your help right here, fuckface" she muttered as she pulled back an arrow and crept up to the door and in one swift motion, she kicked open the door and raised her bow to fire, the woman inside shouted something, but whatever it was lost as Jess silenced the woman forever.

"do you think that's all of them?" Rook asked nervously as he scanned their surroundings keeping an eye out for any signs of the cougar.

"I don't know maybe, let's find out" she said as she backed away from the door and approaching the cliff, she raised her hands to her mouth and shouted as loud as she could.

"Hey peggie motherfuckers, any of you asshats still alive?!" she screamed.

And the two were met with silence.

"Well that settles that" Jess said, wiping her hands together with a satisfied smirk.

"Man, that was more intense the n I expected" Rook said stretching his back out.

"Eh, it was alright, and I guess you did ok with the marksmanship" Jess shrugged.

"What you kidding? As someone who never used a bow before today, I think I did great" Rook protested.

"You only did so good because I held your hand the whole way" she replied.

"I only missed once, and got kills with every other shot, I think the only hands you held was your own" Rook said checking over his shoulder one last time for the cougar.

"Yeah, yeah, you can jerk yourself off as much as you want, you still got along way to go if you wanna get as good as me" Jess said.

"I don't think I'll ever be as good as you, I think I'll use my guns when things get heated" Rook replied.

"Yeah you do you" she said as she began to walk away from the cabin and the deputy and back down into the rows of bliss and towards a make shift white tarp canopy with a few containers under it, she pulled off one of the lids and dug around in it, pulling out various things, pillows, a life jacket, a bait and lure box, a few coffee mugs and other camp equipment.

"So, what are you looking for?" Rooked asked as Jess pulled of the lid on the second container and resumed the scavenging, offering no answer to the deputy.

She began throwing random things out of the box as she searched for whatever she was looking for before pulling something out of the box without throwing it onto the floor and she turned back to the deputy,

"Alright, so like I said your ok with the bow so here, your going to need this she said holding it out what she pulled out of the box, it was a small arrow quiver, it was small and clearly meant for someone small like a young teenager, the arrows he had were of normal length so he was unsure if they would sit in the quiver right due to the side.

"Oh, thanks Jess, I appreciate the upgrade" Rook smiled and took the quiver, and with his other hand he pulled out the last of his arrows and placed them into the quiver, the arrows looked to big inside of the small quiver but looked good enough that they wouldn't fall out, satisfied with how they stayed in he unclipped the quiver strap and wrapped it around his waist just above the belt, the quiver sat sideways on his back, tilted sideways and the arrows sticking out of his side slightly.

"So I guess we should let someone know that we cleared the place right?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, there is still a radio jammer or something killing the airwaves so we gotta get back to the prison to let someone know" Rook replied.

Jess groaned in annoyance, not wanting to make the journey back to deliver a sentence worth of news.

"Well hold on there, Miss Black" Rook grinned.

"As you can see there is a pickup truck parked by the entrance" he said pointing to a parked pickup truck by the entrance of the camp.

"Oh thank god, let's roll" She moaned.

"Wait we can't just leave we got to take some stuff back with us, that's why we came here remember?" Rook asked.

"Uugh, fine let's look for something" she moaned again, totally forgetting why she had kick started the expedition.

"Come on Jess, let's find something that will shut Tracey up" Rook said.

"yeah" she said perking up.

"Let's get something that will shut her the fuck up about me earning my keep" she said confidently as she jogged back to the canopy to find something good.

Rook followed after her, shaking his head slightly and smiling, it was almost funny to watch her perk back up, it seemed she only really got excited when it came to killing peggies and spiting her teammates, it was kind of nice to see her like that, not scowling or indirectly angry at everything, sure she was spending her day to spite someone she barely knew for more then twenty four hours, but she was helping the resistance, maybe if he played his cards right, he and Jess could actually bond over something and have her be able to actually open up more as friends, and maybe even make other friends over her own. Rook mentally laughed at himself as he remembered how this morning the sheriff told him to be careful not to bite off more then he could chew.


	10. Chapter 10

"Are we there yet?" Jess moaned for the umpteenth time.

After the two had procured the keys to the pickup they had found, they had loaded the cargo bed up with all the guns and ammunition they could carry, the load consisted of a dozen automatic rifles and ammo boxes, what else that was left behind would be scavenged when the resistance rolled in to make the camp their own.

"For the last time, it's a twenty-minute drive, we'll be there soon" Rook replied, focusing on the road.

"You said that like, half an hour ago, you got us lost somehow" she griped, limply throwing her arms forwards.

"Keep it down back there, keep it up and I'll turn this car around, you hear me young lady?" Rook smiled teasingly.

"Ugh, just fucking shoot me if your gonna start that shit" Jess moaned as she leaned her seat far back and placing her feet up on the dashboard and rested her arms under her head.

"What are you doing?" Rooked asked, taking his eyes off the road momentarily to take a gander at his ally.

"I'm trying to get comfy" she said fidgeting in her seat a few times before getting comfy.

"You know that's not very safe, if I hit something at this speed, you'll slide right through the windshield like a torpedo" Rook warned.

"Then don't hit anything" Jess countered.

"You know what I mean Jess, you're not even wearing your seat belt, seriously I don't want you to get hurt" Rook said.

"Well ain't you just a bleeding heart" Jess said, looking over at him.

"Come on, put your seat belt on, please, I'd feel bad if you got hurt" Rook asked.

"Why, you gonna cry if I get hurt?" she responded in a mock emotional voice while reaching up to poke a finger into the deputy's ribs.

"You going to kiss my boo boos if I do?" she continued, all the while poking him in the ribs.

"Jess, come on, knock it off, I'm trying to drive" Rook moaned, swatting at the finger embedded in his ribs.

"And no, I wouldn't cry if you got hurt, you've made it clear that you're a big tough girl, I'm sure you can handle a few boo boos" Rook replied.

"Your god damned right" she smirked.

Rook hummed in agreement then stayed silent, there was no point in arguing with her, once she made up her mind then good luck trying to reason with her, instead of fighting the up hill battle that was in-car safety his mind shifted to why she was so intent on getting back to the prison in a timely manner.

"So why you so anxious on getting back to the prison, do you have something planned?" he asked.

"Was hoping to do a little hunting actually, get myself some deer meat, I saw that crap they call food, no way am I eating that" Jess explained.

"You know I'm sure the cooking staff would pay a pretty penny for one or two deer carcasses or whatever the term is, it's not like your going to eat a whole deer" Rook offered.

"Money isn't a big thing to me anymore, this is a take what you want kind of county now" Jess said.

"Still, I'm sure everyone would really appreciate some actual food besides mashed potatoes and beans" Rook replied.

"You could always do it yourself, your pretty ok with a bow" Jess said as she began fidgeting in her seat again, trying to get comfy.

Rook was about to say things about how their respective skills paled in comparison but he held the thought in as road signs warning drivers not to pick up hitchhikers as they could be escaped inmates and the next thing he knew he could see the prison sitting up on the hill.

"Ah, there she blows, see I told you were not lost" Rook said, pointing off into the distance.

Jess followed his point to see the prison in the distance, it couldn't be more then five minutes away.

"Bout fucking time" she muttered.

* * *

Rook slowed the car as he came up the driveway and honked the horn a few times before rolling down the window and waved at the people on the wall in hopes they wouldn't mistake him for the enemy, eventually he received a few waves back and felt it was safe to pull into the parking lot, and he and Jess climbed out of the truck and Rook walked around to the back of the truck to open the cargo bed door flap and pulled a few guns closer to the lip of the cargo bed for easy pickup as Jess watched. Eventually a man came out to see what the two had brought back.

"Hey there, deputy, long time no see" the man called out waving over to him.

Rook looked up at the man that called to him, he was ready to respond but froze for a second as the man who had called him looked very familiar to him, he had met this man a few days ago but couldn't place a name with the face.

"Ugh, hey there dude, yeah haven't seen you in a while" Rook responded, choosing his words carefully to hopefully provoke information that would spark his memory.

"Yeah no kidding, what have you been up too since we helped that defector out of the trailer park?" the man asked.

The light bulb in Rook's mind switched on; Michael, the man's name was Michael, Rook sighed in relief mentally.

"Oh you know, fighting the cult, saving lives, usual deputy stuff" rook said casually leaning against the side of the pickup.

"That's great to hear man keep up the good work" Michael smiled before turning his head to Jess.

"And what about you miss, how have you been since then?" he asked.

"Fuckin' killing dudes, what else is there to do" she said, rolling her eyes at the man.

"Er, yeah, cool stuff" Michael winced,

"So, what you got there?" Michael asked, eyeing the cargo bed.

"Jess and I took some guns and ammo from a few peggies who don't need them anymore, and on that note; we cleared sacred skies youth camp and it's full of goodies" Rook smiled.

"Holy shit, really? You just cleared it out!" Michael gasped.

"Well I can't take all of the credit" Rook shrugged.

Rook stuck out a thumb to point at Jess who stood off to the side, disinterested.

"I didn't even know the place existed until she told me about it, not only that but she showed me how to help her clear it out silently" he said.

"Wait, wait, wait, back up, you two just went to a peggie outpost and just ghosted it?!" Michael asked in utter disbelief.

"Well to say we ghosted it is a bit of a stretch, well ok we kind of did yeah, but then this cougar showed up and started eating dudes" Rook guessed.

"Wait, there was a cougar now!" Michael cried, bewildered.

"Holy shit, you two are mental! The cult ain't going to last much longer with people like you fighting back, holy crap" he cried in awe, running his hands through his hair"

"I appreciate the vote of confidence but we have to take it one step at a time if we want to get the Seeds in cuffs" Rook said, feeling a twinge of pride in his chest from hearing Michael's praising.

"Oh by the way, the sheriff was looking for you, he seemed pretty worried about something" Michael said.

"Oh really? Did something happen?" Rook asked.

"I don't know, I've been on the wall all day, I just heard something was up through the grapevine" Michael replied.

"Huh, alrighty, thanks, well I'll swing by and see what happened" Rook responded.

"No problem, Deputy, anyways I'm going to run inside and let people know about your hard work and get people out to the camp" Michael grinned.

"Roger doger, see you in there in a bit" Rook offered as Michael departed from the two and turned to head inside.

As Michael left Rook's vision drifted over to the guns and ammo he and Jess had brought back, he felt pride knowing that he could actually do something to help the cause, sure he had been helping not stop but right here right now he could see the fruits of his labor, several guns and metal boxes of ammo sat in front of him, these tools were used to take the lives of innocent people who just want to live, but now these same tools will be used to save and protect those same lives.

"Well that solves that" Jess finally spoke, wiping her hands together.

"Are you going out hunting now?" Rook asked, turning his attention to his friend.

"Yeah, but I wanna grab a few things from inside before I go" Jess responded.

"you going to be out all day?" Rook asked again.

"I don't know maybe; depends how far out I go" she said.

"Well if you don't think you'll come back for a while please let me know before you go, there's a lot of dangers out there" Rook said.

"Who are you, my mother?" Jess scowled, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

"No, I'm a friend, a friend who is concerned for your safety" Rook said.

"Yeah, yeah ok sure, whatever dude, let me just shoot a text through the fucked-up radio waves or whatever" Jess said, uninterested in what the deputy had to say and moved past him and towards the prison's front gate.

Rook made no attempt to stop her physically or verbally, instead he watched her go for a few moments before jogging up next to her.

"I mean it, be safe out there, there's a lot of sickos out there" he said as the two walked through the front gate.

Jess offered no reply asides from a lazy eye roll and the two walked silently through the courtyard and into the prison proper, Jess broke off from Rook almost immediately as they entered and wandered off towards the quartermaster's counter to most likely obtain whatever she needed, Rook thought about joining her to fill up his ammo but decided against it, Michael had said something was wrong with the sheriff, the quartermaster wasn't going anywhere, she could wait. Rook kept on walking towards the make shift command room and pushed open it's doors, the moment he entered the room he could see Whitehorse with his back to him, hunched over one of the tables cluttered with papers, it appeared the sheriff was quickly flipping through a handful of quickly scrawled notes.

"Howdy Boss" Rook said wary of his boss's demeanor.

Whitehorse's head shot up, he quickly threw the papers back onto the table and turned to face his caller.

"My god Dep are you ok?" he asked, his facial expression's melted into worry.

"What yeah I'm fine, did something happen?" Rook asked.

"What happened to you? Where did you go?" Whitehorse asked and quickly moved towards the deputy, closing the gap and stood a few feet before him.

"I was just outside, me and Jess got our hands on some guns and ammo" Rook said.

Whitehorse's head tilted back slightly and blinked a few times in surprise unsure of how his deputy could have done what he did.

"Christ kid where did you go?" he cried again; his worry evolved into surprise then anger.

"what's wrong?" He asked.

"What's wrong!?" Whitehorse gasped.

"What's wrong is my deputy said he was going to check on his troublemaker friend then come right back to get down to business but ends up disappearing for the better part of two and a half hours and just comes back with weapons and ammo, where the hell did you go!" Whitehorse demanded angrily.

"Oh shit" Rook muttered in disbelief; he was slack jawed for a moment as he brought a hand up to cover his gaping mouth.

He had completely forgotten that he did in fact tell Whitehorse that he would go see what Jess had been doing in the parking lot then come back in and get to work, but instead he ran off with her to learn how to use a bow and steal firearms, he was so focused on it that time had slipped by him, he knew he had been gone for at least an hour and a half but two and a half, Rook felt awful, not even twenty four hours ago he had already disappeared once already, to pull something like this again so close to the first time was inexcusable, even more so if the second time was willingly.

"I'm really sorry Earl" Rook muttered, shaking his head slightly, looking down at the floor, feeling ashamed of his actions.

"Sorry doesn't answer my question Rook" Whitehorse demanded.

"Right" Rook muttered, removing the hand from his mouth and used it to rub the back of his neck, eyes still downcast.

"Well I, um, Jess she uh, she wanted to get her hands on some stuff so Tracey would get off her back about earning her keep and she kinda asked me to help and she showed me to shoot a bow then we went to this uh, youth camp, it was full of peggies and we cleared the place out and we brought back some stuff, but there's a whole lot more at the youth camp" Rook explained glumly, finally taking his eyes off the ground and looking his boss in the eye.

Whitehorse was silent, he turned his head to the side slightly to break contact with Rook and heavily exhaled out his nose once, Rook was unsure of what his boss would say, to anxious to say more.

"God dammit kid" he finally said, turning back to his deputy, his voice devoid of emotion.

"You can't just run off and help people with every little problem they have, it may be your job, but you have an obligation to do your duty and follow procedures" Whitehorse scolded, as he spoke his voice slowly filled with anger again, he stopped speaking briefly to heavily exhale though his nose again and calmed down a little again.

"I don't care if you care about this Jess girl, or if you pity her but you can't just let her threaten you or let her twist your arm into doing something you don't want to do and just disappear like that, I thought Faith grabbed you again, I was about to send out a search team" he huffed.

"Yes sir, right, it won't happen again" Rook mumbled, still feeling bad, he felt like a child again, being scolded by his father for doing something he shouldn't have, all he knew to do was to keep his head down and apologize.

"Now if your ready to get back to work I have something I need you to look into" Whitehorse asked sternly.

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" Rook tried to say confidently as he was trying to professionally move past getting chewed out a few moments prior.

"A hour after you left some of our guys from far east of the Henbane came in saying how the cult have a few of doctors held up at some geothermal park up towards the north, a few boys and Grace went up there to check it out, but it's taking a lot longer then I'm comfortable with, can you head up there and see what happened?" Whitehorse asked.

"Um yeah, I'll go and uh, go take care of it" Rook said quietly and nodded before turning and hurried out of the room.

Whatever disappointment Rook felt for himself was nothing compared to what he was feeling now as not only has he disappeared for longer then he should have but Whitehorse most likely asked Grace to keep and eye out for him, they had just made up for the first disappearance she was most likely worrying all over again, not only that but if he didn't go with Jess he could have accompanied Grace and the other resistance members to the thermal park to save those doctors, Whitehorse said they were gone longer then they should have, if he had gone with them he knew he could have saved lives if something actually did happen. Rook knew there was nothing he could do about it until he got to the park, he knew he had to be better then this.

Despite blaming himself for what could have happened and what could be happening at the thermal park, he still moved quickly down the halls and hurried to his pickup truck, hoping the bulk of the goods he brought back had been cleared out.

"What's eating you?" a voice came.

Rook was pulled out of his self deprecation to look up at the person who had called him, down the hall, a few meters from the quartermaster's counter was Jess, bow and quiver slung over her shoulder, she had been watching him sulk down the hall, curiosity got the better of her.

"Oh, uh, hey Jess" Rook mumbled, averting his eyes off to the side while he rubbed the back of his head.

"So, what's up with you, you look your dog died" Jess asked.

"Well, I uh, the sheriff he well, um, I found out that uh, well, er" Rook stuttered trying to formulate an appropriate sentence to summarize how he felt but struggled as what the sheriff had said echoed in his head.

"I, um, er, uh, uhh, ehh" Jess mimicked to tease the distraught deputy.

"You trying to tell me what's up or you trying to ask me out?" She asked, getting a little impatient, the deputy's inability to properly speak was wasting her time, a part of her was regretting calling out to him, she could have just left and went hunting.

"I went to uh, talk to the Sheriff, he uh, wasn't to happy about us just disappearing without saying anything" Rook finally said, making eye contact with her.

"So? Fuck him, you're your own man, do whatever you want" Jess said, now disinterested in why he looked upset

"That's not the point though, Grace and some guys went out to some geothermal park to save some doctors, but they have been gone a lot longer then they should" Rook explained.

Jess was quiet for a few seconds.

"Well shit" she finally said.

"You think she's still alive?"

"I don't know" Rook said quickly and quietly.

"what you gonna do about it?" she asked.

"I'm going to go to the park, it's the only thing I can do" he solemnly.

"Do you even know where it is?" Jess asked again.

Rook remained silent for a few moments, trying to think of any information the Sheriff may or may not have said but sadly nothing came to mind.

"I guess I could grab a map or something, I mean it is a tourist trap right? So, it has to be on some map right?" Rook shrugged.

Jess gave the deputy an annoyed look, she thought about just half heartedly wishing him luck and just go hunting, but she also thought about how Rook had said Grace had gone to find those doctors, Grace, Grace had been nicer to her when other people shied away, it wasn't out of pity or sympathy, she knew Grace had served the army, she knew she lost friends in Afghanistan, Grace was the closest person to understand how she felt, and she did offer her a place to stay the night every now and again.

Jess sighed in annoyance.

"Alright come on, let's get this over with" she grumbled as she reached out to grab the deputy's arm and began to pull him towards the nearest exit.

"Wait what, what are you doing" he questioned nervously as he resisted the woman's pull.

"You're never going to find the park, you're just going to waste your time and everyone else's, come on I now the way" she replied, releasing her grip on the man.

"What, why, I thought you were going hunting?" Rook asked

"Do you want my help or what?" she said placing her hands on her hips, starting to get a little angry.

"Wha- then, I mean yes, please Jess I would appreciate your assistance" Rook said quickly.

"Then come on already let's go" She said walking away from him and motioning him to follow.

Rook wasted no time and quickly followed.

* * *

The ride was silent and fast, nothing was said besides Jess giving directions, Rook on the other hand was completely silent, he was to focused on getting to the geothermal park as fast as possible, he abandoned his usual driving traits such as stopping at intersections and using his turn indicators, even his posture indicated he was off. He was leaning forward in his seat, shoulder hunched up and an uneasy tapping noise came from him as he nervously tapped upon the steering wheel with an index finger. Jess took in how different he was, from driving methods to how he sat, it felt almost as if she was sitting next to someone different, too see him so wound up like this was a stark contrast to his usual, cautious, almost awkward attitude.

"So uh, you good?" Jess asked, watching his finger bounce up and down on the steering wheel.

"I'm fine" he muttered before falling silent again.

The tapping filled the truck cabin again, Jess considered just leaving it at that, how he felt was his own business and his alone, but she also knew if something were to happen it could be spun in a bad way, the deputy, all wound up rushes into the unknown and gets himself hurt or killed and the sheriff could shift the blame onto her, it was her indirect fault he was like this after all. The last thing she needed was the cult and the resistance on her back.

"Hey... so, you know your overreacting right?" she stated.

"People could be dead" he said sternly.

"Yeah people are dying all the time, it's nothing new" Jess replied.

"But they are doctors" Rook anxiously.

"They can save so many lives"

"So could you but getting all twitchy ain't gonna help anyone" Jess scolded.

"I'm not twitchy" Rook pouted.

"Yes, you are, for starters your driving like my old man, and that's a compliment" she replied.

"And you keep tapping the fucking wheel like your sending Morse code"

"Then what do you want me to do? I'm scared for their lives" Rook groaned in light frustration.

"Calm the fuck down dude, you can't save everyone" Jess said just as frustrated.

"Not if I can help it" Rook muttered.

* * *

Rook slowed the truck to a halt as the park came into view, it was a good three hundred feet away from the cluster of ponds, on it was a series of wooden boardwalks that curved in on itself to form a large oval with the landmass with a small building in the middle, two mastodons stood at either side of the building, giving credence to the park's name. The air was thick and heavy, despite the park be just a cluster of very hot ponds the heat carried into the air a light steam emanated off the water. He hastily climbed out of the truck and immediately dropped into a crouch and scurried off towards the park.

"Jesus fuck dude, slow down" Jess quietly called to him as she also adopted a crouch and followed him.

Rook ignored her and moved towards the park to get a good look at what he was going up against. He could see peggies meander up and down the boardwalks, they were nothing special, just the usual guys and gals in beige shirts with automatic weapons, but what else he could see made his stomach drop, from one of the trees hung man not, by the neck with a noose but it appeared that the cult but four hooks into the dead man's torso and stomach and hung him like a pinata. Rook shuttered at the idea of the dead man being one of the guys that went with Grace.

He watched the peggies intently in hopes of discovering some pattern or secret, but nothing came about, he still stared anyways, trying to scheme some makeshift plan. Whatever he was working on was put on hold as ray light gleamed in his eye, he brought his hands up to his brow to block the sunlight and wrote it off as the sun coming out from behind a cloud, he would have kept believing that but then suddenly the ray of light bounced from one eye to the other, going back and forth between the two.

"What the hell?" He muttered as he rubbed his eyes unsure if this was another bliss hallucination or something completely different.

"What's wrong?" Jess asked, finally taking note of his discomfort.

"The sunlight isn't acting like sunlight" Rook responded, unsure how else to phrase his response.

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Jess scowled, turning to look at the deputy.

"I think something's wrong with me" Rook said rubbing his eyes again

Jess was about to respond before she saw it, a faint streak of light danced across his face erratically, she watched it jerk back and forth, unsure what she was looking at, how it moved unnaturally. She was unable to piece together what was happening although it reminded her of how her dipshit brother would sometimes reflect light off the underside of a CD and into her eyes to bug her. How he would tilt the CD back another forth to shine it in both eyes. She watched the light flicker across his face as he continuously rubbed his eyes, then it clicked in her mind, what was happening was exactly what her brother used to do, someone was purposely blinding the deputy, but who?

she spun around to face the nearby treeline at sat one hundred feet away from the duo, scanning it for any anomalies, or anything that looked like a human being, but all appeared normal, perhaps she was wrong, maybe they both got unknowingly blissed, she was about to turn back to the visual impaired deputy but then she saw it, a wave of a hand, her eyes locked onto the movement and could see clear as day, one hundred feet away, hiding among the trees and bushes was Grace Armstrong.

"Ok I think it's over" Rook said, looking down into his open palms for any source of his vision problems.

"Shit dude, look over there" Jess said tugging on his sleeve with one and pointing at Grace with the other.

"What, do you se- holy shit Grace" cried and immediately began moving towards the veteran.

"Hey be more careful, if we're seen, we're screwed" Jess scolded as she followed.

As they drew close they could see Grace tucked in among trees and bushes, rifle lay in her lap and scope in her right hand. Her left arm was lightly coated with blood, the source of it all was a leaking wound up by her shoulder, her uniform sleeve soaked and ripped to give access to the wound, stained red gauze poked out for the ripped fabric.

when Rook saw that state of his friend he felt his heart skipped a beat, he knew peggies were a few hundred feet away, but he didn't care, he picked up speed and moved as fast as he could in a crouched position to the wounded woman.

"Slow down asshole!" he heard Jess cry without yelling, trying to keep up.

But he didn't listen, he kept moving and did his best not to be seen as he moved across the clearing and cleared the distance and approached the veteran with Jess close behind, ready to grab him and throw him onto the ground if and when the peggies see him and start firing.

"Holy shit, are you ok!?" Rook asked, staring at the wound.

"Yeah, it's just a graze, glad to see your alright too" Grace responded.

"Yeah about that" Rook grimaced, looking away from her and rubbing the back of his neck.

Jess rolled her eyes, she knew Rook was going to start up another round of bitching and moaning about how he blamed himself for the situation.

"So what happened to you?" Jess asked, jumping into the conversation.

"Good to see you too Jess" Grace said with a small smile before going over what had happened.

"A few guys and I came out here because we caught wind that the cult is holding some doctors out here, so we pull in and I take up my post down by the edge of the park and the others snuck into the park" Grace explained before her eyes fell downcast.

"We found a few people tied up, but I think it was a trap or something because when the peggies were on us so fast, we had to pull out, they got a few of us before I was able to give proper cover fire, but they caught wind of me fast, I guess you were right, maybe I should get a silencer" she said, looking up at the worried deputy.

"They started firing at me and I had to get out, but they caught me on the way out, for some reason they didn't chase after me so I hid out here to patch myself up, and hope someone else would come along, lucky for me, here you are" Grace finished, cracking a small smile again.

"Aw shit Grace I'm so sorry" Rook moaned.

"I didn't mean for anything if this to hap-"

"Rook" Grace said, cutting him off.

"We have a job to do, we can save the apologies when we get out of here"

"Uh yeah, sounds good" he replied.

"So uh, did you see anyone else get out?" Rook asked nervously.

"I didn't see anyone; I think I'm the only one who made out" Grace stated.

"Aw son of a bitch" Rook muttered, looking away from Grace and off to the side before turning back to her for a few seconds then turning to Jess then back to Grace.

"Rook listen I know your feeling bad, but I need you to focus, we can't let our allies die in vain, please poke around the park and see what can do" Grace asked.

"Uh, yes I will, I promise I'll do my best" Rook nodded, trying to regain confidence.

"Alright, lets get to work" Grace said as she clipped her scope back onto her rifle and slightly struggled to raise her rifle up.

"Wait, are you good to use that?" Rook asked.

"Oh yeah, I can still fight, I'll give cover fire if you get caught" she responded.

Rook solemnly nodded before turning to Jess.

"You ready to get to work?" he asked.

"I guess" she shrugged.

"Then let's get a move on" Rook said, crouching back down and moved towards the thermal park.

The two crept up along the grassland, eventually it broke up into rock landscape that dipped into the boiling water Rook poked his head up to take in the area, looking for a way to get onto the boardwalk without touching the water and not getting seen by the patrolling peggies, he could see that the peggies slowly sauntered down the boardwalks, despite how long the boardwalks were, there was surprisingly few peggies were actually on patrol, he counted eight visible peggies patrolled or stood around on the main island, he tried to see any doctors or any non peggie looking individuals on the island but struggled to as the island was to far and the rising thin steam from the water floated up and slightly obscured his view even more, yet he still tried to peer through the steam

He felt Jess tug on his arm, he pulled himself away from the island and turned to the woman.

"What's up?" He asked quietly.

Jess didn't say anything instead she pointed off to the side of the thermal park.

"What? do you see a doctor or somethin'?" he asked, looking off to where she had pointed.

Instead of any sign of human presence, what she was pointing to the landscape, he could see the grassland evened out into stone and sand, it reached out into one of the ponds and up to one of the legs of a boardwalk, the boardwalk itself had a thick wooden a raised railing denoting that there was a small staircase in the walk.

"Ok, ok, I see what you mean but look over there" he said pointing up to a peggie down the boardwalk, walking towards their newly discovered entry point.

"Alright, let's glass this motherfucker and move on" Jess said, taking the lead and moving in towards park, she moved slower then she usually did.

"And how do you plan on getting him without anyone seeing the body?" Rook asked.

Jess didn't offer a reply but instead she moved in towards the sandy rock ground and slowly moved along it towards the boardwalk supporting leg.

Rook thought she was just going to pull out the bow then and there, but instead, she simply sat down on the sandy rock, kicking her legs out in front of her, Rook was unsure of what she could possibly be planning, he watched curiosity, a part of him wish to ask what but decided to simply watch as it would all play out soon enough. Jess, still sitting on the floor, removed the bow off her back and loaded an arrow into the bow then leaning back and just about laid down in the sand but very slightly tilted herself up, with the bow pressed to her chest she lifted it slightly and pulled the string back and watched the peggie meander down the walk and waited, she waited for the peggie to approach the railing and when he did she lifted herself up more, allowing her to maneuver the bow up to get a clean shot, and as the peggie's stride entered the railings area, she fired, the arrow found it's way into the peggie's head, dropping him silently, concealing him.

"Like that, motherfucker" she smirked, looking up at the deputy.

Rook was bewildered over Jess's shooting ability could only offer her a silent thumbs up and stared as a reply.

"you gonna keep gawking or what?" she asked, pulling herself off the ground and sneaking up to the boardwalk and pulled herself up.

Rook followed quickly and pulled himself up and went straight to the corpse and grab the corpses arms, he looked up and down the boardwalk for a place to hide the body but quickly realized the futility of trying to hide a body on an open boardwalk, sure he could just leave the body where it lay, but if another peggie were to come by they would see it and sound the alarm.

"What are you doing?" Jess asked, watching him gripping the body while looking around.

"I'm looking for a place to hide the body" Rook admitted.

Jess looked in the water before looking back to the deputy.

"We could just huck him in the water? Doubt the peggies will ever look in the water for the enemy?" Jess offered, approaching the deputy and ripping the arrow out of the body.

Rook looked at the water nervously before looking at her.

"OK sure, let's do it" he said.

Jess didn't say anything, and the two dragged the body to the edge of the boardwalk and slowly eased him into the water, the body made a soft splash as it entered, causing a ripple in the near still water.

"I guess that will do it" Rook muttered as he moved on, Jess watched the water briefly to make sure the body didn't magically float out into a visible area, she was about to move on but something floated from out from under the boardwalk and into the corner of her vision, a ripped and frayed jacket floated in the boiling water.

"Aw fuck, I knew it" Jess muttered.

"Knew what?" Rook asked, looking over his shoulder at his friend.

Jess looked at the deputy for a moment unsure if she should say what's on her mind, it might serve to wind him up even more, making him rush through the park, it would make him an easy target.

"Jess" he quietly said, his voice full of anxiety and suspense, hoping she would speak.

"Ok, ok, ok, I'll tell you but don't let it get to your head and run off ok, you gotta stay cool ok?" She asked

"Yeah, yeah, ok sure, now please share" Rook said anxiously.

Jess stared at him a moment again before speaking.

"Well when the Father really wants someone and he doesn't need them anymore, he has them taken out here to have them thrown into the boiling water" Jess explained.

"And you thought now would be a good time to tell me this?" Rook quietly cried angrily, taking a crouched step towards her

"Keep your voice down!" she retorted, making sure no one was within earshot.

"For all we know all the doctors are in the water and you just chose to share such info now, we could have used this like five minutes ago" he growled.

"Your already wound up enough as is, I'm not going to fucking make you worse" Jess countered.

Rook scoffed before moving down the walk.

"Where are you going?!" she quietly called.

"To do my job" he replied.

"Fuck stop running off like that, your going to get yourself killed" Jess growled before following Rook again.

Rook had scampered down the walk and towards another peggie much further down the walk, like the first, he walked slow and his back to the deputy, Rook wasted no time and slowly pulled out his silenced pistol and drew ever nearer to the man until he was fifteen feet way, Rook silently thanked the light steam obscured him slightly and the Grace and the others had picked off a few peggies, if they didn't he would have surely been seen by now.

Now that he was within close proximity to the peggie he raised the gun to the peggie's head and fired, the man dropped silently, and Rook crept up on the body and carefully lowered him in the water, Allowing Jess to catch up.

"God dammit, I said stop doing that" She whisper yelled.

"We need to sure the doctors are alive _now_" Rook replied sternly.

"You won't find shit if you wind up dead" Jess scolded.

"Then what do you think we should do?" Rook asked, getting annoyed he couldn't continue his search.

"Let's get on the main island and work our way around the place" Jess stated.

"Rook hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Ok, fine" he pouted.

"Good, now you follow my lead" she demanded, pointing a finger at Rook before pointing it at herself.

"Ok, sure, fine, let's just get to the island" Rook replied, still pouting indignantly.

Jess silently nodded before journeying down the walk again, the two could easily see that second boardwalk stretched off to the side of the one they stood on and led into the main island, it was there obvious entry point, Rook turned to examine the island better. Looking for more peggies or doctors, or at the very least anything that could help him, after a few moments of searching he saw what he was looking for.

Look, there" Rook said, pointing to a lookout platform attached to the edge of the main island.

On it they could see a man on his knees, hands behind his back, most likely bound together, he looked about middle aged and wore a blue hoodie and black vest over top.

"That has to be a doctor" Rook said before moving in closer.

"Careful, there's two fuckers" Jess responded, pointing over to the two peggies that hung around the center of the island, one sat on the edge of a picnic table, fiddling with his firearm while the other stood guard on the far side of the island.

"Alright, think we can get them both?" Rook asked.

"What? seriously, of course we can, come on" Jess ordered, drawing her bow and getting an arrow ready before speeding up her pace, Rook did the same and followed her and the two made their way up the walk and towards the main island.

The two slowly crept up on the main island and stepped into the main foundation, the main foundation housed a large wooden awning and the two mastodons that could be seen from the pickup truck was left, now the Rook had gotten up close he could see just how large the mammal was, but his awe in the creature was quickly dashed away as Jess pulled at his attention.

"You ready to glass these fucks?" she asked.

"I'll fire when you do" Rook said, training his pistol on the sitting man's head.

Jess nodded and readied her bow on the standing man for a few moments before silently dispatched one peggie as Rook shot the other with his pistol and the two dropped in sync and the lookout platform became relatively safe. Causing the tied-up man visibly flinched and stifled a gasp as the two hit the floor.

"Oh my god, are you going to kill me?!" the man quivered, fear coating his voice.

"No, I'm with the resistance, Junior Deputy Rook, here to get you out" Rook replied.

"Oh thank god" the man whispered quickly.

"You gotta get me out of here, they're going to kill me!" He whispered.

"Is there anyone else here, are there any other doctors here?" Rook asked.

"Doctors?" the man stuttered.

"There were never any doctors here"

"What?!" Rook gasped.

"Then who are you, why are you here?" Rook asked nervously.

"I'm Charles Linsey, I'm a veterinarian" Charles said.

"What? a veter- I, the, but" Rook stuttered.

"Please get me out of here" Charles whispered

"Why, ho- th-the but" Rook continued to stutter, running his hands through his hair trying to piece things together.

"Hey, get it together" Jess ordered as she quickly looked around, hoping no one would see them.

"Please get me out of here" Charles whimpered.

Rook stared down at the bound man briefly before shaking his head and walked behind the veterinarian and bent down to address what bound his hands together, it was a simple piece of rope tied in a simple note, it was tight enough to keep together from tension from in the note, but appeared to look easy to untie, Rook spent a few moments undoing the knot and freed the man. When Charles felt his hands be freed, he pulled his hands forward and looked down at his hands briefly before he rubbed his sore wrists, chapped from rope burn.

"Oh my god thank you" Charles praised as he stood up, as he reached full height Jess held out a hand to keep him from moving forward.

"Easy there buddy, there are still assholes still in the area" she stated.

"Wh-what do we do?" he stammered.

"We stay together, and we stay low" Rook explained.

"B-but you said there is no one else, right?" he asked.

"No, not anymore" Charles said, sorrow etched on his face.

"Shit" Rook muttered, before mentally moving on.

"Let's get out of here" Jess said.

"Yeah, don't worry and we'll get you out of here, just keep your head down and listen to us" Rook ordered.

"Ok, ok, ok" Charles stammered before adopting the same crouched form the duo did, be it out of pure mimicry or out of fear.

The three slowly made their way back the way they came, very slowly they moved down the boardwalk, keeping an eye on the peggies that remained along the other boardwalks, Rook could hear the veterinarian mutter something as they went, he could only assume it was a prayer to whatever god he believed in for protection, Rook thought about maybe sending a silent prayer as well, but the weeks in Hope's County taught him that a good shot goes farther then a prayer. The three carefully moved along the walks and was on the final boardwalk, fifty feet from the patch of land they climbed onto the walk in the first place, but then a loud bang rang out through the air, the three visibly recoiled from the noise, for a moment there was silence then in the distance, yells could be heard from the geothermal park, the three looked back to see the remaining peggies scramble and running along the boardwalks, trying to figure out what had happened. Rook's mind raced to figure out what had happened, his mind flipped through all possible scenarios that could have happened until he remembered the Grace had been keeping a watchful eye on them, he could only assume something had happened within the park.

"Ok everyone time to move, let's go let's go" Rook said, making a movement gesture with his hands.

"You don't need to tell me twice" Jess replied as she sped up.

Charles also picked up speed as did his muttering that slowly devolved into scared whimpering. Rook let Jess and Charles go ahead of him, the huntress took the lead while the deputy stayed in the back to keep an eye out, with the scared vet in-between the two

The second their feet hit the ground they all broke out into a run and beelines for the truck.

"There's a pickup up ahead" Rook breathed.

Charles made a noise of acknowledgement as he ran as fast as he could. After clearing a good fifty feet, a few gunshots could be heard from deep within the park.

"Aw shit" Rook thought, things were going to get a lot harder now.

He hoped Grace would still be keeping cover just in case, his eyes drifted over to where she had resided in hopes of being able to see her but instead, he could see Grace running from her spot and towards the truck, rifle slung over her shoulder and hand clamped over her wound.

"Alright we got no cover, be extra careful now" Rook ordered.

But he was given no response as the two just focused on running. The yelling the was hidden under the gunshots was near non existent as they put more and more distance from them, Rook fought against looking over his shoulder and focused on the path ahead, he could see the truck in the distance and fast approaching, he could also see Grace was now crouched behind the hood of the car, her rifle on the hood and supplying cover fire as the three made their getaway. As they quickly approached their truck Rook reached into his pocket and retrieved his keys, ready to get it into the ignition as fast as he could, he skidded to a halt at the driver's door and ripped it open before jumping in. This was the second time he ignored basic vehicle safety and started up the truck without so much as putting on his seat belt, he quickly glanced in his rear view mirror to see that Charles and Grace had safely entered the vehicle.

"The fuck are you doing, drive!" Jess ordered, jumping into the front passenger seat.

Rook, not being needed to be told a second time, stomped on the gas and the truck shot forward, up the trail and onto the road, disappearing into the distance.

When Rook felt he was an acceptable distance away from the park, he slowed down to a normal speed.

"Is everyone ok?" Grace finally spoke.

"Yes ma'am" Rook said.

"Hu'uh" Jess shrugged.

"Yes, thank you" Charles responded.

"What about you, how's the arm?" Rook asked.

"The bleeding just about stopped, I might need stitches, but I'll live" Grace replied.

"That's good to hear" Rook muttered before falling silent, leaning back into his seat.

Silence filled the truck again, it was almost like a daydream, a few minutes ago they were sneaking a man out of a park full of people who wanted to kill them, now, now they just sat in a pickup truck in silence, like they were four friends on a road trip, Rook wanted to enjoy that feeling but something in the back of his mind nagged at him, If Charles and whoever was held with him weren't doctors, then why did they want them so much?

"Hey Charles, if you and who ever else was there with you weren't doctors then why did the cult want you so bad?" he asked.

"There was, um, there was twelve of us at first, all vets, the peggies wanted us to be their doctors, but we couldn't, animals and humans are so very different, we couldn't do it even if we wanted to, so they threatened to kill us, those who were willing or well, those who didn't want to die went with them, got taken god knows where, those who didn't… well, they aren't here any more" Charles explained his voice and eyes becoming more and more downcast as he spoke.

"So why are you still alive?" Jess asked.

"I-I was doing some research on the bliss flower, hoping to make some sort of antidote or immunity to it… well eventually they caught wind of what I was doing and tracked me down, they uh, trashed my clinic and took me hostage, I heard them talk about me every now and again, they said they were going to send me to some conservatory to use my knowledge of the bliss plant for something" Charles explained.

"Well shit… sounds like today was your lucky day" Jess muttered.

"A conservatory huh?" Grace muttered to herself, thinking on what Charles had said.

Rook could hear Grace mutter and readjusted his rear-view mirror to get a glimpse of her before adjusting it again to get a better view of behind them.

"Any of that mean anything to you, Grace?" he asked.

"Not at the moment, I need to get some more information before I can come forward on anything.

"Is it anything that could help us?" Rook asked again.

"Probably, like I said, I need more info before I can go forward on it" Grace returned.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt but where are we going and when do we get there?" Charles asked.

"We are going to the prison, it's the resistance HQ in the Henbane, we'll be there in half and hour" Rook explained.

"Um, ok" Charles muttered before falling silent again, and for a time the truck was silent again.

"So, why'd you start capping dudes, we almost got out unnoticed?" Jess asked aloud.

"One of them figured out something was up, was about to make a call on a walkie talkie, he probably wanted to call for backup or something, so I stopped him, figured I could buy as a little more time to get away" Grace explained.

"regardless what he was radioing in, thank you for the cover" Rook said, relaxing into his seat.

Jess took notice of his relaxed nature and how different it was from the drive to the park.

"So, you cool now?" she asked, looking over at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You know" Jess replied before mimicking his posture on the way to the park, she leaned forward in her seat, shoulders hunched up, hands on an invisible driving wheel.

"People could be dead" she said in her best Rook voice.

"Oh come on" Rook winced, sure his fear for the 'doctors' lives was justified but now that he had calmed down to a degree he could see how his actions could be considered over reactive, upon thinking of his actions within the park, how he repeatedly stormed off on Jess, he wasn't thinking like a team player, nor was he thinking about preserving his secrecy with the park, he made no effort at keeping at a slow concise pace, he could have gotten himself hurt or killed, Jess too.

"Ok, fine, I will admit, yes I was, not sticking to what we normally do and may have been a little thick headed" Rook admitted.

"Your god damn right you did, you pull that shit again and I'll report your ass to your superior" Jess joked.

"What you, talk to the authorities to uphold the law, who are you and what did you do with the real Jess?" Rook laughed.

"She's right here, and she'll ring your fuckin' bell if you keep up this lone wolf bullshit with me around, you hear me?" Jess said holding up a fist to the man.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you I'll try not to let it happen again" Rook replied.

"Good" Jess said before sinking back down into her seat again, she squirmed in place a few times trying to get comfy.

"But fuck, all that steam and running and sneaking made me kinda sweaty, I can't get comfy, I feel moist all over, I need to jump in a river, fuck I hate steam" Jess moaned.

"Yes I can see that, you do seem rather _steamed_ over the whole thing" Rook smirked.

"Oh shut the fuck up, oh my god" Jess grimaced, burying her face in her hand

"What? I haven't made one since we first met, that was a while ago" Rook said.

"I don't care, you should never make puns, they're shit, and not funny" Jess spat, pulling her face out of her hand.

"I think they're pretty funny, so long as you don't go for the low hanging fruit and try to formulate a good one" Rook explained.

Jess looked at the deputy for a moment before sighing in disgust over the man's sense of humor.

* * *

The pickup rolled up the hill the prison sat on, and like last time he slowed down, rolled down the window and waved. And when he felt it was safe he pulled into the parking lot and the four climbed out

"Good work out there everyone, that could have gone a lot worse" Grace said.

"Um yeah, go us" Rook cheered casually.

He knew Grace had only said that to try to salvage whatever positivity she could, in reality the mission could have gone a lot better, Grace and said she went in with six others and Charles said there was twelve of them at the park, with all those people in the equation Rook didn't like the outcome, too many dead or missing, either way, too much was lost today.

"I'm going to get this looked at, and get Charles taken care of" Grace said tilting her head to her arm wound.

"I'll see you around ok?"

"Yeah, sure thing, I hope your arm feels better" Rook offered.

Grace gave her thanks and departed from the group with Charles in tow leaving Rook and Jess

"So now what?" Jess asked, looking at the deputy now bored.

"I don't know, you can go do whatever I guess, I gotta talking to the sheriff, after that I don't know, I guess Earl will give me more stuff to do" Rook shrugged.

"Oh come" Jess moaned.

"We've been over this"

"What are you talking about?" Rook asked, confused as to why she was complaining.

"You're a grown fucking man, if you actually wanna stop this cult then you do it, stop waiting for some asshole to order you around" Jess ordered.

"Jess, I'm not some wartime leader I can't just make up some incredible plan after plan and just cuff the Seeds, I have no idea what I'm doing" Rook replied.

"Then fuckin' start paying attention, just go from place to place and kill peggies, you could totally do it, hell that's what I've been doing" Jess retorted.

"Well if I just did that, I wouldn't be able to help people in need" Rook replied.

Instead of responding, Jess sighed in annoyance and rolled her eyes.

"Fuck it, I know you well enough to know that this is just going to go in circles" she groaned as she walked past him and towards the prison.

"So, you still going hunting?" Rook called out.

"Nawh fuck it, I'll do it later" Jess replied, still continuing to the prison door.

Rook nodded and followed her into the building, the two pushed through the front doors and entered the building proper.

"I didn't get a chance to get my arrows back from the peggies, I'm going to fill up" She said as she broke off from the deputy and journeyed to the quartermaster.

"Uh, yeah sure, I'll meet you in the command center if your still not doing anything.

"Yeah sure dude" Jess replied as she walked off.

Rook watched her leave briefly before facing forward again and journeyed to the command center, he felt anxious about speaking to the sheriff as there was a chance of getting chewed out again as Rook really didn't do what was asked of him, no doctors were recovered and nearly all that went out to find the non existent doctors would never return. Rook nervously made his way to the command room where the sheriff usually resided. He pushed through the doors and immediately spotted Whitehorse; he must have heard the door open as he turned to see Rook enter.

"Deputy, glad to see you back in one piece, how did everything go?" he asked.

Rook thought from a moment, trying to phrase it just right so he wouldn't get chewed out again.

"Well, yes and no" Rook said, as he made his way to the sheriff.

"Don't sugar coat it, Dep" he said.

"Well, it turns out there was no doctors there, they were all vets, either shipped off somewhere else or dead before anyone showed up" rook surmised, rubbing the back of his neck.

Whitehorse growled slightly before responding.

"So, I guess we came up short on this one" the sheriff said, crossing his arms.

"Uh, yeah no kidding" Rook replied.

"So, I guess we lost of few men out there… shit, it's going to tough to explain how they died for something" Whitehorse grumbled.

"Well not really, um, me Grace and, um, Jess were able to get one vet out, apparently they were holding him so they could take him to this conservatory because well it turns out he was working on making so sort of antidote for the bliss, so they hoped to use him to make a stronger bliss strain or something like that, so I guess they were going to ship him out there to work there" Rook surmised.

"Hm, you don't say" Whitehorse said bringing a hand to his chin.

"And where is this veterinarian now?"

"He and grace went to the infirmary to get settled in and get looked at, Grace got her arm grazed, she says she's fine, but the wound is a real bleeder" Rook said.

"Hmm, tell you what, I'm going stop in on Grace and this vet and see what they have to say then we can come up with our next move" Whitehorse replied.

"Sounds good" Rook nodded before the sheriff departed, leaving Rook by himself.

Being by himself made him feel awkward for some reason, just idlily standing there not doing anything but what for the sheriff made him feel out of place for some reason.

"Yeah see, exactly like what I said would happen" Jess's voice came from behind him

Rook slightly flinched as Jess's sudden appearance behind him surprised him slightly, he turned around to face her.

"Oh, hey Jess, haven't seen you in a while, what's up" he said jokingly.

"Just wanted to see how right I was, see, your just doing peoples errands" she said

"I'm just doing my job Jess I don't know wha-" Rook tried to explain, as he spoke Jess's eyes slowly drifted off him and onto something behind him then raised her hand to shoo at him.

"Yea, yeah, yeah, hold that thought boy scout" Jess said as she slightly sidestepped the deputy, her facial expression changed from her usual scowl to an emotionless stare, she tilted her head back slightly to look down her nose at something behind Rook, he looked over his shoulder and could clearly see on the other side of the room was Tracey, it appeared that she had just entered the room and she also wore a stoic look with her head tilted back, looking down her nose at Jess.

"You the bitch that brought back all that stuff this morning?" she asked, her voice betraying no emotion.

"You know it, just got a vet here too" Jess replied, just as emotionless, not breaking eye contact.

The two stood in silence for a moment before Tracey finally responded.

"Respect" she said before turning her gaze to the deputy.

"Hey Dep, you should find the sheriff, he would really want to hear how the whole doctor rescue went" she stated.

"I already did, he then went to the infirmary to speak to Grace and a guy we brought back" Rook explained.

"Huh, no shit? Good job" she said before turning to leave for the infirmary.

Once she left from view Jess let out a small cackle.

"You see that shit, I fucking shut her up" she laughed.

"Seriously, we shouldn't be doing things to spite each other, we're on the same team" Rook replied.

"Whatever dude that was still funny" Jess waved off, before turning to the tables next to them, littered with all sorts of paper work and maps, anything that could be used to fight the cult.

"So, this is the command center huh?" she said picking up a paper, her eyes briefly skimmed over it.

"Blah blah blah, something about a marina, blah blah blah" she said lazily, clearly having no interest in what the paper said.

"Fuck this is so boring like holy shit" she moaned in boredom tossing it back onto the table.

"Well yeah, what were you expecting? Paperwork in general is quite boring"

"How the hell do you even stand it?" she asked.

"Well since I'm still a junior deputy, I'm not really trusted with the big paperwork, so I'm not really allowed to touch that kind of stuff" Rook shrugged.

"Well ain't you just the fuckin' luckiest cop in the world" she said, clearly bored.

Rook picked up on the boredom, knowing her, she would like leave and go kill peggies to relieve the boredom, so why not put the boredom to use?

"Well if your still not going hunting or doing anything, I'm sure whatever the sheriff will ask of me will involve killing peggies, you want in?" he asked.

"If I'm doing the sheriff's dirty work, do I get deputized like you?" Jess asked slightly showing a little curiosity.

"I don't think so" Rook replied.

"But I'm sure he'll give you permission to take the law into your own hands"

Jess scoffed before replying.

"Fuck dude, I do that already, I bring god damn justice and kill every fucking peggie I see" she said.

"Well yeah sure, but we can make it official if he tells you what to do" Rook offered.

"Naah fuck it, I don't take orders from cops" she said, waving off his offer.

"Even if I asked nicely" Rook said offering a small smile and batting his eyelashes, jokingly trying to woo her.

"Yeah sorry boy scout, but you ain't my type, I like a guy who isn't afraid of gingerbread men"

"Oh, come on, I was like five years old, not even that" Rook moaned, feeling his face burn slightly from embarrassment.

Jess laughed at him slightly before responding.

"I don't care, I'm never going to forget that and the pepper spray thing" she cackled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you want in on some peggie killing or what?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to move past her verbal ribbing.

"Sure, fuck it, why not, if I'm paired with you and your done with your moody bullshit then sure, I guess, it's not like I'm going to do anything different today" she shrugged lazily.

Rook could tell she was not one hundred percent sold on the idea, but he felt better knowing he had someone like her watching his back, and now he could pay her back for being a grumpy pain in the neck at the thermal park, now that he was clearheaded and calm he could really see how irrational he was, going so far as to think he could beat the ever-present rule of 'you can't save everyone' he couldn't let that become a recurring theme with him, he needed to find a way to not truly believe he could be everywhere all the time, he wasn't a superman, a master tactician or world renown solider, as much as he wanted to be better, he knew he had to accept that he was just some junior deputy from a small town from Wyoming with the standard cookie cutter training. He needed to be better without becoming the silent moody thing he was in the park, if the Seeds were going to be stopped, he had to be better then this.

* * *

**Woo wee what a chapter,let me tell you there ain't no anger like a thunderstorm induced power out to dash away a good 60% of your work. my apologies for such a late post, but with that I can say that from here on out there will be a new chapter every Monday-Tuesday. And thank you for any reviews, comments and criticisms, thank you for everything.**

**Cheers. **


	11. Chapter 11

"So anyways, I look at this stupid idiot and I say _dude, you can't just say things like that and not expect the police to show up_, so then the guy starts throwing a tantrum, screaming and crying about how he knows his rights and then starts banging his head on the inside of the cruiser and since I was the new guy they made me hold him down and slap on a big foam helmet that's designed to stop people from hurting themselves like that" Rook explained, telling Jess a story of his time as a police officer before he became a deputy to kill time until the sheriff came back.

"Fuck dude, I know people here are crazy but fuck I forgot what ignorant assholes are like, shit I would have knocked him out before he threatened to bust out the PowerPoint presentation" Jess said, shaking her head at the story.

"Yeah no kidding, the town I worked in is a pretty quiet place, so when stupid stuff like that happened it was kind of a big deal, so everyone was ready to go, hell, that's probably why I had to put the helmet on the guy, a few of the older, more hot blooded guys want to send in the new guy in and handle it, if it went sideways they could swoop in and get rough with the perp" Rook said.

"I don't blame them, fuck your place sounds boring" Jess said, leaning on the large tables.

"But I will admit, that's not a bad story, but I can top that, so back in high school" Jess began but was quickly interrupted as the sound of the doors leading to the infirmary doors could be heard, Rook turned his head to see Whitehorse re-entered the room, but this time both Tracey and Grace entered with him.

The three approached Rook and Jess and moved around the table they stood at.

"Alright, let's get down to business" Whitehorse said to Rook, then turning to Jess.

"Jessica" Whitehorse said, his voice dropping ever so slightly, giving her a polite nod.

"It's Jess" she growled back.

"My apologies" the sheriff said before walking around the side of the table, eyes skimming the table looking for a paper or file, Grace and Tracey also joined him at the table, waiting for the sheriff to start, Rook also joined them at the table and stood across from the sheriff.

"Alright folks, before we can really begin we need Virgil here, is there anything anyone would like to say before we begin?" Whitehorse asked.

"My arm is patched up; I was told not to do a lot of heavy lifting, but I can still use a rifle" Grace spoke up.

"That's good to know, thank you" Whitehorse nodded.

"Is she going to be joining us?" Tracey said, tilting her head towards Jess, sounding a little annoyed.

Before anyone could respond Jess jumped in.

"You got a problem with that?" she spat.

"Yeah I do, we're making plans to fight the cult, we need planning in precision, not some sociopath with a bow" Tracey challenged, crossing her arms and sticking out her chest slightly.

"Oh yeah?" Jess said raising her voice slightly.

Jess leaned in on the table, ready to fight back, but before she could start she felt a light pressure across her chest, she glanced down to find Rook's arm had been placed in front of her; a silent attempt to stop her tirade before it began. She looked up at the deputy and met his gaze, she could tell he wanted to tell her to calm down or to let it go, in response to this, she quietly stared him down briefly, hoping to make him back off, but he didn't budge. Instead he turned to look at Tracey.

"If we're going to get Joseph, we can't just go in all gung-ho like, we need to have the element of surprise if we are going to have a chance" Rook said calmly.

"Well we can't just-" Tracey tried to say but the sounds of a door open and the noises of feet rapidly scraping against the floor could be heard.

"My apologies, my apologies, I'm late, I'm late, I'm sorry, I'm here now" Virgil's voice called out.

Rook turned to see the former mayor hurrying to the table, looking worried.

"It's about time Virgil, you forget how to get here?" Tracey said, still sounding a little annoyed.

"It's good to see you too Tracey" he replied, then looking over at all those who else stood at the table, apologizing for his tardiness as he did, but stop on Jess who stood beside the deputy, looking half interested.

"Oh, Miss Black, um, why hello, how did you get in h-" Virgil stuttered, but was cut off as the sound of Whitehorse loudly clearing his throat drew all attention back on him.

"Alright now that we're all hear, let's get to work ok?" the sheriff said.

"So, for anyone who doesn't know; the deputy, Miss Black and Miss Armstrong have returned from the geothermal park while looking into the doctor hostage investigation" he said, his eyes going over everyone present at the table.

"And to make a long story short, no doctors were there" Whitehorse said, earning a sigh and a muttered curse from Virgil and Tracey.

"But it's not all bad news, there was no doctors but there was veterinarians, twelve of them were either killed or shipped out to who knows where, but we were able to get one of them back here, and I believe he is the most important one out of the bunch" he stated.

"What do you mean? Did he have some affiliation with Eden's Gate?" Virgil asked.

"No, but I have spoken to Mister Lindsey, he said that he overheard a few conversations that the peggies were having about him, from what he could gleam from what they said was that they were going to hand deliver him to the Jessop Conservatory" Whitehorse explained.

Upon the sheriff saying Jessop Conservatory Rook could see that Tracey and Virgil had visible reactions to the name, they both shifted in place, almost taking a step back, Virgil looked clearly uncomfortable, almost sad, his eyes rolled around for a few seconds, looking for something to focus on, before his eyes drooped down to the floor. Tracey growled slightly un-crossing and re-crossing her arms mumbling something as she stared down at the table, a dull fire burned in her eyes.

Whitehorse also noticed the change in his associates and paused for a few seconds, to let them settle.

"For those who don't know the significance of the place; there is a near certain possibility that it is where the bliss flower first came from, but not only that but from what else Mister Lindsey gleamed from what they said is that there is reason to believe that whatever is jamming up the radio waves might be housed there, now all that being said, we might be able to kill two peggies with one stone" the sheriff said.

"I don't mean to interrupt" Grace said, cutting in.

"But what exactly was said in regard to the radio jammer?" she asked.

"I believe the words the peggie used was _As along as the jammer is there, we have nothing to worry about_, now that may not mean much but that was said in the same conversation as the conservatory, it's not much but we have nothing else to go on" Whitehorse explained.

"Now as I was saying, we could kill two birds with one stone, now this idea might not even work but it's the best we got; so the idea is since the radio jammer is up, long range communication is a no go, so we use this to our advantage, I doubt the peggies at the geothermal park can just call those at the conservatory that Mister Lindsey will not be joining them, so what if we just drive up to the conservatory posing as peggies to drop off Lindsey and use that to get in and launch a surprise attack and take the building back. So, any questions so far?" Whitehorse surmised.

"Now that's just fucking crazy" Jess chimed in.

"Language" Virgil quickly said.

"Oh, Jesus don't even" Jess said, shaking her head in annoyance.

Whatever Virgil responded with was drowned out by Tracey who also swore due to how absurd she thought the plan was, both Grace and Rook stayed silent as they went over any and all possibilities, outcomes and problems that could come up during the assault.

"There is one looming problem to this" Grace said finally speaking up, causing Virgil to fall silent and all eyes turned to her.

"I think the peggies do have a way to communicate with each other, there have been many reports of peggies using walkie talkies and other devices to talk to one another, I even saw it today at the thermal park, there could be a chance that those at the conservatory already know what happened" Grace explained.

"Now I'm not that tech savvy but I'm not sure that's how jammers work, can a jammer just block out all our crap but not there's?" Tracey asked.

"Your right, that's not how it works, either there are one or two channels that are clear, and we don't know about it or they have short range communications and they are just daisy chaining information to each other" Grace explained.

"So, what do you think we should do?" Rook asked, finally speaking up.

"If we knew what the conservatory knows I'd be tempted to go for it, but this problem is to great to ignore" Grace stated.

"How far is this conservatory?" Rook asked.

"It's on the other end of the Henbane, far south east" Tracey answered.

"Damn, so we have a pretty small window on this thing" Rook said, bringing a hand to his chin.

"Exactly, so we if we're going to make a move on the conservatory, we have to do it now" Whitehorse replied.

"I don't know about this fake out idea, I think it's to risky, I think we should attack on another day when we're stronger" Virgil said, voicing his concern.

"But we may not get another chance like this again, we should strike while we can" Tracey countered.

"But what if they spin it around on us, they could know we have Lindsey so when we pull up, they just nod and pretend everything is fine, little do we know they are getting their firing squad ready" Grace retorted.

"There is a lot that can go wrong, but we won't win this fight not taking any risks" Whitehorse stated.

"The estate is quite large, if we want to do it efficiently we are going to need a team on this, if we go in with a van then we can Trojan Horse our way in" Grace explained.

"But how would we make them believe we are them?" Virgil asked.

"We have a few vans, it wouldn't be to hard to spray paint their logo on the side of it, doubt they'll really care when they hear we got their vet ready to go" Tracey replied.

Rook wasn't sure what to believe either, both sides voiced good points, he was beside himself on the matter, on one hand they could try the sheriff's plan, taking the bliss's homestead would be a real blow to the cult and the place had to be rife with whatever Lindsey needed to finish his research. But on the other hand, Grace was right, they could be unknowingly walking into the tiger's den, or maybe even not get that far and get gunned down on the driveway. If it weren't on the other side of the Henbane he'd be tempted to go out there and scope the place out before deciding. If it was up to him, he'd sneak around and try to hit it with Jess as they usual do, but there was no way the two of them could clear such a big place by themselves, there needed to be a way to do both ideas.

Then it hit him.

"What if we did both?" Rook said.

Now that Rook had voiced his idea, everyone fell silent and turned to him to hear him elaborate further, the sudden undivided attention he had garnered made him feel a little nervous.

"You have an idea Ben?" Whitehorse asked.

"Well yeah, actually what if we try your idea and see if it works, while that's happening, Jess and I are sneaking around the back and taking a silent approach, regardless if the trick at the front door works or not there will be a distraction on their front door, more then enough for Jess and I to do our thing, and maybe we can take the fight to them right at that front entrance and do a pincer attack" Rook explained nervously, he didn't have any experience in this kind of thing, he was prepared to have the idea shot down.

Everyone remained silent, going over the idea.

"That could actually work" Grace finally said.

"You can't be serious?" Virgil said, crossing his arms and raising one hand to rest it under his chin, clearly worried.

"I think she might be right" Tracey said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Wait really? I was expecting that to get shot down" Rook admitted, slightly surprised that a small idea was being taken so seriously.

"Well why not? If all goes well, it's a trap within a trap, it's not often we can do something like this" Grace responded, picking up on his surprisal.

"We'd have to hit hard and fast if we do go for it, this place is a bliss hotspot and might have the radio jammer thing" Tracey said.

"Your absolutely right, that's why we need a plan" Whitehorse replied.

"Ok, so what are we going to exactly?" Virgil asked.

"I think I have an idea" Whitehorse said, picking up a black piece of paper from a stack of files on the table and placing it on the table so everyone could see and pulled out a pen from his breast pocket.

"Alright, let's say this is the estate" Whitehorse said, drawing a rectangle with _conservatory _in it and two smaller squares beneath and to the left of the conservatory with _greenhouse _written in them.

"And we know the driveway is over here" he said, drawing a wavy rectangle off to the far right of the other drawings.

"So what we do is, have a van loaded with our guys come up the driveway and have the driver talk to the guards at the entrance, we get them to verify if it really is Lindsey, we hit them then and there" he continued, drawing a van and a few stick men on the driveway.

"All the while Grace will be hidden within the trees providing cover" he said as he drew a few trees and a lone stick figure with a crude rifle.

"While all this is going down, the junior deputy and Miss Black will enter from the opposite side of the estate and move inward, disposing of any peggies along the way, anyone want to add anything?" he finished, drawing a bow and arrow, and a deputy's badge at the far left of the paper with an directional arrow pointing into the rectangles.

"The front door team is going to get mulched if this goes sideways" Jess finally said.

"Your right, but not if we do it right, and get the guards out front silently and if we can't, Grace can give the peggies to keep their heads down" the sheriff explained.

"How many men and woman will be in the van?" Virgil asked, his eyes still glued to the makeshift plan.

"I'm thinking eight including driver and passenger being Grace, she will be dropped off beforehand so she can get into her desired position" Whitehorse replied.

And then we will have a second truck, with a driver escorting Rook and Miss Black around to the far side so they can get into their positions" he added.

"Rook don't forget to clear the green house's, who knows how any of them are there, I would assume a whole lot" Tracey said.

"Oh yeah of course, nothing will get by me, specially if I got Jess helping out" Rook said, tilting his head to the woman.

"Peggies won't stand a chance" Jess shrugged.

"Now before we start putting final touches on this, is there anything else anyone would like to add?" Whitehorse asked

"I erm, well I do have something to add" Virgil said, sounding as if he was unsure if we wanted to voice his thoughts.

"C'mon, spit it out already" Tracey said, rolling her eyes.

"Ok, well… Sheriff, Deputy, have either of you ever hear about a guy named Feeney?" he asked.

"Aw shit" Rook heard Tracey practically whisper, any and all annoyance that once lived in her voice now gone.

"I can't say I have, no" Whitehorse said then looked at his junior deputy for his answer.

"Uh, nope, me neither" he replied.

"I see, well then, he um, he was the pharmacist in town, was a real pillar of the community, but uh, it turns out when nobody was looking he sold dope, and now he's with the cult, I wouldn't be surprised if he help make the bliss in some capacity, if the peggies were planning on taking that poor vet up to the conservatory to work on the bliss, then there is a good chance Feeney might be up there too, we, we have to deal with him, he's a smart cookie, like I said if he is helping then he isn't just giving a little help, I'm sure he's contributing in a big way, taking him out of the picture would really put a dent in the bliss production" Virgil explained.

"I see, getting rid of this Feeney does sound like an optimal idea, so what does this Feeney look like" the sheriff asked.

"Oh, erm, he's a white man, middle aged, clean dresser, black hair, glass, smart looking, he doesn't look to out of the ordinary, I guess that's how he got away with what he did" Virgil asked.

"Hm, alright, Rook, Miss Black, keep an eye out for any smart looking guys and take him out" the sheriff instructed.

"If he's a peggie then yeah, he's as good as dead, I'll fuck him up" Jess shrugged.

"You got it boss, but I have a question" Rook said, drawing all attention onto himself again.

"How are we going to coordinate ourselves, we don't have walkies to let the van team know we are in position

Whitehorse paused briefly to think.

"We'll use the time; we will begin the attack at a precise time" he said, snapping his fingers.

"Ok, what time is it now?" Tracey asked.

Virgil then reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold pocket watch and opened the cover.

"It's half past noon" he said, then promptly closed the cover and placed it back in his pocket.

"Alright, lets try for two O'clock, that's when the van and the junior deputy will simultaneously move in" Whitehorse instructed.

"Alright, but I kinda left my watch and phone back in my locker before we left to arrest Joseph, I have no way to tell the time" Rook admitted

"Yeah me neither, fuck if I ever know what time it is, well aside from peggie killing time" Jess lazily said, sounding almost half interested in what was going on and what was about to happen.

"You think you could fucking take this seriously?" Tracey spat, the anger in her voice coming back.

"Hey, come on let's all focus on the problem here ok, let's get our hands on a watch or something so we can coordinate this right" Rook cut in before Jess had a chance to respond, speaking a little louder then before.

"Deputy you really got to keep an eye on your _friend_ there, she's going to get you killed if she's not even going to act like she's taking this seriously" Tracey growled.

"Whatever bitch" Jess said casually, rolling her eyes at the woman, not feeling it was worth it to fight her at every confrontation.

Tracey grumbled something but what she said was lost as Virgil spoke up, hoping to move away from the small confrontation.

"Deputy hold on a minute; I believe I can solve your timepiece problem" he said.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?" Rook asked.

Virgil then reached into his pocket and pulled something out and offered it to the junior deputy.

"Here, please use this" he said quietly, holding out an item.

Rook looked at what he was being presented with, it took him a second to realize he was being given the very same pocket watch he had used minutes ago. It was gold, or at the very least it was gold as it was dulled and scratched, a notable dent was on the cover of the watch.

"Thank you Virgil" Rook said taking the watch and pocketed it.

"Please be sure to bring that back in one piece, it means a lot to me" he replied.

As Virgil spoke, Rook could see that he was uncomfortable giving away his pocket watch, almost sad to do so.

"I will, of course" Rook nodded.

"Thank you, well… I hope you do your best out there, please stay safe Mister Rook… Go Cougars" Virgil said awkwardly, giving a limp fist pump as he said the town's cheer.

"Go Cougars" Rook echoed back, making a mental note to protect the time piece.

"Alright, now that's taken care of off, Rook, you and Miss Black head on down to the quartermaster, get whatever you need and when your ready, wait for us in the front courtyard" Whitehorse ordered.

"You got it boss" Rook nodded confidently.

"Yeah sure whatever dude" Jess shrugged casually.

"Alright, then meeting adjourned, Tracey, Virgil, come with me, and you two" Whitehorse said pointing at the junior deputy and huntress.

"You know what to do" he finished.

"Yes sir" Rook nodded before backing away from the table with a silent Jess in tow, the two headed towards the exit and Rook opened the door and held it open to allow the lady to go first.

Jess past through the open door frame and into the hallway, saying nothing as she did. Rook followed her and matched his pace with her and walked next to her as they walked down the halls.

"So, I didn't expect things to go down like that" Rook said, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"I didn't think they'd take me seriously like that, I'm terrible this strategy stuff, like, I'm terrible at chess, I just move my pieces and take whatever enemy pieces I can until I win or lose" Rook explained.

"You don't say… I thought you were going to say something about how I didn't just attack Trudy or whatever her name is when she called me out" Jess admitted.

"What you mean that little disputed with Tracey? nah, I trust you enough that I don't have to worry about breaking up another fight" Rook offered.

"Why though?" She asked quietly.

"Why what?" Rook asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Why do you trust me so much?" she probed, turning her head to look at the junior deputy.

"Because I believe in you if that makes sense I guess, sure you can be.. well intense but still you have always had my back, even today when I was being a stubborn idiot, you made a continuous effort to keep me from getting myself killed despite me not listening, I've learned a lot from you, stuff that I would have died without by now, I've come to realize I can count on you and I appreciate your honesty, even if it's painfully blunt, so Jess, thank you for being my friend and teammate" he finished, giving her a small honest smile.

"Uh, yeah, don't worry about it" she mumbled turning her head, facing forward again.

"So uh, there's the quartermaster" she said, limply pointing to the counter they were fast approaching at twenty feet away.

"Oh sweet no one is here, no waiting lines for us" Rook grinned as he sped up his pace and closed that gap to the counter, and leaned on the counter, greeting the woman behind it.

"Howdy" Rook greeted the woman behind the counter.

"Howdy deputy, what can I do for ya?" the woman replied cheerfully.

Jess slowly caught up to the deputy, hoping to kill time as he purchased all his ammo, she didn't want to just walk up to and stand next to him, not doing anything, she didn't like the idea of just silently hovering over him as he did his thing, who knows what kind of rumors that might cause, the last thing she wanted was the usual high school drama bullshit.

"So, you got anything new?" Rook asked the Quarter-woman after paying for and storing all his ammo.

"No not yet but we're working on something, but I know once we can use the radio again we can totally get some good shit out here" the Quarter-woman responded.

"But you still got all the usual stuff?" Rook asked again.

"You know it" the woman smiled, handing him a clipboard that held a list of their inventory, Rook took the list and went over it in hopes of finding something that could help him and Jess in the coming hours.

"Hey, do you want a Kevlar vest? It could get rough out there" Rook offered, not taking his eyes off the list.

"No, it will just slow me down" she responded, her eyes slowly slid off the deputy and the quartermasters table and turned around on the spot and leaned against the quartermaster's counter, with nothing else to do, he his slowly dropped to the floor.

"What about a handgun, Y'know for emergencies?" he offered again.

"No thanks, fuck guns, my knife is for emergencies" she muttered, her eyes glued to the floor.

"So, do you need anything at all?" Rook asked, handing the clipboard back to the woman.

"Naah, I got everything I need before that boring ass meeting" she replied, the expression in her voice picking up, but only to highlight just how bored she was.

"So, then you ready to do the thing?" he asked again.

"Yeah I guess" she replied, beginning to rock back and forth on the balls of her feet and looking forward,

Rook turned to examine her for a moment, he picking up on her attitude, it was clear she was bored, but there was something more to it, there was something underneath the boredom, she was almost dull compared to her usual demeanor, he couldn't tell if there was something on her mind or she was simply tired, he was sure she had been like this ever since Whitehorse, Tracey and Virgil had entered the command center.

"Hey are you ok?" Rook asked.

"What, yeah I'm fine, why?" Jess asked, she stopped rocking and looked at the deputy,

"You just seem, I don't know, out of it I guess, you seem rather uninterested in the whole killing peggies thing" Rook tried to explain.

"I'm not exactly a fan of this big team effort thing, I prefer to work alone, well you and Armstrong are alright, but I don't know about the other dudes, a part of me just wants to get back to my normal and just kill peggies all day" Jess answered, crossing her arms over her chest.

In a way Rook got what she meant; she had been hunting peggies by herself for who knows how long and then he bumbled into her life, sure he helped her kill the Cook but he had broken her out of her routine and dragged her along on one mission after another, only to have her journey across the valley and the Henbane to track him down to beat him up. Rook felt almost bad about it, how he basically uprooted her daily schedule, she deserved something for all her hard work, but since she didn't really talk about her personal life, what she liked and disliked, Rook couldn't really reward her besides positive reinforcement.

"If all goes well, we won't really work together, they take the firefight out front, and we sneak around back and do our usual thing" Rook offered to try to put her at ease.

"Yeah but still" she muttered, looking away from the deputy again.

"Jess, tell you what" he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, she turned back to face him again and said nothing, waiting to hear what he had to say, in the back of Rook's mind he was surprised that she didn't shrug off his touch or slap away his hand, or even threaten violence upon him for unwarranted physical contact.

"Once we get this whole conservatory thing all taken care of, why don't we just, like, have a few beers or something and just chill out for a bit, no killing or any crazy shit and just hang out like two normal people, maybe you could fill me in on this Blood Dragon thing you love" he offered.

"I don't know, maybe" she mumbled in response, she had forgotten she mentioned her love of the movies.

"Alright, sounds good to me, maybe is better then no" Rook said offering her a small optimistic smile while pulling his hand off her shoulder to give her a thumbs up. Jess's eyes dropped down to look at the thumbs up for a few seconds before adverting her gaze off to the side again.

"So, you ready to go to the courtyard or what?" she asked, still not making eye contact with him

Jess pulled in air before responding.

"Yeah let's do it" she said.

* * *

Rook and Jess stood in the front courtyard, waiting for whatever the sheriff had planned, the front gate guards and a few others milled about the front yard fulfilling their daily tasks, Rook considered talking to Jess again in hopes of removing the discomfort she felt, but before he could come up with anything concrete six men and woman came out of the front door with Grace and Whitehorse leading the way. The sheriff eyed the two waiting for him and got the six men and woman to line up with them.

"Alright everyone, here's the plan as we know it, the van team will roll up to the conservatory with the appearance of dropping off the veterinarian; Charles Lindsey, and will attempt to silently subdue as many peggies as possible until you are spotted, all the while my junior deputy and his friend will be silently infiltrating the other end, and subduing as many as they can undetected, van team you will have the assistance of our sterling Miss Armstrong if things go bad on your end, do not expect the junior deputy to come in and save you, he is there purely to be a silent attacker unless he is compromised The junior deputy and Miss Black will be entering on a secondary vehicle and journeying briefly, through the forest and entering from the west side" Whitehorse surmised, his eyes drifting from one person to another.

"Does anyone have any questions?" he asked.

Everyone remained silent, waiting for further instructions

"Alright good to here" the sheriff said clapping his hands together once.

"Let's get to work, everyone please follow me" Whitehorse continued, turning around and signalling everyone to follow him out the front gate and into the parking lot where a van and a pickup truck sat parked side by side and waited for everyone. The truck was completely white except for a single black Eden's Gate logo spray painted on both sides. Rook could see driver's in both vehicles, both ready and waiting to go.

"Alright, van team get into the back, everyone else, in the pickup" Whitehorse ordered.

The six men and woman walked up and climbed into the back of the van while Rook and Jess walked around the van to get to the side of the truck, Rook was about to reach for the truck's door handle but stopped as the van driver had caught his attention from the corner of his eye, the van's driver window was down and the driver's arm hung out the side, but what really caught his eye was that the arm itself was wrapped in the black leather that was the usual peggie attire, to verify the man, he pulled away from the pickup's door to get a better look at the man to realize that it was Michael.

"Oh shit, Michael, your coming with?" Rook asked, looking over the man, he was clearly dressed in the black overcoat he had seen many times over. Not only that but Rook was surprised to see that Michael was coming along on this at all, besides holding down the fort with that defector a few days ago, Rook had not seen the man in action.

"Yeah I volunteered, I'm the wheel man of the van team, I wanted to help out again and stick it to them peggies" Michael smiled confidently.

"No way, glad to have you aboard… but I got to ask, what's with the trench coat?" Rook asked.

"Oh, this old thing?" Michael said, pointing to the coat.

"When ever them peggies show up at our door, like a few days ago, we kill 'em all then as we're cleaning up the bodies we give 'em a quick pat down for anything useful, but some times if their shirts or whatever are really clean we take 'em to rip up for makeshift gauze, and lucky enough we haven't torn this thing up yet, so now it's my disguise, so how do I look, do I look like someone who's going to kill you?" Michael answered.

"Menacingly threaten me" Rook replied.

Michael then puffed his chest up and scrunched up his face into an angry expression.

"Joseph will claim you sinner" Michael said in a fake angry voice.

"Damn dude, that's to real" Rook chuckled.

"But really though, just remember to stay safe, I don't want to lose a single guy out there" Rook replied, this time causing Michael to let out a small laugh.

"Come on deputy, have some faith in us, we got this" he said.

"Don't worry Dep, we got this" Grace said as she approached the van, rifle over her arm, and climbed into the passenger seat next to Michael.

Rook suddenly felt a quick tug on the back of his belt, before he could turn around to investigate he heard Jess's voice behind him.

"Hey, come on already, get in the truck, you can chit-chat when we're done" she moaned.

Rook turned around to view the woman, she had already gotten into the backseat of the truck and rolled the window down and her upper body hung out the open window to get within deputy grabbing distance.

"Ok, ok, I hear ya, let's get a move on" Rook nodded before climbing into the front passenger's seat of the truck, he then clipped on his seatbelt and roll down his window.

"I mean it Michael, be careful, your going to be talking to the guards, so prepare what your going to say, man" Rook said in hopes of improving the chances success.

"Don't worry, if I can't convince them, this will" Michael smiled as he held up a large revolver.

"This baby is a real sweet talker" he joked.

"Well I hope I don't hear her break the ice at two thirty" Rook replied.

"Yeah me too, shooting her a lot in a short period of time really hurts the wrist" Michael said as he holstered his firearm on the right side of his waist.

"Alright drivers!" Whitehorse cried, ending their conversation and pulling all attention to the sheriff on the side.

"You know where the drop off points are, after you drop off your loads, all remaining parties are to move in at exactly two thirty" he ordered.

Both drivers made noises of affirmation.

"Good to hear.. now begin" Whitehorse ordered, and with that both vehicles started up and rolled down the driveway towards their respective destinations.

* * *

The ride to the conservatory was long and silent, as the trip bore on Rook could feel the usual pre-fight jitters begin to settle in, he knew better then to dwell on the feeling as it would develop into performance anxiety, to take his mind off the feelings he tried to strike up a conversation with the driver but his rather gruff demeanor suggested he didn't want to chat, or at the very least he was feeling what the junior deputy was feeling, asides from their drop off point was the half way point from the conservatory and a place called Gethsemane Greenhouse, Rook didn't feel like pushing the man for more info. Rook settled in his seat and looked around for something to focus on, his eyes wandered around the trucks cabin until his eyes rested on the side view mirror on his side, from it he could see Jess who sat directly behind him, her right temple pressed against her window and stared out the window with her usual scowl but this time it was accompanied with a hundred yard stare, wherever she was, it was not in the truck, she was lost in her mind, thinking about who knows what. Not wanting to be caught staring and being called a weirdo or a creep, Rook took his eyes off the woman and looked at the electronic clock on the truck's dashboard, it read one fifteen, in forty-five minutes things going to turn up a few degrees, the pressure was surely mounting, Rook could feel the anxiety creep in a little bit more, he brought up a hand to his chest and pulled on the seat belt that stretched across him to tighten it, he really needed something to take his mind off the whole thing to fight away the jitters, besides flying into Hope's County to arrest Joseph, this was the biggest thing he had ever done, he needed a clear head.

"Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time" Rook whispered to himself, any quieter and he would have produced no noise at all.

"I feel ali-i-ive, and the world, I'll turn inside out yeah, I'm floating around in ecstasy" he very quietly recited.

* * *

The van ride to the conservatory was silent as the tension was thick, Grace could see from the rear view mirror the six men in women in the back, what ever confidence or whatever they had with them was gone and replaced with grim masks of dawning realization of this could be their final hour alive, they knew the risks and everything that was entailed in the mission, they wanted to do their duty and fight for their loved ones, their homes, their freedom and went willingly, but the fear that came with it didn't really set in until they boarded the van. Despite serving in the military not even Grace could shake the feeling, sure she would be hiding in the distance supplying cover fire, but the possibility of death was the possibility of death, ever present and looming. She had been in this exact position many times before, she had been in this same position with her platoon and many fresh face privates in Afghanistan, she knew there was no words she could offer to make them feel any better, there was no rallying speech to boost morale, all she really could do was offer silent prayers to god that he would watch over her and the young men and woman in the van, but she also knew she couldn't fly on the wings of faith forever, her luck would run out eventually, and until then she would just keep lining up one peggie after another in her cross hairs. Eventually Grace broke free from her thoughts and glanced at the electronic clock on the van's dashboard, it read one forty-five, her drop off was coming fast and so was the mission's start time. Her eyes drifted up to the driver, she had heard Rook call him Michael, it was clear that Michael was feeling the same as everyone else, he wore a hardened gaze as he drove, one hand was on the steering wheel while the other nervously tapped in the revolver that was strapped to his waist, if they peggies truly didn't know about Lindsey then the mission's success would all come down to this man's acting ability, again, she silently prayed for her teammates well-being.

"Miss Armstrong, your stop his coming up" Michael muttered.

The man's sudden vocalization pulled her out of the clouds, she snapped her head to the man then on to the road, he was indeed right, her mental map of the Henbane had lined up with the crude map the sheriff had drawn, soon she will disembark the van and go on foot to the conservatory and find a quiet place to post up.

"Yes.. thank you" she finally replied.

"your ready for this?" Michael asked.

"As I'll ever be" Grace spoke as she readjusted the rifle on her lap.

"If this really does go tits up, and I mean like all the way screwed… Just pack up and run ok?" Michael said quietly.

"We both know I can't do that" Grace retorted.

"Then you better learn how to" Michael said as he slowed the car down to a stop so Grace could get out.

* * *

Rook and Jess exited the pick up truck before Rook lightly banged on the truck's roof, signalling that it was alright for it to take off, the driver gave the junior deputy a quick nod before pulling off the side of the road and turning around to head back to the prison, Rook turned back to the treeline that traced along the sides of the road, but to his surprise when he turned back he could see that Jess had not waited for him and had already journeyed into the woods, towards the conservatory.

"Hey, wait up" Rook called out as he hurried to catch up to his hooded companion.

Jess offered no reply or sign of slowing down and kept marching through the woods, after a few moments Rook caught up to her and matched her pace, the two walked for a while before Rook spoke.

"So, this could be really intense, huh?" Rook said.

"Yeah so don't like, hesitate or anything, I saved you enough times already" Jess replied.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about, I plan to be super careful this time" Rook said, trying to reassure her.

"Yeah I'll believe it when I see it" she replied.

"then watch and be amazed, Jess I'll show you how it's truly done" he said with a smile.

"Just don't shot like you did at the youth camp" Jess said.

"What me? Never, those missed shots at the youth camp were purely strategic" Rook grinned.

"Oh, your right, silly me, how I forget there's fuckin' invisible peggies only you can see" Jess said with a fake apologetic tone.

"So anyways how far is the place from here?" Jess asked.

"Actually yeah, we're real close, I think I can see it actually see it" Rook said before speeding up, with Jess close behind.

The two quickly journeyed through the woods for a minute before stopping.

"Yeah see there it is" Rook said pointing off into the horizon.

Jess followed his point to see he was right, there a few hundred feet away the woods thinned out and a building could be seen through the trees.

"Alrighty, now we wait" he said.

"Hey, is it time yet?" Jess asked, repeatedly tapping her foot on the ground.

"Let's find out" Rook replied as he fished around in his pocket to retrieve the watch.

He pulled out the watch and popped the cover open and saw the time, it was two twenty-seven, but not only that but he noticed a small photo on the underside of the watch's cover, it was a photo of a slightly younger Virgil but he was accompanied by a young man, maybe a few years younger then himself, the young man was dress in what looked like a baseball uniform and was holding up a gold medal to the camera, it was clearly happier times as both men were smiling. For some reason the image struck a cord with him, Rook had never seen the person in the photo, nor did he see anyone that resembled him in the prison, from their closeness he could only assume this was a family member of sorts, there was no way some one like Virgil would just let them leave the safety of the prison walls.

Rook now understood why the watch meant so much to the former mayor.

* * *

Michael looked down at the electronic clock and could see that it read two thirty, it was time to go. He looked over his shoulder to see the six men and woman in the back.

"Alright ladies put your game faces on, it's go-time" he said before facing forward again.

He turned the key in the ignition and drove towards the conservatory driveway in the distance, as he got closer he could feel the lump in his throat build as fear and apprehension also build within in, whatever he felt had to be pushed down if he wanted to sweet talk his way in. He thought of the junior deputy and how someone like him had made such a difference in such a sort time, Rook had become somewhat of a poster boy in the valley from what Miss Armstrong had spoken about when she was in the valley, if Rook could do the impossible so why couldn't he.

Michael turned the wheel to turn up onto the driveway and drove up the hill, he could see the conservatory slowly peak up over the incline, the large round metal pole things that held up the sprinkler system for the bliss that grew there, the white wood structures that the peggies used as walkways, the waist high walls that sectioned off pathways, then finally the peggies. He could see around two dozen peggies march up and down the property, some tended to the fields, some carried large boxes in and out of the main building, the peggies had them out gunned twice over. Michael did his best to swallow the lump in his throat as he approached the end of the driveway, he could already see a lone peggie carrying an AR that stood guard by a shed waving him in.

He made eye contact with the man and gave him a nod as he slowed the van to a halt and rolled down his window.

"Uh, hello there, brother" Michael said confidentiality to the man as he stepped closer to the van.

"Hello, is there a problem?" The man asked, his eyes ran up and down Michael, trying to get a feel for him.

"No, no, no problems here, the opposite actually, I have the Veterinarian; Charles Lindsey here, I was asked to come up here to deliver him straight here" Michael surmised.

The Peggie tilted himself to the side for a moment to look past Michael to look at the empty passenger seat.

"So you just came here all by yourself? What if the sinners tried to stop you?" The man asked.

"Oh don't worry I'm good, I got two others in the back with our friend" Michael said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

The Peggie didn't say anything for a moments, he just stared at Michael.

"So where did you coming from?" He asked.

"Where I'm coming from? Uh, the geothermal park, what did no one tell you I'm coming?" Michael answered, his right had slowly found it's way to the revolver strapped to his hip.

The Peggie remained silent for a few more moments, this made Michael very nervous, the lack of emotion in the Peggie was making it very hard to tell if he was selling the pitch or not.

"No, I haven't heard of anything about a drop off for today" the Peggie said.

"So uh, then do you wanna verify it's him or whatever, the back doors unlocked" Michael said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder again, he said that a little louder, hoping that those in the back would be ready to silently strike if the man was to go verify.

Again, the peggie said nothing and stared at Michael for a few moments before responding.

"If he's as important as you say he is, then I'll get few brothers to escort him in" he said before turning away to walk into the depths of the conservatory.

"Uh, yeah, sounds good" Michael replied, watching the man leave, his eyes nervously scanned his surroundings for anything suspicious, he was unable to get a read on the man and was unsure if he sold his story or not. All he could do now was wait and see.

* * *

"Ok, it's time" Rook said quietly as he placed the watch back into his pocket.

"Sweet, let's roll" Jess replied as she dropped down into a crouch and moved in, Rook silently nodded and followed.

The conservatory was situated on a hill, but it was not on the top of the hill, Rook and Jess used this to their advantage and scaled the hill to get a better look over the property. They could see the greenhouses and large house that the sheriff had drawn, but not only that but there was a lot that the sheriff did not draw, there was several small fields of bliss with irrigation systems looming above them on circular poles, peggies could seen going about their daily tasks, tending to the fields, patrolling, and moving large boxes in and out of the front door of the large home. From where they sat they could hear some pre-recorded speech of Faith going on about how the cult will welcome you in with open arms. Off the side of the estate was a very large red radio tower, if there was a radio jammer in the Henbane, it had to be here.

"Hey look there" he heard Jess say as he felt her tug on his arm.

He looked over to see she was pointing at a white van with an Eden's gate logo painted on the side, a lone peggie stood next to the driver's door, most likely conversing with the driver.

"Alrighty, looks like Michael is doing it, let's go" Rook said.

This time, Jess silently nodded and followed.

The two slowly made their way down the hill and towards the back of the large manor, a waist high cobblestone wall stretched off the side of the building and off to the side and connected with the edge of a bliss field. They quickly closed the gap between them and the wall and poked their heads over the wall to get a better look, they could see a lone peggie with a shotgun rolling an upturned red barrel across the smooth concrete ground.

"I kill 'em, you move him?" Jess whispered.

"Was just thinking that myself" Rook replied as he scanned his near by surroundings to see know peggies were looking in his direction and quickly vaulted over the wall and quickly crept up to the man.

In that time Jess raised up enough to get her bow ready and fired, the air flew and hit it's mark, killing the man, within seconds of the body hitting the ground Rook grabbed it and yanked it back, dragging it back to the wall Jess was hiding behind and threw it over, Jess ripped the arrow out of the corpse and vaulted over the wall.

"Beautiful" Rook whispered, admiring his handy work.

"We ain't done yet" Jess whispered back as the two made their way.

* * *

Michael looked back at the dashboard clock again for what felt like the hundredth time, it had been two minutes since the peggie had left, he could hear nervous whispers come from the back of the van, he dared not say anything to them as he didn't want to look suspicious. He looked at the clock again before looking back to the walkway the peggie had disappeared down, he stared for a few moments before, to his surprise, he had returned but this time two other peggies were at either side of him, both carrying AR's. Michael wasn't sure if he should be worried or relived, the three made their way over to the van but stopped abruptly, leaving a few meters in-between them and the van. The peggie that Michael had first spoken to place his AR's strap over his shoulder to leave him hands free.

"Alright so before we take the vet off your hands, we need you to step out of the vehicle please" the man asked.

"Uh, yeah sure, you got it" Michael said as he took off his seat belt and climbed out of the van.

"Alright let's get to work, huh fellas?" Michael said, trying to crack a smile.

The three men didn't say or do anything for a moment, until the lead man took the AR off his shoulder and pointed it directly at Michael, the other two did the same.

"Just because you wear our clothes and drive our cars, it doesn't make you one of us, we know sinners when we see one" he finally said.

"Now guys, guys, come on, there has to be some mistake" Michael said scared, he slowly raised his hands to shoulder level and took a step back, his back pressing against the side of the van.

"We know you sinners attack the thermal park, we're not stupid, we're not uncoordinated, we, will not let you ruin Eden for all of us" he said.

"Guys, please I'm one of you" Michael begged, he knew his voice was getting louder but he didn't care, he could feel his legs buckle, he had to do something, or he'd topple over.

"Come on, I'm new, three day on the job" he pleaded, he could feel his chest lock up and heart pound like a jackhammer.

"Enough sinner, be quiet" the man said angrily. finally showing some sort of emotion, raising the barrel of his gun up to Michael's head.

* * *

"Hey, should we clear the greenhouse or what?" Rook asked, pointing to the building to their immediate right.

"Yeah let's hit it" Jess replied, and the two made their way over to the greenhouse ten feet away, but the junior deputy never made it to the door as a single gunshot rang out over the entire estate a second shot rang out a near second after. The noise caused the junior deputy to freeze momentarily but reanimated again at the sounds of the surrounding peggies, they were all yelling in confusion as to who or what had caused the gunshot followed by the sounds of many feet scraping against the ground.

"Oh shit, Michael, hey we got to get over there and give them back up" Rook said nervously, feeling the full of the van teams lives on his shoulders.

"Nu'uh boy scout, you said you wouldn't pull this moody bullshit again remember?" Jess scolded, giving the distraught deputy a stern look.

Rook stared at her for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh.

"Your right, we have to stick to the plan, c'mon let's move" he muttered as he calmly and slowly worked his way to where all the yelling peggies were.

Luckily the gunshots had drawn in all the peggies away from their posts, making it quite easy to traverse across the property, it too the two not even a minute to pass under a raised walk way and right past the front door of the mansion. From there, they could see what had truly happened. How ever many peggies that populated the property had now moved in around the driveway, all along the concrete floor or up above on the impromptu walkways, raining down a hail of bullets onto the stationary van. He could see a few members of the van team had actually gotten out of the van, two to be exact, a man and a woman, they had somehow gotten way from the van and made it to the cobblestone wall, occasionally poking their guns out to blind fire, another teammate fired from the van as it looked like one had crawled up into the drivers cabin and fired through the window. But not all was going according to plan as it was clear one of them had died, his body lay in a pool of blood at the back of the van, both of the rear door wide open, the poor guy must have tried to use it for cover, but didn't notice that there was a three foot gap between the ground and the bottom of the door. occasionally he could hear the distinct sound of Grace's rifle go off, knowing she was laying siege to the enemy made him feel better to some degree. But what was personal the worst of it for Rook was Michael, Rook could see him, slumped against the side of the van, motionless, blood leaking out of him a few meters away lay a peggie, also motionless of the ground, blood pouring out of him.

"God dammit Michael" Rook muttered, staring down at his motionless body.

"Hey, we gonna kill them or what, a little help here!" Jess ordered as took her position by the second green house door, the door had been left wide open most likely by the peggies as they rushed out to investigate the gunfire, she loaded and fired two arrows in quick succession, dropping two men.

"Wha- uh, right yeah, you got it" Rook shakily replied as he grabbed the silenced pistol from his leg and took cover by the by one of the struts that held up the white walkway, as much as he wanted to use the bow, he couldn't, there was no way he could dispatch enough in an effective time.

The current gunfight that the peggies were in pulled all their attention, unaware that they were slowly being picked off one by one, the strategy would have worked as it slowly dwindled the enemy numbers, but A loud bang could be heard from Rook's immediate left, not the bang of a gunshot or explosive, but a bang of one object slamming against another, Rook turned his head to the source of the noise, Rook would have ignored it but with how important the conservatory was, he couldn't be to careful, he turned to look see through the white raised platform and could see the front of the manor.

The noise had come from the manor entrance had most likely kicked open as front door hung wide open and standing in the door frame was two large men dressed in full riot gear and an LMG in their hands, forty feet away and staring directly at the junior deputy.

"Sinner!" one of the armored men roared.

"Aw son of a bitch" Rook muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

Rook stared at the two armoured men for a few seconds in fear, the two men raised their LMG's to line up their shots on him, Rook knew he had to run, it was either run or fight. His instincts said to run, he turned to do as such, as he moved he felt like everything was in slow motion, it felt like he had forever to scan his surroundings for appropriate cover, how long it took for the men to open fire upon him, how many seconds in-between each time his feet hit the floor, how long it took Jess to fire her arrow, adrenaline was a hell of a thing. _Jess_ his mind screamed, his eyes did drift over her general area as he looked for cover, she was completely unaware to focused on killing the preoccupied peggies to notice that armoured men had come to pick a fight with him and would most likely be torn to ribbons if they took notice of her. Rook lifted the back of his feet up to sprint towards Jess, he did his best to move at a horizontal line from the heavy unit's perspective to make it harder to hit him, but by now they had begun firing, he could hear the high caliber bullets slam into his surroundings, destroying almost everything they hit.

Just as he made it to the woman he saw her eyes flick up to him for a moment before the junior deputy jumped at her and out stretched his arms, wrapping his arms around her as they collided and let gravity pull them both down.

"What the fuck!" Jess screamed, unsure as to why he had tackled her, and squirmed to get out from underneath him.

Before Rook could respond a hail of high caliber bullets flew over them, splattering and shattering the wood and glass of the greenhouse, then one of the hail of bullets stopped.

"Hey, watch the bliss, watch the bliss!" one of the armored men yelled, causing him to stop, now that the heavy fire had stopped, a few of the other peggies tried to get a peek at what was happening behind them.

"Two guys, full body armour, LMG's" Rook muttered, still on top of her.

"Get the fuck off me, your heavy as shit" she growled, trying to push him off

"It's the sinner, the junior deputy is here!" he could her one of the armoured men yell.

This caused some of the fire from the peggies fighting the van to stop and shouted some things back, Rook couldn't tell what it was, but it sounded like they were getting closer.

"Oh, right sorry" Rook replied and climbed off her, practically on all fours he crawled into the open doorframe of the green house.

"Hey, in here, break line of sight" Rook offered.

"Yeah hold on" Jess said, reorienting her self in a low squat, she picked up her bow and loaded an arrow into it and in one quick motion, she stood up fired the arrow in the direction of the van and dropped back down, all within a few seconds.

Before Rook could ask what she possibly shot at, he could hear a man groan in pain, despite the gunfire from the van fight, he could still hear the groan, the peggie was way to close for comfort.

"Ok, move over" Jess said as she entered the greenhouse, Rook shifted to the side a few inches to let the woman in, and the two went further into the house, too Rook, it was a lot bigger on the inside, as the length of the room was one hundred feet long and rows of small tables lined the edges of building, all with pots of bliss on them, in the dead center was a large wooden box with a large hedge grew out of it, bliss flowers poked out of the hedge sporadically.

"Oh shit, oh shit, they're coming" Rook barked nervously.

"You got any 'nades?" Jess asked, poking her head up to try to get a good look at them through the dirty glass, she was sure she could see the two heavy unit men stomping towards them.

"Yeah I got uh, three" Rook said feeling his belt.

"You got any of those fire arrow things?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah but only one, but uh, my lighter died on me, I don't suppose you got one?" Jess asked.

"When have you ever seen me smoke!?" Rook practically exclaimed, placing his hands on his chest, feeling the weight of their predicament.

"Hey, calm the fuck down, we still got this" Jess practically exclaimed back.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm still coming off the adrenaline!" Rook loudly admitted before he hastily joining Jess at the dirty window to try to peer at the armoured men were dawning dangerously close, a part of him wish that Grace would notice the men and take a few shots on them.

"OK we need to go, like right now!" Jess said quickly before turning around and quickly made her way to the door on the other side of the greenhouse.

"Yeah, yeah, I feel you, let's make like a tree and leaf" Rook said trying to regain confidence in his voice and followed Jess out the back door.

"Hey, hold on a sec" Jess said holding her arm out to stop the junior deputy.

She turned around to look back into the greenhouse then brought a hand up to fish around in her quiver and pulled out different looking arrow, Rook could tell it was one of her fire arrows.

She loaded the incendiary arrow into her bow and fired it into the greenhouse, the arrow sailed through the length of the greenhouse and embedded itself into a wooden column that supported the structure near the door they had first entered.

"When they come in, throw your grenade at it" Jess ordered before backing away.

Before Rook could respond or even agree the barrel of an LMG poked through the door frame then slowly, the rest of the gun entered, then the bulking mass of a man clad in thick riot gear.

The junior deputy's hand shot down to his belt and pulled a grenade from his belt, he swallowed the spit in his mouth and pulled the pin, his eyes darted up to the armored man, he now was fully in the room, turned and facing the deputy, about to raise the LMG to fire.

"Catch!" Rook yelled as he through the grenade at the man before throwing himself to the ground to his immediate left, wrapping his arms over his head in hopes of it shielding him from the explosion or gunfire.

"Get back!" he heard the armoured man yell before the deafening boom of the grenade masked everything else, a chorus of shattering glass followed the boom near instantaneously as the explosion had most likely blown out a large portion of the greenhouse's glass panels, the gunfight between the van team and the surrounding peggies had died down, both sides had begun yelling about something, Rook strained his ears to listen to what was being yelled, or at the very least listen for any signs of the armoured men's survival. But struggled as the sound of crackling fire overtook his attention, it took Rook a few seconds to realize that his grenade had ignited the wooden frame of the building, it took him a dew more seconds the remember that the greenhouse was filled with bliss, if he didn't get away before the bulk of it is burned, he'd get high on the battlefield.

"Come on, get up!" he heard Jess yell as he felt a hand wrap around his arm and try to yank him up.

"Dude get your ass in gear, peggies are comin" she cried.

Ok, ok, I'm up, let's do it" Rook said, quickly rising up onto his feet and slightly stumbled forward, his arm shot out to grab the side of the greenhouse to support himself and reorient himself and catch his breath.

He was unsure whether or not the grenade fire arrow combo was as effective as he would like to believe, to verify their handiwork and poked his head into the greenhouse, and peered inside; the far end of the building had caught ablaze, splinters, bits of wood and shards of glass littered the ground, a large hole was in the side of the wall where the arrow was embedded in, the smell of burning bliss slowly leaked out of the house, but right by the doorway that they had entered lay the armoured peggie with a wooden beam laying across his still body, his buddy slowly trying to lift the fallen beam off him, but by the amount of effort he made lifting the beam; he was either or at the very least was feeling lethargic from the effects of the burning bliss.

"Hey, I think the big guy, or guys are still alive" Rook said, looking back at his friend.

"Fuck, I was hoping we got both, shit we gotta work quick, let's go I think they're coming for us" Jess replied, loading an arrow into her bow and pulled her bowstring back, ready to fire, her arrow pointing at the corner of the greenhouse that would open up to a view of the van team skirmish.

"Alrighty, you ready to rock 'n roll?" Rook asked, pulling the AK-47 off his back and aimed it at the corner of the house just like Jess was, ready for anyone to come and investigate.

"Fuck yeah, let's move" she replied, then the two slowly moved up towards the corner of the building with the junior deputy taking point.

As the two slowly made their way around the corner to view the skirmish that had been going on.

A few peggies hung around an open top field of bliss a few more populated the pergola while others were scattered along the ground, there had to be around ten of them, some of them focused on the van team while others look conflicted and tried to get a good look at the greenhouse but couldn't at risk of death or injury. Despite being spread out they were still having difficulty dealing with the threat as a few more of the van team members had made it out of the van and up to the cobblestone wall and gave suppressing fire, thankfully Grace had not let up on the enemy, she kept on firing away, but the peggies had grown wise to her early on and had gotten to cover and repeatedly poked their guns over their cover and fired sporadically.

"Ok, I think I got a plan" Rook said.

Jess turned to look at the junior deputy to listen but before he could speak the yell of a sinner pulled their attention.

"The sinner!" they heard a woman yell.

Both the junior deputy and the huntress looked up to see one of the peggies on the pergola, hidden behind cover, pointing at them before dropping her hand and raised her gun at them but was dropped near instantly as a bullet and arrow slammed into her, dropping her. But it was far too late, as the woman fell over, more and more of the remaining became aware of what the woman had yelled before echoing it back to their comrades. After a few moments the yells of the great sinner's appearance had dissolved into shouts of half-baked plans to deal with the enclosing forces on either side, eventually the peggies broke down into two groups, one fought off the van team while the other tried to deal with the junior deputy and the huntress.

"Fuck this!" Jess yelled, as bullets flew by her by mere feet, she swore before she dipped back around the corner of the burning greenhouse with the junior deputy close behind, experiencing a similar situation.

"Holy crap, they're really trying huh?" Rook cried, feeling the adrenaline kicking in again.

"Shit, ok, fuck this, cover me, I'm going to get the angle on these asshats" Jess asked as she got close to the corner greenhouse again, crouching down and ready to sprint away.

"Yes ma'am" Rook replied and also crept up to the corner of the building, towering of Jess and ready to fire, the crackling of fire was getting louder, the fire was consuming more and more of the greenhouse.

"Ok, get ready, I'm going to do the thing" he said and poked his AK-47 out from around the corner and blind fired in hopes of deterring any peggies from returning fire also hoping he didn't hit any of his allies.

After a few seconds of gunfire Jess took off running towards the pergola and passed through it and emerging on the other side, already loading an arrow into her bow and begun firing.

The peggies began yelling again about how the sinners had spread out around them, a few broke off their attention from the junior deputy and turned to fire at Jess, before diving into cover yet again as they were being shot at from several other directions and a mysterious sniper. The front the peggies established slowly deteriorated as when one peggie fell it caused a stir within the others, a few turned around to fire at the other group, a few tried to secure better cover as the feeling of the jaws of death slowly close in around them made them feel terror. If they wanted to survive, they needed a plan.

"For Joseph's sake, somebody hit the alarm!" one of the peggies cried out to his comrades.

"I will do it!" another shouted.

Then a lone peggie with a baseball bat jumped up from where he was and ran off is some peculiar direction, Rook watched the man run in an attempt to line up a clean shot but could not as the man zigged and zagged along the battlefield and occasionally dove for cover and blind fired over said cover before beginning his run again. Rook pulled his attention from the small group of peggies and tried to line up a shot on the runner but could not get the man in his iron sights.

"Somebody shoot the alarm box or the guy running!" Rook heard on of the resistance members yell from the other side of the battlefield.

"Oh, right those things are made out of plastic and wires" Rook muttered as he looked ahead of where the peggie was running to, hoping to see the yellow box that was the alarm system.

He could see the box in the distance, it sat on the other side of the compound by the large red radio tower, there was no way he destroy it without getting closer.

"Shit" Rook muttered before looking over at Jess.

"Hey, I'll be right back!" Rook called out to her be running at the alarm box.

"What?!" Jess yelled back in surprise; her head flicked in his general direction for a few seconds to get a look at him before returning to firing at the peggies.

"Hey stop!" Rook yelled at the runner as he chased after him, the runner had cleared a good amount of distance, he was almost to the second greenhouse that the pergola was connected too.

"Go to hell, sinner!" the runner cried.

"Stop and I'll make sure you aren't shot!" he cried.

"I'd rather be shot then side with you" the runner retorted.

Rook groaned in light frustration, a part of him was frustrated that since he arrived in the county to arrest Joseph, he had not arrest one law breaker, and another part of him was frustrated that yet another person willingly threw themselves into death's arms for a man who didn't care for them.

"Aw screw it" Rook huffed as he skidded to a halt, he was in range of both the peggie and the alarm system, considering that one target was stationary and the other wasn't he raised his AK and fired sporadically at the little yellow box, the first few shots missed but the fourth and fifth shot hit the box, and in a puff of black smoke, the plastic split and crumpled to pieces as sparking wires and other electrical bits hung out, exposed and no longer functional.

"No! Damn you sinner!" he heard the runner cry angrily before changing his course to run straight at the junior deputy, he tightened his grip on the on the baseball bat, he sprinted as fast as he could, desperately wanting to hit the man with his bat.

Rook stared at the man briefly before raising his AK-47 at the man.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked, watching the man drawing nearer.

But the man didn't respond instead he wore a face of anger, he tightly clutched the baseball bat, still charging the armed junior deputy.

"Fine, have it your way" rook sighed and squeezed the trigger and fired the gun, dropping the man almost instantly.

With the alarm and peggie now taken care off Rook turned back to the fire fight and give his assistance.

He jogged back to where he had left Jess and lowered himself down into a crouch and slowly moved towards the woman.

"Hey, I'm back" he hollered as he came up behind Jess.

"Took yer fuckin' time" Jess called out, not looking back at him, loading another arrow into her bow and firing it.

"Yeah, yeah, what'd I miss, how many are left?" Rook asked, working his way to her and joining her side.

"Hell if I know, five, six, I don't know, Armstrong is doing most of the work" Jess replied.

"Oh, thank god, what about the van guys, how they looking?" he asked.

"No idea, I'm not looking at them" she responded as she fired another arrow.

Rook tried to stand up a little bit to get a view of the peggies and resistance members with out catching a bullet with his head, Jess was right there was around five or six, all huddled in around the bliss field while more van team members slowly pushed up to the cobble stone wall.

"Hey, I got an idea" Rook said crouching back down.

"Do what you gotta" she said.

Rook silently nodded and retrieved a grenade from his belt, he pulled the pin and through it at the peggies.

The grenade landed somewhat close to the peggie's cover, it landed completely unnoticed, then it exploded, destroying the cover and sending the peggies scattering like insects, while they did, that they yelled, some yelled in fear, others screamed in anger, some at the sinners, others at each other, all unsure of what to truly do, that's all the Jess, Grace and the van team needed to make short work of whoever was remaining.

* * *

After shooting all the peggies they could see everyone remained silent for a few moments, waiting for any signs of the enemy. Then nothing came, silence still consumed the area, eventually the van team began calling out, to each other and to any peggies that may still exist, after determining the estate was clear, a few people slowly moved in while others stayed back, overtaking where the peggies had made their final stand and worked their way deeper into the property.

Rook and Jess had also stayed quiet to see if any peggies still crept around, but after watching the van team move in, Rook stood up to address them.

"Hey guys" he called out, bringing on hand up to wave at them as he moved towards him.

"Howdy deputy" one of the team members returned, also waving back at him as they moved towards him.

"You guys ok?" Rook asked.

"Yeah we're good, we took a few casualties and injuries, but we'll manage, what about you?" a man said.

"I'm ok I think" Rook replied before looking at Jess.

"What about you, are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, hey you do whatever, I'm going to get my arrows" Jess said as she moved to where all the peggies lay.

"Yeah do what you gotta" Rook shrugged.

"Sinner!" a sluggish voice roared from behind him.

Rook quickly flicked his head over his shoulder to steal a glance at what had called out behind him and grimaced at what had stood behind him, a single armoured peggie, slumped over and breathing heavily, his padded armour burned and torn sporadically, the LMG he had once carried confidently was now dragged through the dirt with a single hand on the grip and slowly walked forward on uneasy steps.

"I refuse… to let… You… Destroy…" the man huffed, trying to speak between large inhales.

"Hey man you don't sound hot, please, just take a seat and do what we ask of you" Rook said, turning around and watching the man stagger forward.

"You won't… tempt me…" the man huffed again before coming to a stop to catch his breath, he shifted his grip onto the butt of the gun and lean in on it like an elderly man with a cane.

The man stood there, huffing and wheezing, desperately trying to catch his breath, then two resistance members slowly approached the sluggish man at either side, guns raised at him as they crept closer and moved right up to him, standing next to them. Even though they were right next to him he made no reaction, he just stood there, breathing heavily, slightly swaying side to side, the two men stood there for a few moments, still nothing happened, eventually one of the men raised a hand up the peggie's chest and gently pushed, causing the man to tumble to the ground, the man writhed on the ground for a few moments before falling still, releasing a long exhale, falling unconscious.

"Geez, what did you do to him?" one of the resistance members asked, looking up at the deputy.

"I threw a grenade at him, last I saw him he was trying to save his buddy in the greenhouse, I guess he got high on his own supply" Rook shrugged.

"Good job dude" another voice came from Rook's side, he turned to see the speaker.

Another resistance member slowly approached Rook, he moved at a slow pace as another person hung of his arm, to Rook's surprise, it was Michael, somehow he had survived but it was evident that he was injured as blood leaked from his shoulder, the collar and armpits of the shirt was soaked with sweat, a streak of blood rolled down his torso as the blood seeped out for a while now.

"Holy shit, Michael!" Rook cried, and took a few steps towards the injured man, arms outstretched, silently offering to help the man move Michael.

"It's ok, we're only going a few more feet" Michael grunted as he and his friend slowly staggered towards a beam that supported the pergola, and carefully lowered him onto the ground and leaned him back onto the beam, groaning as he transitioned.

"Hey, you guys have first aid right?" Rook asked the man who had carried Michael.

"Oh yeah, we just needed to move him first, damn peggie put one to many into the van, it's smoking pretty bad and it didn't seem like a good idea to keep him over there.

"Oh, ok, sweet" Rook replied breathing a sigh of relief.

"So, you going to be ok Michael?" Rook asked, looking back down at his friend.

"Yeah I will be, I'm not going to die in the next few minutes, but man I'm getting lightheaded, not sure if it's the blood loss or the burning bliss" Michael coughed, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, sorry about that" Rook said, looking up at the burning greenhouse, the fire had engulfed just about the entire structure but thankfully there was nothing flammable close enough for the fire to spread, soon the fire will burn itself out.

"I didn't really plan on lighting up like that, so, uh, I guess you guys do whatever you gotta do, me and Jess are going to poke around in the big house, make sure everything is good, if you need anything just holler" Rook said, looking back up at the uninjured man, pointing a thumb at the building

"Yeah, you do that, we need a break and stuff" the man said, whipping is brow, looking back at the van, waiting for his teammates to bring a first aid kit.

"Alright, cool, see you in a bit then" Rook nodded before moving to the open door of the manor, the door was still open due to the two armored men barging through.

As Rook stepped closer to the front door, Jess appeared beside him, he could only assume she had finished collecting all her arrows and was ready to see what lay inside the building.

Despite the pots of bliss and fertilizer placed randomly around the first floor, the house seemed quite nice, for some reason Rook assumed that the house's interior would be in some sort disrepair, but this house was in good enough shape to set up shop, even live in.

"OK, take it slow, we don't know what's in here, so be careful and let's see what's going om" Rook ordered.

"Yeah, yeah, I know" Jess replied.

* * *

The house's interior was small yet open, a few pieces of furniture were spread out around the room, pictures of better times hung on the walls, all of the door were either left wide open or taken right off their hinges, making it easy for the two go from room to room, scanning for anything that may help them. After minutes in each room the ascended up to the second floor and again, went from room to room, scanning for anyone or anything that would suggest the recent activity of Doctor Feeney or the radio jammer.

"Mother fucker, nothing useful is here, not even anything I would take" Jess moaned, clearly disappointed.

She had a point, there was nothing of interest that could be found that would even suggest the idea of a radio jammer or Feeney.

"Ok, I guess head back down to the first floor and do another quick look around, I'll stay up here and do the same, let's try for a good five minutes, if we come up with nothing, let's call it a day" Rook surmised.

"Ok, cool with me guess" Jess said, hanging her bow on her shoulder and shelving her hands in her jacket pockets and made her way to the staircase.

With Jess back on the main floor Rook began his search, his instincts told him to start with the several desks that littered the second floor, just about all of them had papers covering their tops. He rummaged around the desk looking over all the documents, hoping to identify a name or a place, or anything that could help him, a lone creaking noise pulled Rook's attention off the paperwork, his eyes flicked up to the hallway, thinking Jess had found something of note, but instead of the usual green jacket, scowling woman, a man in the usual black trench coat that peggies wore stood motionless in the hall, staring at the junior deputy, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights, Rook could feel his heart skip a beat as he stared at a potential threat, but just as fast as he saw the man, he disappeared, he took off running down the hall.

"Hey wait!" Rook yelled in hopes the man would listen, but to his dismay, the man kept running. So, the only thing he could do was chase the man down the hall. Despite not being able to see him, he could still hear him as the pounding of feet and creaking of the floorboards gave away his position.

"Jess we got one up here!" he yelled as he chased the man down the hall, thankfully the hall was very small, but also had no other doors besides one at the far end.

He could hear Jess yell back something followed by the stomping from the floor below.

"Come on, I won't hurt you if you remain calm" Rook called out again, but instead of complying the man kept running and made it to the end of the hall, at the very end was a closed door, but instead of opening it, the man reached up above him and grabbed a cord that hung from the ceiling and yanked on it, causing a part of the ceiling to open up and a small ladder descended from the ceiling.

"Hey, wait don't go up there!" Rook yelled.

But again, his voice fell on deaf ears and the man stomped up the ladder as fast as he could.

"Where is he?!" he heard just yell from the other end of the hall.

"He went up" Rook replied, pointing up to the attic opening.

"Well get after him!" she scolded.

With that Rook pulled his pistol out of its holster and hastily climbed the ladder and entered the attic with Jess close behind him.

The attic was cluttered with things that one would normally see in an attic, old furniture, dusty boxes, and other various items for a life long forgotten, but on the far side of the attic was an old door, unlike everything else in the room, the door looked touched recently, it had to be where the man fled too. The junior deputy and the huntress approached the door and Rook brought a hand up to the door handle and jiggled it, feeling it was clearly locked, so instead he banged on the door a few times before speaking.

"OK, listen chief, open the door and noting bad will happen to you, if I have to get in there myself I can't promise your safety" Rook ordered.

"I saw what you did to my friends outside, you can't fool me sinner!" the man on the other side yelled, it was clear he was afraid.

"Alright have it your way" Rook replied before turning to Jess.

"Ok, we're going to kick it open, follow my lead" Rook said as he moved for the door.

"You got it" she replied as she took a step back from the door.

Rook also took a step back and kicked the door as hard as he could, causing the door to shake in it's frame, Rook knew he could open it, he took another step back before leaning into another kick of the door, this time the door gave and swung open, breaking the door's mortise.

With the door now open the junior deputy and huntress could clearly see into the room, a lone peggie stood in small room, hands raised over his head with a look of fear on his face, Rook trained his pistol on the man so he could properly examine the room to be sure it was safe to enter, he could see that the small room was just like the room before, cluttered with boxes and other old furniture, cobwebs and dust hung all around the room, it was clear that the attic was used as a storage space, but there was a small card table in the corner of the room, what looked like a small generator was tucked away underneath it, a mass of wires sprouted from it and snake up to some electronic box covered in dials, knobs and a few glowing lights, to Rook it looked almost like a large stereo box.

"You Feeney?" Rook demanded, raising the gun to the man's head level.

The man said nothing, it was clear he was freaked out by the look on his face, his arms still raised over his head, his eyes darting quickly all over the room, looking for something.

"I said are you Feeney?" Rook asked, raising his voice, adding some sternness to his tone.

"I.. Josep- the, Faith- my-" the man stuttered, his eyes rolled around in his head, scanning the room as if something in it would make him speak better.

"Hey Dickhead, are you the guy!" Jess yelled angrily.

"N-n-no, I'm-m-m-m not" the man stammered.

"What's going on in here, what's that machine there?" Rook demanded, flicking his pistol at the box.

The man didn't respond, instead he made indecisive noises as he still looked around the room, he was clearly quaking on the spot.

"Ok there pal why don't you take a seat and calm down a bit, while you're at it put your hands behind your head ok?" Rook ordered; his voice dropped back down to a calmer tone, lowering his gun a bit.

The man's hands lowered a little bit as he took a few steps back, his eyes locked on the junior deputy, clearly afraid.

"Listen chief let's-" Rook tried to say but was cut short as the man lunged at a small pile of boxes at his side, and reached for something, but was not fast enough as Jess let loose her arrow and it sunk into his chest, causing him to fall back in death, as he fell the thing he jumped for clattered to the ground, a shotgun lay at the dead man's feet.

"Dammit" Rook muttered staring down at the dead man.

"Well, thank you for the cover, Jess" he said.

"Dumb shit thought he could actually move faster then an arrow.. wow" Jess replied, walking up and pulling the arrow from the man's chest.

"Well now that's taken care of… let's see what this thing is all about" he said looking at the large box on the table.

"So uh, you know anything about this kind of stuff?" Rook asked approaching the box.

"Hell no" Jess responded, taking her place next to the junior deputy.

"Alrighty then" Rook said, examining the box again, trying to figure out what knob to turn or what switch to flick.

"Do you think this is the jammer?" Rook asked again.

"Your guess is good as mine, dude" Jess said, crossing her arms.

"Ok so then let's do this" Rook said as he gently grabbed a knob and slowly turned it, causing a feedback noise to emit from the box, then Rook turned it back to silence the noise.

"So, my deductive skills have told me that this might actually be the jammer" Rook concluded.

"Really?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, this thing seems to act similar to an electric guitar amp, and I do see a few of the same features on it" rook said pointing to a few knobs labeled _Bass _and _Treble. _

"And well there is a giant radio tower next to this place so yeah, I think this might be it" Rook finished.

"So then let's just smash it and go" Jess suggested.

"Well if we do that, what if we mess up the air waved forever" Rook said scratching his chin.

"We have to be very careful in dealing with this" Rook said slowly extending a hand towards a toggle.

"I really doubt it works like that dude" Jess said, but her voice fell on deaf ears as the junior deputy was too focused on the device in front of him, she sighed in annoyance.

Rook flicked a single switch to see the effects, but nothing appeared to happen.

"Hmm, interesting" he muttered to himself.

He began to reach out to change the position of another switch but before he could, all the glowing lights suddenly died, the slight hum from the device also died too.

"Wait what!" Rook said, surprised, unsure of what had just happened, not knowing what to do, he turned back to Jess.

"What just happe-" he cried but as he looked at Jess he could see her holding a single electrical cord, and giving the junior deputy an annoyed look, the look silenced him.

"You know we could just unplug the fucking thing" she said dropping the cord.

"Oh" Rook blinked.

"Yeah, that might work too" he squeaked.

"So, what are you waiting for, call someone already" she said.

"Uh, right, yes, obviously" rook said as he pulled the walkie off the side of his belt, he cleared his throat and brought the walkie to his mouth.

"This Junior Deputy Benjamin Rook, if you can here me please respond"

Then there was silence, he stood still, he stared at the walkie hoping something would happen.

"Holy shit, deputy is that you?!" a voice came from the other end of the walkie.

"Holy crap" Rook laughed.

"It worked" he grinned.

Rook held down the talk button and responded.

"Yeah it's me, who's this?" Rook asked.

"This is Geoff, I'm at the Henbane River County Jail, where are you? What's going on, how are you getting through to this?" Geoff asked.

"We kicked ass, took names, and liberated the Jessop conservatory" Rook replied.

"Holy shit, hey, I'll, I'll let people know, holy shit dude you have no idea how much this will help everyone in the Henbane" Geoff praised.

"Just doing my job" Rook replied then clipped the walkie back on his hip, pride swelled in his chest, he was proud to say that he was able to do something that would really help people, now that communication was up the prison could coordinate now and become more efficient, not only that but communication to the whole valley was probably possible now.

"So, could you uh, let people know about this place, we could use the reinforcements and medical attention" Rook said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem, I'll get right on it, sit tight" Geoff said excitedly before Rook could hear the walkie cut off from the other end, he could only assume that Geoff hung up

"I guess that's it then" Rook said, looking back to Jess.

"So, I guess that's it then, so we bailing or what?" Jess asked, placing her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah, but I would like to speak to Grace before we get going, you can head back now, and I'll catch up if you want?" Rook offered.

"Naah, it's a hell of a walk and we have like the one van, so I'll wait I guess" she shrugged.

"Ok, sounds good to me" Rook nodded before turning to leave the cramped room and the two made their way down to the ground floor of the building and out the front door, from there the two could see the resistance members going to work, moving the peggie bodies, patching up the wounded, keeping an eye of the fire.

But Rook could also see that Grace had come down off her spot and had entered the estate grounds, she was crouched down next to Michael, who was still slumped against the pergola beam but bandaged up and looking a lot better. Grace was speaking to him, most likely telling him about the do's and don't of taking care of a gunshot wound, Rook approached the two, as he drew close Michael's eyes flicked up for a second to see who approached before focusing back on the sniper. The act of looking up at the junior deputy caused Grace to also look up at Rook, this time she stood up to address him.

"Hey so how'd it go, was there a radio jammer inside?" she asked.

"The airwaves are clear and free to use" Rook smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

Both Michael and Grace made noises of relief.

"That's amazing Dep, this could save so many lives now" she smiled.

"Yeah, I really hope it does, but uh, I didn't see anyone that looked like this Feeney guy that was talked about" Rook admitted.

"Well damn" Grace grimaced.

"If he's not here then who know where he could be, for all we know he could be getting cozy in Faith's bunker" she said.

"I doubt we can just storm that castle huh?" Rook asked.

"No, not a chance, to do it is suicide, even if we got in, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some sort of built in defenses, bliss based or otherwise" Grace explained.

"Shit" rook said, running a hand through his hair.

"So, what's are next move?" he asked.

"For us, we call HQ to let them know what happened here and get some of our guys out here to hold this place, as a whole, we just keep fighting until we come up with something again" Grace said.

"Alright so I called someone named Geoff at the prison and let him know what happened here so I guess people will just show up here soon

"OK, I don't think the peggies will come to try to come and take the place back let alone know what happened, I'll stay behind and keep an eye on the place for a time, if you two want to get out of here you can" Grace offered.

"Yeah, I think we'll get going, we'll straight back to the prison and give the sheriff the run down of what happened" Rook said.

"Sounds good to me, I'm going to get him back to a better place to lie down, but Ben, Jess, thank you, without you two who knows what would have happened" Grace said, giving the two a small nod, before bending back down to pick up Michael, he groaned in pain as he rose to his feet and wrapped his arm over Grace's shoulder.

"No prob" Jess said casually as she shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure there's a bed on the second floor on the house" Rook offered.

"Thanks Dep" Grace returned, and slowly made her way to the front door with the injured man over her shoulder.

"Hey, I'll call the sheriff after I get Michael inside, I have a feeling there will be a lot of radio use now" Grace said over her shoulder.

"Uh yeah thanks, I appreciate it" Rook said as he and Jess watched her leave, one far less interested then the other but both of their attention was pulled in on the walkie on Rook's hip.

"Hey kid, you there?" a voice came from Rook's walkie.

The duo recognized the voice this time, it was Dutch.

He pulled the walkie from his belt again to respond.

"Oh, hey Dutch, it's been a while, huh?" he grinned at the walkie.

"Yeah no kidding, it's been might hard to reach out to you when you just jump into the Henbane with no warning" Dutch replied.

"Uh, sorry about that, I didn't know that the airwaves were scrambled, and things came up that kinda made me stay here for the short term at the very least" Rook said.

"So now that you see the Henbane, I'm sure you've seen just how bad it is?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's not looking too good, one of the first things I did here was stop peggies from dumping bliss into the water treatment plant" Rook explained.

"Jesus" Dutch groaned.

"they really isn't a level Joseph won't stoop too to get this county under his thumb"

"Yeah, to be honest I'm not really sure what to do really, should I stay here and deal with Faith or go back to the Valley and finish what I started with John, and then Jacob is just a whole other story" Rook explained.

"Kid I trust you to make your own decisions in how you wanna play this, you've been doing well enough so far" Dutch said.

"Speaking of doing well, what about my pain in the ass niece, have you seen her recently?" he asked.

Before Rook could respond, Jess grabbed the walkie out of his hand and brought it to her mouth.

"Yeah love you too, you old fart" she smirked.

A light chuckle came out of the walkie.

"Glad to hear from you too kiddo, nice to hear you haven't strangled the junior deputy yet"

"Not yet, but there's been a few close calls, but man he could be a real pain in the ass sometimes" Jess smirked, looking up at the junior deputy.

"Come on I'm right here" Rook pouted, not enjoying the light ribbing.

"I know cops aren't your cup of tea, but keep an eye on that one, he's making a real difference" Dutch said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but don't give me shit for something I don't like and don't expect any back, get out of that bunker every now and again, get some sunlight, your going to look like a fucking ghoul if you stay in there forever" Jess scolded.

"I will once this damn cult is as dead as Joseph" Dutch replied.

"Ask him about the Valley" Rook whispered to Jess.

"Her eyes flicked up to Rook for a moment before looking back to the walkie.

"Hey, the boy scout wants to talk to you" she said, as she handed back the walkie back to Rook.

"Boy scout?" Dutch asked as Rook took back the walkie.

"She's talking about me; I don't know why she calls me that" Rook replied.

"Well if she has given you a nickname that isn't directly insulting that's a good sign that she doesn't out right hate you" Dutch responded.

"Well ain't that good to know, so, how's the Valley looking these days?" Rook asked.

"Nothing cataclysmic, but nothing small either, John's really trying to take back what he's lost, but we're keeping him back for the most part" Dutch explained.

"And the other part?" Rook asked, feeling the anxiety creep in.

"He's winning a few fights here and there, we've lose a few guys here and there as well, but John is really keeping an eye on the roads, he's got all these roadblocks up in between here and the Henbane, I think he really doesn't want you come back and doesn't want you getting in the way, he's up to something, no one knows what, but the peggies have been getting a little shifty these past few days" Dutch explained.

"Again, do you need me to come back?" Rook asked.

"I don't know kid, maybe you should wait for the assholes on the road to grow bored and lazy, either way it's going to be dangerous coming back" Dutch answered.

"Tell you what, let me think about it for a bit before coming to a decision, I need to get back to the prison and let the sheriff know what happened" Rook said.

"Ah, your boss is alive huh, well that's good to hear, speaking of your co-workers your lady cop friend is still alive I think, John put up a tv broadcast with him flaunting her around as his prisoner as a warning to all us sinners" Dutch spoke.

"Shit" Rook muttered, he knew John had Hudson, but from the all the bodies and other horrors that littered the valley by his goons, he couldn't imagine what John himself was putting Hudson through.

"How did she look?" Rook asked.

"Cut and bruised, looked scared out of her mind" Dutch replied.

Rook exhaled.

"Ok thank you Dutch, so yeah, uhhh.. me and Jess are headed home, if you need anything just give us a call" Rook said.

"You got it kid, stay safe" Dutch said before the line went dead.

Rook and Jess hung around the conservatory until backup finally arrived twenty minutes later, a few pickup trucks rolled up the gravel driveway and parked all along the shot up van, a dozen or so men and woman climbed out and moved into the estate and immediately got to work, padding down peggie bodies before preparing them for disposal, a few sought to taking care of the bodies of their fallen friends, eventfully Grace came back out and started giving orders, first of which was to tend to the wounded. Soon after the brave men and woman who had come to claim the conservatory were ready to head back to the prison, to sleep and forget the day, to eat dinner, to privately grieve for their dead, the survivors all climbed into two of the trucks, before they departed the offered a ride to the junior deputy and the huntress who happily accepted the ride. The drive home was near silent, little small talk was made among the truck's occupants as nobody really wanted to talk, but also now that the radio jammer was gone a single radio station of various 90's music played from some pirate station, no one really seemed to care for it other than the junior deputy who seemed to be interested in it and spoke of various little facts and trivia he knew about the songs and their bands. But no one really wanted to talk. They just wanted to sit in silence as they made their way back home.

* * *

The trucks pulled up outside of the prison, and everyone climbed out, the sun was beginning to set into the horizon, blending the sky into a dull orange, with the dark black of slowly creeping up behind it. The remains of the van team trudged up to the front door and into the prison proper. Rook thanked the driver before him and Jess followed the van team into the prison, the two followed the team all the way to the command room doors but stopped as he heard Jess call out to him.

"Yo, boy scout" he heard Jess say from behind him, her voice was accompanied by a small tugging sensation on his arm

Rook turned sound of his hoodied companion to address her.

"What's up?" he asked.

"your just gonna run off to your boss and give him the run down right?" she replied.

Something about the way she asked her question seemed off, sure she was tired and all, but there was something else in her voice that made it different then her usual tired voice.

"Uh, yeah that's the plan" rook answered.

"Ok cool, hey I'm going to bed, don't both bother waking me up or anything, I was thinking about what you said about just chilling out after this, so I think I'm just going hunting, by myself, just wanna get away from it all and really think about stuff, but when I'm done, uh when I'm done I wanna talk to you about something, so keep that walkie talkie close ok" Jess explained.

"Um, sure, is everything ok though? You're not like going to kill our little deal thing then run off into the night?" Rook asked, feeling a little concerned he might be on the mark.

As much as she scowled, swore, was quick to anger, he enjoyed her company in a way, whenever it was just the two of them she seemed almost more confident, how she spoke more freely, more willing to tell stories of her past and a few interests, albeit the stories were usually involved her doing something she shouldn't be doing, but still she was still wiling to just stop and talk, it was quite refreshing after the constant fighting against peggies, and as much as he wanted to deny it, to a small degree, she starting to grow on him, he had missed the rebellious flare that his small group hometown friends would usually bring, and she did fill that void in a way.

"What, seriously? Naah, I ain't going anywhere, I just wanna talk, that's all" she shrugged.

"Ok cool, no problem, I'll keep the walkie close uh, have fun hunting" Rook replied, giving her a thumbs up.

"Uh, yeah so anyways, I'm going to bed, good night and all that" she said, giving the junior deputy a limp wave before turning to leave for their shared jail cell.

Rook voiced his goodbyes as well before turning to head off to the command center and speak to his boss.

Rook pushed open the command room doors to see sheriff and former mayor standing around in the command room, hastily looking through the various papers, vanilla envelope, and files that littered the tables while a few of the van team members stood around, most likely to recount their mission, everyone was completely unaware that Rook had entered the room, to focused on looking for whatever they were looking for.

"Uh, hey guys, I'm back" Rook called out, raising his voice slightly so it may reach the far end of the room and grab the busy men's attention.

Whitehorse's and Virgil's heads snapped up and towards where the junior deputy's direction.

"Deputy, your back!" Virgil cried happily.

"Welcome back kid, our friends here were just filling us in with what happened out there, good work deputy, you and your gal pal really made a difference today and in the long run" the sheriff praised.

"No problem Boss, just doing my job" Rook grinned, rubbing the back of his head.

"I mean it kid, this will save a lot of lives, and now we can hopefully start sharing supplies and info with Falls End, and if we're lucky we can finally track down someone who might now how to get in touch with the Whitehill Militia or whatever they are called out in the mountains, and well, sorry we couldn't call you before you got here, Grace called a while ago to say comms are back up, we started calling everyone we could to coordinate with Falls End, right now Tracey is spearheading the radios with a few others, well really I should say their trying, more and more people are realizing that radios and walkie talkies are usable again and are flooding the air waves trying to get in touch with each other"

"No worries, Grace said she had a feeling something like this was going to happen before we left" Rook replied.

"Ben, you've done a lot today, you've earned so rest, head down to the cafeteria and eat, take the rest of the day off, what little let of it there is anyway"

"Thanks boss, now that I think about it, I' m really tired and sore" Rook said stretching his shoulders, feeling every kink and sore spot on his torso, causing him to wince in pain.

"Feel better soon kid, now get out of here, we got work to do" Whitehorse said, it was clear he wasn't looking forward to what was in store for him.

"Yes sir" Rook said, offering his boss a salute before turning to leave the room but stopped when his eyes past over Virgil who was speaking to one of the van members.

"Oh, Mister Minkler, before I go" Rook called out to Virgil before digging into his pocket and producing the gold pocket watch he had lent him.

"Oh right, thank you Mister Rook, thank you so much" Virgil said as he quickly took back the watch.

Virgil popped open the lid and looked down at the timepiece, again he looked somewhat sad as he did it, he closed the lid and placed it into his pocket.

"Thank you for returning this back to me" he said solemnly before turning back to the few men and woman that had retelling the events of the conservatory.

"No problem" Rook muttered before moving towards the door and left the room.

Even though he was offered food he decided against going to the cafeteria, he just wasn't hungry, if anything he was sore and tired and just wanted to find a quiet spot and just sit down and chill out by himself, today had been long and stressful, it was almost hard to believe his day started out with Jess teaching him how to use a bow, it felt like that was days ago, but now that he was he didn't have anything to do, he wandered around the prison for a time, just trying to relax and mentally processed the day before going to bed. Eventually he made it outside, he was up above the ground floor and walked along the walkways of the prison walls, a few wall guards were posted up all along the walls and watchtowers in the corners, he gave a few polite nods as he past by the guards, in response they returned the nods or thanked him for his hard work on restoring the airwaves. He continued down the wall's walkway until he found a section of the wall that had no one around, to him it was as good a spot as any to kick back and relax, physically and mentally. Rook leaned over the railing, taking in the landscape in front of him for what felt like ten minutes, watching the trees sway in the wind, listening to the rustling of branches, the casual banter of the guards, the ambiance of the area was quite relaxing, it was only every now and again did he get to enjoy the beauty of the county, perhaps he would stand hear and enjoy the evening until the sun set completely, then he would go inside and sleep.

"Test, test one two, hello? can you hear me, deputy? I would like to have a word with you" A feminine voice came from Rook's walkie.

Rook wasn't sure as to who this voice belonged to, the voice was soft and rather pleasant sounds, by the way she spoke it sounded like she was familiar with him, from her cadence he could tell it wasn't Mary May Fairgrave, nor was it Kim Rye, and it was certainly not Jess or Tracey.

Rook brought the walkie to his mouth to respond.

"I can hear you yes, what do you need?" he responded, choosing his words carefully, hoping she would reveal herself so he didn't come off as rude that he forgot who she was.

"How are you, are you ok?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine all things considered" he replied.

"That's good to hear, speaking of hearing things, I've been hearing quite a bit about you now" the woman said.

"Really? um, thank you I guess, I'm just doing what's right" Rook replied.

"Even if it's wrong?" The woman asked.

The response caught Rook off guard, he didn't quite get what she meant by that. Something was not on the level.

"If you don't mind me asking, who is this?" Rook asked, not caring if he hurt her feelings, he needed to know who this person was.

"Faith, Faith Seed" she said.

Her response had really thrown him through a loop, there was no way that _the_ Faith Seed was personally calling him, this had to be some terrible excuse for a prank. Rook cleared his throat and waited a few seconds to regain his composure before continuing.

"Prove it" he said, summoning as much confidence as he could.

"Can you remember what happened after you attacked my flock at the water treatment plant the other day, how they gave you a little bit of bliss then they brought you to me, then we talked?" Faith asked.

He had told the sheriff and Grace about it, they would have most likely told Virgil and Tracey I'd they deemed it necessary but other then them there would have been no reason for them to share such details, upon realizing this Rook could feel his stomach drop, he was indeed speaking to Faith Seed, sister of Joseph, bane of the Henbane River.

"W-What do you want?" Rook asked, trying not to let his anxiety come through the walkie.

"I'm calling because I want to be up front with you, you deserve as much, I would like you to join me, please I want to know what it would take for you to see the error of your ways and become apart of the Father's family, I can promise you that there will be no ill will towards you if you do" Faith carried on.

"I'm sorry but there is nothing that will make me willingly change my mind and work for you" Rook said, as he did he scanned the prison's surroundings, a part of him felt like this was some sort of trap and Faith's call was just the distraction.

"No silly, you won't be working for me, you'll be working with me, with the rest of our big family" Faith cooed.

"Can I ask you a question Faith?" Rook asked, still unsure of what she was offer was actually real or some dirty trick, regardless there was no way he'd side with her.

"Why are you being so up front with me, for the past few days I've been trying to take apart what you've been doing and killing a lot of your guys, today alone I killed like, ten guys and captured a bliss factory, why would you try to give me an olive branch, John would have called me up to threaten me" Rook asked.

"Because I want to be honest with you, yes I'm a little upset that you've been taking so many lives and making things harder for me but I don't blame you, what else could you do, I know some members of my flock are more rough around the edges then others and there is no voice of reason among your band of friends but nobody's perfect, not even you or I, I'm willing to put those feelings aside because I want to show you I have nothing up my sleeves, I'm not going to stab you in the back, or sent off to my brothers, I know your capable of so much kindness, so let's work together and save as many as we can" Faith preached.

Just by the way she spoke Rook could hear the conviction, the... Faith in her words, she sounded like she actually meant what she said and was offer safe passage into her flock. It was almost refreshing all the interactions with peggies and John had been nothing but aggressive, to have Faith and her apparent friendliness was nice, sweet even, now that he could hear Faith speak while not on bliss he could she what Sharky had meant when he said he loved her voice, it was so smooth, so warm, so welcoming, he was right, she could be a singer if she tried. But what his friends back at the prison had said about Faith crept in the back of Rook's mind, about how she was a liar and a manipulator, this was how she lured flies into her web.

Rook was now entirely unsure whether or not Faith was truly genuine about her intentions.

"Look, I know your not as bad as the others, I know your not as bad as John makes you out to be, I've spoken to the few men and women you left alive over your time in here, you've had ample opportunity to kill them but you didn't, you simply rendered them unconscious, even those you have killed, I know you have them a choice, to walk away and be unharmed or stay and fight. You are the only one to ever do that, I like to believe you have some sort of compassion in your heart, please, let me help you show that same compassion to those who still struggle against us, please" Faith begged.

Rook held off on speaking for a few moments to pick his words, he knew he'd never accept what she offered but for some reason he felt compelled to let her down easy.

"Listen, Faith, I appreciate the offer... And the friendliness, it's a nice change, it really is... But I can't just look the other way on all the horrible, horrible things that have been going on here"

"Very well, if that is what you truly want" Faith said, her voice dropping, she sounded like she was actually disappointed in his response.

Rook didn't know how to respond to her statement, for some reason it bothered him a little that he had upset her a little but felt far to weird to console her, so instead he remained quiet and waited for her to bid her goodbyes.

"But perhaps this doesn't have to be the end of things?" she said, her voice picking back, sounding almost curious.

"W-What do you mean?" Rook asked.

"Joseph doesn't really like it when I try to take the relationship I have with my flock beyond what has been established but he didn't say anything about you, in fact he was the one who asked me to bring you into the family, he asked me to make you feel welcome, I can't do that if I can't speak to you, and well... I don't know about you, but I lonely quite often, I can't really make friends with my flock, even with my inner circle, and some days it's just work, work, work, it can be so stressful, I'm sure you can understand stressful job. As much as I love helping Eden's Gate, it's just one can only take so much at a time before it wears on you, you can't take break's when preparing for the collapse... " Faith spoke.

"So I was thinking maybe we could be friends, whenever I get lonely or stressed I can call you and we can talk about anything, hopefully not work related things of course and just talk to one another, like normal people, you know what I mean don't you, don't you ever get sick of it, all the fighting and yelling, when was the last time you sat down and talked to someone, and I mean actually talk to someone, about your interests, the movies you've seen, tell the jokes?"

She had a point.

The last time he had anything close to what she was talking about was the handful of time he and Nick would hit up the Spread Eagle Bar in the evening and crack a few cold ones, sure they'd shoot the shit, but it usually revolved around Eden's Gate or very recent events, and Lord knew Jess wasn't exactly a talker. Rook felt stuck at a crossroad, he knew he couldn't just say no, she essentially asking to be pen pals, but if he could get her to trust him to some degree she just might let slip some information that may very well turn the tide, hell if he played his cards right he could pull one right over Joseph himself and get Faith to switch sides, then they could get all the info they would ever need.

With his mind still made up he was still hesitant to answer, despite being the enemy, he needed to go along with what she proposed.

"Ok... Ok" Rook said nervously into the walkie.

He could hear Faith giggle lightly before responding.

"Why thank you deputy, I look forward to talking to you in the future" she said, her voice swelled a little, she truly sounded happy with his decision.

"Ben... My name is Ben" Rook said uneasily.

"Ok Ben, but I would like to start this friendship by saying I'm sorry" Faith said with a splash of seriousness in her voice.

"I'm sorry?" Rook echoed back, unsure Why would someone like her be saying sorry to someone like him after everything that has happened.

Faith giggled softly again.

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing" she said before her voice dipped a little again.

"I know my brother, John can be... Brutish, how he can be a little more rough when it comes to dealing with you and your friends, I can't imagine what that is like, to constantly be on his metaphorical dartboard like that, perhaps if you had come to my neck of the woods first then maybe things would have been different" she said.

"Who knows what could'a happened" Rook replied, he was unsure what to say again, he never expected something like this to happen, he doesn't really know where to go with the conversation, despite wanting to poke her for info, he hoped she would hang up soon as it would not look good if someone were to catch him speaking with her.

"Joseph would always say could'a, would'a, should'a are only good for stories, for fantasies, but can's and will's are for reality, for a good place into Eden" Faith replied.

"Well, as much as I would like to believe that, I would like to think that's a little closed minded" Rook said.

"There's nothing wrong with having a different opinion, but the Father believes tha-" Faith began but quickly stopped speaking and fell silent for a few seconds.

"What is it?" Faith asked, her voice seemed distant as if she pulled the walkie away from her, not only that but when she asked her question, it sounded like her voice squeaked, like she got caught doing something she shouldn't.

"You ok?" Rook asked, he was unsure how to handle this, it was obvious she was talking to someone else, but who, should he be concerned that something was happening on her end, should he even care.

The walkie was still silent, nothing came through the walkie.

"Tell him I will speak to him in a few moments, I am wrapping something up and will be done soon" her voice came.

This time Rook stayed silent in hopes of hearing more, but her end was silent once more, the silence lasted a few more seconds.

"Ben I'm sorry to say but I must depart, something has come up that requires my attention" Faith finally said.

"Is uh, everything ok?" Rook asked.

Faith didn't say anything for a few moments.

"Are you familiar with anyone named Feeney?" she asked.

"Um, sounds familiar" Rook said quickly, he hoped he didn't sound to eager for an answer.

"Well he insists we reclaim the work space you stole from him today, he would like to convince me to take it back from you, I may not be a tactical genus like my brother but even I know it wouldn't be possible to take it back, not in the short term anyways" Faith explained.

"I see… well uh, thank you for sharing that" Rook said.

He could hear Faith giggle again before responding.

"Friendship is built on trust and honesty, please, remember that as we move forward ok?" she said.

"Yeah, of course" Rook said, nodding.

"Thank you for agreeing, well as I said I must go now, thank you again for agreeing my friend, also don't get yourself hurt, and please, think about what I said Ben" Faith said before the line went dead.

Rook sat there for a few seconds, staring at the walkie talkie, before feeling a chill roll up his spine, he finally looked back up at the scenery he had been enjoying and for some reason didn't feel like staring at it until the sun completely set, instead, he placed the walkie talkie on his hip and went back inside and return to his jail cell for some much needed sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Rook awoke with a yawn, he lay there in his cot for a few moments, staring up at the cot above his before stretching in his spot, feeling every ache pain, sore, cut and bruise he accumulated over the past week, he quietly winced in pain, he wanted a nice warm bath but knew he wouldn't get one for weeks at the earliest. As much as he would love to lay in bed all day fantasizing about all the things he wanted and needed, he had to get up and make the very fantasies a reality. So he rose from his cot and rose to his full height in hopes of stretching out the all that was wrong with his body, as he did he looked up on the cot above his to discover that Jess was not there, probably off doing whatever she did when wasn't hunting prey, human or animal.

He grabbed his firearms from underneath his cot and strapped them to his person and exited his cell and leaned against the railing to look down into the command center below, he could see the sheriff as usual, shifting through the papers on the big tables while speaking to few people, most likely to give their job for the day. He would soon join the men and women in the command room but the pains in his stomach said he needed to eat. So, he descended the stairs and down to the main floor and journeyed towards the cafeteria for so much needed breakfast, he dragged his feet though the halls, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes but stopped as Tracey approached him.

"Yo, Deputy, can I talk to you for a bit?" Tracey asked, her tone of voice seemed lower, softer even, not just that but even her general appearance seemed to have been loosened.

"Uh, yeah sure, what's up?" Rook asked, a part of him was a little nervous as he was worried she had somehow caught wind of his little chat with Faith Seed last night was here to reprimand him for it.

"I just wanna talk, come on, follow me" she said, turning away from the man, gesturing for him to follow.

"Yeah you got it" Rook responded and followed her through the prison halls for a few moments before leading him into a near empty hall where Tracey sat down in an unoccupied plastic chair.

Rook sat down next to her in another plastic chair next to her.

"So, what's up?" Rook asked.

Tracey sighed before answering.

"Listen, dude, I just wanted to say I'm sorry… I'm just so used to being angry I just can't help it, it gets real stressful around here sometimes, and I'm real sick of people not pulling their weight, and Virgil's team spirit attitude can be real grating, and now I'm just rambling now… listen what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry for being such a bitch to you, you've really stepped up and done a lot for us, you've made such a big difference, the changes you've made will save so many lives. So, thank you for everything you've done, Deputy, and your edgy hunger games knockoff friend" Tracey explained.

Rook chuckled slightly at the mouthful of a name of Jess, of course if she heard the name, she wouldn't find it as funny.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I'm just doing what's right, I can't just not help innocent people in need, besides my boss is here, I doubt he would just walk away scott free" Rook replied.

"Boy, ain't you just a real boy scout" Tracey spoke.

"Hey, don't you start too" Rook said quickly.

"What?" Tracey asked, unsure of what he meant by it.

"Never mind" Rook answered.

"So last night I was told you were spearheading the whole telecoms thing, so how'd that go" Rook asked.

"Fuck dude it was rough, trying to get organized, get supplies out here, but fucking peggies in the valley got some roadblocks or whatever put up and now it's real tough to get stuff to each other" Tracey moaned, leaning back in her chair.

"To be honest, I wouldn't mind just sitting around talk to people, it sure beats the hell out of all the running and gunning" Rook said.

"If you did that, who'd keep an eye on your friend, Black, I'd doubt she'd want to sit around and doing all this planning and organizing" Tracey answered.

"Naah, she'd just run off and do her own thing" Rook responded.

"Really, are you two capable of doing your own separate things?" Tracey questioned.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, unsure of what she meant.

"You two seemed joined at the hip, you two always close to each other, hell when I spoke to people in Falls Ends, the people who knew you said you are like, always together" she explained.

"What, no were not, we usually do our own thing when we're not cult fighting" Rook responded.

"Uh-huh so, you two fucking or what?" Tracey asked.

"What!" Rook squeaked, feeling his cheeks burn a little bit.

"No way! I haven't even thought about her like that, hell I haven't even thought about woman in general like that, even if I wanted to make a move, she'd like, break my arms or something, like come on!" he said quickly in hopes of finishing his sentence and moving on from the subject.

Tracey let out a chuckle at the junior deputy, how something as little as sex would make him so flustered.

"Ok, ok, I get it calm down" She offered, smirking at the uncomfortable man.

"So, if you two aren't boning, why are you constantly together?" she asked.

"There isn't really a reason, we work good together and we realized it, so we just started rolling together, we get stuff done good" Rook surmised, the embarrassment subsiding.

"She doesn't get on your nerves, I mean all she does is shit talk doesn't she, that has to piss of someone like you off?" Tracey asked.

"Well yeah I guess yeah, maybe a little sometimes but it's not like she's a constant whirlpool of negativity, I think we can call each other friends" Rook guessed.

"Then what do you two talk about as friends then?" Tracey asked again.

Rook sat in silence for a few seconds to think of something good they talked about that didn't revolve around the cult. The thinking about his hooded friend brought forth a buried memory from yesterday morning, about how she had angrily told him that Tracey was with the cult for a time. The whole subject made the junior deputy quite curious, and a little nervous.

"Hey, so uh, instead can I ask you a question, but uh, don't take it the wrong way ok?" Rook asked.

"What, sure I guess" Tracey responded, giving Rook an odd look.

"So, well, I well, was insinuated that you kinda were a part of the cult for a bit" Rook explained.

Tracey let out a small grumpy sigh, her facial expression scrunched up into a grumpy face, Rook felt he was going to get a verbal lashing, he mentally braced himself for impact.

"Yeah" she sighed.

"Yeah I was with them for a bit"

"Wait really?!" Rook asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yeah, I was with them for a while, until I saw just what really went on in the back" Tracey said.

"Really, I can't see someone like you being a part of something like that, you know dumping bliss into water sources, dragging people off into the night, well I mean, you know what I mean right, I can't see you doing the things that the peggies are doing, hell I can't see you believing in the whole end of the world thing, you're too smart for that" he explained nervously.

"Your right, that wasn't why I joined up, I didn't care if the world was ending or not" she said.

"Then why did you join up, or how the hell did you even get out?" Rook asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Tracey was silent for a few seconds before responding.

"Keep this to yourself ok, I'm only telling you because you've really pulled us out of the fire and you've made it clear your not a complete piece of shit" Tracey said qiuetly.

"Uh yeah sure" Rook said, nodding slightly.

Tracey fell silent for a few seconds again, her eyes downcast briefly before looking back up.

"I uh, had this friend, her name was Rachel… she's gone now… we uh, we didn't have the best lives here, we had our own problems and we had our fucked-up ways of dealing with them together.. and well, to make a long story short eventually we just had enough, we packed our shit and we left the county, we went far west until we found this hippie movement, at first we didn't care about them, but then they were just so friendly and Rachel, she just loved them, they real nice, and actually gave a shit about us strangers, they didn't care about our past's or where we came from, so we rolled with them, started smoking weed and playing music, standing for what they believed in, and well… it was fun or a time"

"I don't even remember how it happened, but, next thing I knew I doing the really hard stuff, cocaine, all the bad stuff, then the next thing we knew our so called friends kicked us out of the group for going to far, for bringing everything down around us, so with no money or food, we had nowhere to go, so we did the only thing we could, we came back here, we floated around the county for a while, going from one high to another, we were completely unaware that Joseph and his fucking family had moved in, buying up all the land recruiting people into their cause, and well, with nowhere to go we joined up, they just seemed so welcoming just like the friends that kicked us out"

"Drug use was prohibited of course so Joseph himself carried us off to a little corner of his world a pumped us full of some shit that cleaned us up good, after that we just, fell in line for a time, and well… it was nice, again we found a place where people cared about us and gave us a place to stay, to live and grow, we felt like we belonged again, and Rachel just fell in love with the whole thing... and we were happy for once... Then for some reason she started acting all funny, not like herself, whatever she was doing Joseph liked, and swept her off for a higher up job. I didn't see her for a while, so I tried to find Rachel to catch up with, but the higher ups wouldn't let me, so I started looking for ways to sneak around them, but all that did was allow me to start noticing things, some real bad shit, I started calling them out as it happened hoping someone would help me, but all it did was earn me this" Tracey stopped talking to roll up her left sleeve to show the junior deputy that on her forearm, near the elbow, in crude letters spelt the word _WRATH. _Both knew what it meant, what John had done to her, she didn't need to explain.

"So anyways, I didn't let this slow me down, I kept seeing all these horrible things happen, then I started to hear how I was earning a _re-education,_ what ever the fuck that meant, nothing good that's for sure, so one night I was finally able to meet up with Rachel, she was welcoming in new recruits… I volunteered to help too… and told her all the horrible things I saw… but it was like she just didn't care, she didn't care about the horrible things that were happening to innocent people and the people within the cult itself, but she was just so, different, she was someone different… she wasn't Rachel anymore, so after that I just grabbed what little I had and ran away… Again… I tried to tell people what I had seen but they didn't give a shit, all they knew was I was with Eden's Gate and Eden's Gate was starting to cause nothing but trouble, so I just stayed low and tried to get back on my feet, but after a few weeks the shit finally hit the fan and the peggies were on us, suddenly people started caring again, I was uh… here in the prison when it first kick off, I kinda knew what to expect when it happened and planned accordingly, so people just fell in line after that, they were all scared and didn't know what to do, next thing I knew the mayor was banging on the door with a group of scared people begging for help, we told 'em they could stay as long as they pulled their weight, a while later a sheriff came banging on our door and well, you know the rest" she finally finished.

"Holy shit" Rook muttered, unaware of how grim her story truly was.

"Yeah no kidding" she mumbled back, her eyes falling to the floor again.

"Hey, I'm sorry" Rook said, readjusting in his seat.

"I'm sorry for bringing that stuff up, if I knew it was a touchy subject I would have just left it alone, I'm sorry for picking at old wounds" he offered.

"Naah it's fine, it ain't like I have anything else to talk about" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But hey, thank you for sharing this with me, I appreciate your trust in me, that must have been hard.

"Yeah, just don't go telling people, especially Black, you can't tell her either" Tracey ordered.

"Of course, I won't tell I soul" Rook said, raising his right hand to give his scout's honor.

"Ok sweet, well I gotta get back to work" she said, standing back up, Rook also stood up with here.

"Yeah me too, Whitehorse will be calling me soon anyways, I gotta get more ammo too" he responded.

"See you around then, keep up the good work dude" she muttered as she turned and walked towards the doors leading to the command room.

Rook silently nodded and walked away from their spot and headed towards where the quartermaster was, he made it a good fifteen feet before Tracey's voice called out from the other end of the hall.

"Hey Dep!" Tracey called out.

Rook turned back to the woman at the other end of the hall.

"Hurry up and deal with Faith already" She said.

Rook gave her a silent nod, he was going to say something but stopped when he saw her face, her face had contorted back up into an irritated expression, her request had been coated in venom and disgust.

She turned around and pushed open the doors that lead into the command room, disappearing from Rook's sight.

Rook also turned back and moved down the hall and headed towards the quartermaster to prepare for the day, as he made his way there made an effort to remember what she had said.

* * *

Rook walked away from the quartermaster's table, fully loaded and ready to take on the day and began to work his way back to the command center.

"Hey, hey! This thing on, can anyone hear me?" Sharky's voiced echoed from Rook's walkie talkie.

Rook pulled the walkie off his hip and brought it to his mouth, a part of him was surprised as to how he knew that using walkies was a viable option now, he doubted that Tracey or someone inside the prison actually called him to let him know.

"What's up Sharky?" he asked.

"Hey deputy badass, I don't suppose you can swing by my place, uh my playground I mean, not like the place where my mail goes too, you remember where that is right?" Sharky asked.

"Yeah I remember, is everything ok?" Rook asked.

"Uh, yeah, everything is cool, it's that just I'm a little stuck" Sharky explained.

Rook was about to speak again but stopped as he could hear someone in the background speaking on Sharky's end.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll tell 'em just hold on" he heard Sharky say to the person.

"Hey, I don't suppose you can hurry though, no rush or anything but we would really appreciate it if you were to pop up sooner or later" Sharky implored the junior deputy.

"Is someone with you?" Rook asked again, not only had he heard the voice in the background, but he had noticed that Sharky had used the phrase _we would really appreciate,_ not _I would really appreciate._

"Oh yeah right, Hurk is here with me" Sharky said.

"Hey Bro!" Hurk blurted out loud enough for his voice to carry through the walkie.

"Hey Hurk, ok guys tell you what, I'll head down to help now just sit tight" Rook said.

Rook could hear the two men voice their praise as he placed the walkie on his hip before he pulled his truck keys from his pocket, whatever the sheriff had planned for him would have to wait, Sharky and Hurk could very well be in danger and were to proud or to cocky to admit their situation. Or it could even be a trap set by peggies, he turned back around and marched out the front door of the prison, climbed into his truck and drove off to the Moonflower Trailer Park.

The junior deputy pulled up in front of the trailer park and killed the engine, then reached for his walkie he had placed in the cupholder when he first climbed into the cabin.

"Hey guys, I'm here out front" Rook said into his walkie.

He stared at the walkie for a few moments awaiting a response, but after briefly waiting, no response came.

"Son of a bitch" Rook mumbled to himself, he knew it, this was a trap.

Rook slowly climbed out of the truck and armed himself with the bow and quiver full of arrows he had left in the truck yesterday and strapped the quiver to his person and loaded an arrow into the bow before slowly creeping through the front gate, scanning the area for any foul play, but nothing stuck out, it wasn't to hard to spot his two friends as they stood motionless upon the raised platform that housed a small swimming pool in the middle of the trailer park, they were standing a few feet a part, facing each other, they where doing something with their hands, it looked as if their hands had been tied to one another, a few meters from a broken down school bus.

Hurk's head lolled to the side slightly and spotted the junior deputy slowly creeping up on them

"Yo dude!" Hurk called out nonchalantly, almost excitedly as he saw the junior deputy approach.

"Hey, what's going on?" Rook asked as quietly as he could but loud enough for the two men to hear it.

"Is the deputy here?" Sharky asked, trying to crane his head around to get a look behind him.

The junior deputy's eyes zipped around his surroundings, his friends seemed quiet casual for being apparently stuck, but something seemed up. Rook looked around for anything that looked suspicious, but nothing seemed out of place, but then again this was a pyromaniac's playground, so everything seemed out of place, if there was a sign of struggle, it was hidden under the state of disrepair the park was perpetually in. He moved closer to the two men and could see the two standing in front of each other barely two feet apart, their hands raised to chest level, palms facing down, and looked like they were pressing their fingertips onto the other.

"Where are the peggies?" Rook whispered.

"Peggies? There ain't no peggies here, dude" Sharky answered casually, not a care in the world.

"Wait seriously?" Rook asked standing up, his voice returning to a normal volume.

"Then what are you guys doing?" he asked, safely loosening the tension in his bow, placing the arrow back in the makeshift quiver and inserted his arm through the bow and hung it on his shoulder like he had seen Jess do many times before.

"Oh, y'know, just hanging around" Hurk said awkwardly as Rook approached.

Rook walked right up to the two men and could truly see their predicament, the reason why they were so close to each other with hands at chest level with their palms facing downward was because on each of Sharky individual fingers had Chinese finger traps on them, with Hurk's finger firmly locked into the other end of said traps, binding the two together.

"Oh my god" Rook moaned burying his face in his hand.

"Do I dare ask what could have possibly possessed you to do this?" he groaned, now realizing that there really was no danger.

"Ok, I know how it looks, but hear me out" Sharky said, still trying to crane his head around to see his friend.

"So this is what happened ok? Me an' Hurk were just doing our things, being awesome and lookin' cool, yada, yada, yada, Hurk starts going on about all the adventures and how he's been all around the world and going on about how he learned all these things and thought himself a huge badass, then I, an intellectual, call him out on his big fat lies as he had no proof of his claims and said he wasn't all that, so more arguing yada, yada, and it basically ends with me and him coming up with a test to see who was the bigger badass, we'd put ourselves in this situation here" Sharky explained, nodding his head down to gesture to the traps on his fingers.

"And so, the test was just who can get out of these things first, whoever did was the bigger badass… and well that was about forty-five minutes ago" Sharky sighed.

"Seriously?" Rook moaned.

"Yeah I know, ten minutes in we realized neither of us could get out and tried workin' together to get out, but we couldn't, so we basically gave up and tried to call you" Hurk stated.

Rook sighed before responding.

"Where did you even get those things?" Rook questioned, pointing at the traps.

"I actually made 'em, learned how to in high school, had to do something in detention, I can make 'em in all kinds of lengths and sizes" Sharky offered.

"Wait hold on a second, if you two have been like this for forty-five minutes, how'd you two call me a little bit ago?" Rook asked, the whole scenario dawning on him.

"We spent a while getting the walkie talkie offa Hurk's belt, but we dropped it, then we spent a while getting the one offa my belt, called you then dropped it" Sharky explained, looking down at his feet.

Rook followed Sharky's gaze to see in between Hurk and Sharky's feet was two walkie talkies lay on the ground between them.

"Yeah we kinda dropped the second one a little while after I called you, Hurk moved when he shouldn't've" Sharky explained.

"Hey, come on man, I told you I was itchy" Hurk whined.

Rook sighed in light frustration, he felt a little miffed over the whole thing, he could have been out in the county helping people right now, he should have just reported this to the sheriff and let him send someone out here to deal with it.

"Ok guys, where is a knife or something so I can cut you free?" Rook asked looking around for something sharp

"Uh yeah over there" Sharky said, nodding his off to the side, trying his best to point to the metal box on the edge of the raised platform.

Rook turned to said box to see a knife lay on the top of the box, it sat next to a few bundles of dynamite and an abundance of wiring. He quickly walked up to the box and quickly took the bow off his shoulder and placed it on the box before retrieving the knife and returned to his bound friends and brought the tip of the knife millimeters from the finger trap and was ready to plunge it in.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hurk suddenly cried.

The sudden cry startled Rook, causing him to quickly pull away the knife from the trap.

"What?" Rook asked perplexed.

"Please man… be careful ok? I need my fingers for stuff just be careful" Hurk begged.

"Seriously dude, you don't trust deputy badass here?" Sharky said.

"I got this man don't worry" Rook said as he brought the knife back up to the finger traps.

He pushed the tip into the side of the trap deep enough that if there was a finger in the way they either man would say something, once it was determined there was no fingers in the way, in one quick motion flicked the blade downward and cut the trap in half, Rook then repeated the action four more times, freeing the two men, now with their hands free they were able to pull off what ever remained on their fingers.

"Ok, so you guys are free now, I'm going to get going now" Rook said, sticking a thumb over his shoulder.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hurk started repeating rapidly while patting at the air, trying to keep the junior deputy from departing.

"What?" Rook asked, curious as to why Hurk's attitude had changed so quickly

"Ok so I kinda feel bad for draggin' you all the way out here for this lil thing and I'm sure you just wanna do yer job and like, wanna go al' Dog The Bounty Hunter on Joseph and his family, so let's make it up to you, we were kinda saving this for a rainy day, but we have something we can totally do it now" Hurk offered.

He turned to look at Sharky.

"Let's get the boat" he said confidently.

"The boat?" Rook echoed in confusion.

"What, for reals dude?" Sharky asked.

"Hell yeah, the deputy is a huge peggie eating badass, he could totally help us do the thing" Hurk responded.

"What are we doing?" Rook asked.

"I don't know dude; do you think it'll be enough, it could get real shaky, I don't got all the explosives ready" Sharky asked, rubbing his chin in deep contemplation.

"What guys, what are we doing?" Rook asked again, slightly louder.

"Fuck it, let's do it" Sharky cried, grinning madly.

"Hell yeah dude!" Hurk cheered, raising his hands over his head.

"Guys come on" Rook said again, waving his hands around, trying to get their attention.

"Right dude sorry, come on, follow us we'll explain on the way, it's a real good way to stick it them peggies" Sharky explained as he walked off the edge of the trailer park, looking down over the edge.

Rook and Hurk followed Sharky to edge of the trailer park, looking over the edge of the park, Rook forgot the park sat on the top on a hill, it was a somewhat high up but had a very light decline, from there he could see Rock Bass Lake due to the elevation of the hill they would walke down, , by Rooks estimate; it was a ten-minute walk, but also, the black smoke trail that usually signified heavy peggie activity, probably coming from an outpost, he made a mental note that it was so close to Sharky's place.

Hurk dramatically pointed a finger down at the lake.

"We're goin' swimin' boys!" he declared confidently before venturing down the hill.

* * *

The three men walked down the side of the hill towards Rock Bass Lake, casually chatting.

"Ok so here's the plan" Sharky said.

"Yesterday when Hurk was comin' on over to my place he bumped inta' your resistance dudes and he heard them mention that some of Faith's dudes have just started dumpin' a crap ton of bliss into Rock Bass Lake, and we can't just let that happen now can we? All the fish is gonna get high as shit, so will anyone who drinks from the lake, and if like, bears or us or whatever eat those drug fish then they'll get high then that's just not a fun time for anyone… And well when I set stuff on fire I really don't wanna put it out with drug water, and so, well, we've been workin' on this boat, so we were thinkin' what if we hit it ourselves, I mean we were going to do it eventually if you don't do it, so why not do it now" Sharky explained.

"Ok I see your point, that sound's really bad, we need to shut that down as so as possible, thank you for informing me about this" Rook replied.

"No probs amigo, if we wanna stop these sum bitches we gotta work together on this collab, you know what I mean dude, I'm the Bee Gee's you're Phil Collins" Sharky replied.

"Yeah I feel you, I don't really care what it is I just want to do something that will help people and push back the cult" Rook said.

"Well if you need something burned or exploded, me and my cousin can totally help" Sharky responded, sticking a thumb at Hurk.

"Wait, you two are related?" Rook asked astonished.

"Yeah bro, I'm his older cousin, my daddy is his uncle" Hurk explained.

"Shit, I never knew, I don't really see a resemblance" Rook said.

"Yeah we get that a lot, it's cool though, I got all the looks and awesomeness and what not and he got what ever was left" Hurk smirked.

"We both no that ain't true dude, just because you went around the world being a world class warrior, does not just make you better then me, I got the same amount of life experience as you an' hell, you couldn't even get out of the finger traps" Sharky said.

"What!" Hurk exclaimed in surprise.

"Sharky man you need to respect your elders' man, I got way more life experience then you and I bust way more heads then you" Hurk said, scolding his cousin.

"Just because you had one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever heard in my life; was to tape dynamite to monkey's doesn't mean that you know everything about everything" Sharky fired back, sounding a little offended at Hurk's claims, but Hurk wasted no time firing back.

"You watch your mouth, you bite your tongue and you show my chimps, that's right they are chimps you them their proper respect ok, you don't go slandering their names!" Hurk retorted back, annoyed.

"Guys, guys" Rook jumped in, hoping to defuse the situation.

"From what I've seen from both of you, you both kick ass equally good" he said.

"But I do it just a little bit better, right?" Hurk asked.

"No, he said equally, even though it's me and he doesn't want to hurt your feelings" Sharky said quickly.

"Tell you guys what, whenever we run together I'll keep a mental score of who kicks ass better and I'll tell you who did better when the cult is gone, sound good?" Rook offered.

Both men were quick to agree, then both started casually going on about how they would best the other, as quick as their bickering had started it, it had melted away into them playfully teasing each other about who would win, both now motivated, Rook hoped they would bring their A game now.

"So how much further is this boat?" Rook asked.

"We're getting actually real close, like two more minutes" Sharky said, before resuming his conversation with his cousin.

Eventually the hill flattened out with a road stretched out across it, the three men crossed the road and journeyed onward, from there the ground began to slope down at a harsher angle, now Rook could hear the sound of water lapping at a shoreline, they had to be close.

"Ok so we're just about here, hope no one touched the boat, had a lot of goodies stored away on that thing" Sharky said as he picked up speed towards the sounds of the river, Hurk and Rook met his pace and followed. As the three men drew near the riverbank they could now see the boat, it sat horizontally on the edge of the river, half on the bank and half in the river, the water lapped at the boat but was nowhere near strong enough to pull it down stream. It was the model Rook had usually see patrolling the waters, he was pretty sure he heard someone at the prison called the model a Salacia, the boat was small and could probably hold no more then six people and had a rectangular metal frame that stood in the rear of the boat by the motor and held up what looked like a M60, firmly mounted to the frame. The sides and interior had been lovingly decaled with numerous graffiti's and doodles of various colors and sizes.

"Here we are" Hurk said proudly, staring at the boat.

"Nice boat" Rook commented.

"If you like that then take a peek at this" Hurk said excitedly as he ushered him to the back of the boat.

"Tada!" Hurk exclaimed, while dramatically gesturing to the back of the boat with jazz hands.

It took Rook a second to realize that Hurk was gesturing to the name of the boat that had been hastily scrawled on the back in red spray paint, it clearly read _Cool Dudes With Tudes._

"Cool Dudes With Tudes, huh?" Rook said taking in the boat's title in slight confusion.

"Yeah man, ain't it awesome!" Hurk cried happily.

"We knew we couldn't get _Cool Dudes With Attitudes_ on the back so we had to cut it down a bit but it's still cool as shit" Sharky grinned.

"That's a good name" Rook smirked, nodding his head, just rolling with it.

"Thanks Bro, but you haven't seen the best part yet" Hurk said as he climbed into the boat and knelt down to pick something up.

"Deputy Radical, I bequeath upon you one of my deadliest weapons I have ever created, may it serve you well in the coming hour" Hurk narrated in a dramatic voice as he lifted something up off the floor of the boat and presented it to the junior deputy.

The thing that Hurk was holding out to Rook looked like a standard RPG launcher but instead of the warhead of an RPG sticking out of the end was a shovel with a smiley face spray painted onto the head of the shovel.

"What am I looking at?" Rook asked, staring at the weapon.

"This is a Drubman patented shovel launcher, this thing fires a shovel with the force of an RPG missile, and the best part is this thing is totally silent, this thing might as well be a harpoon launcher" Hurk explained.

"Holy shit… this thing is super dangerous, but it's also without a doubt is more then enough to kill anything that moves" Rook muttered in awe, almost impressed that Hurk had made such a weapon, then taking the weapon from him.

"You think that's cool, then your going to have a blast, I've been stealing shovels left and right and been storin' them for a special occasion" Hurk said as he bent back down again and struggled to lift up a large duffel bag with what looked like two dozen shovels poking out of it, barely containing the contents within the bag.

"Shit dude" Rook muttered, as Hurk placed the bag back down.

"Hey before we get going we should use like, proper protection" Sharky said.

"Wait hold on, you, Sharky, want to use safety?" Rook said, somewhat surprised at Sharky's proclamation.

"Well yeah dude, just this once, almost every boat in the county has a big goddamn gun strapped to it, one shot from that and your gonna lose a limb or somethin" Sharky said.

"Ok I see your point, so what's your idea of protection?" Rook asked.

"These" Sharky replied as climbed into the boat and bent down briefly to pick up a Kevlar vest off the boat's floor and slipped into it.

"Wadiya think?" Sharky asked, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest, all the while smiling proudly.

Rook could see why he was enjoying the vest as in bright red letters were the words _BURN BABY BURN_ in bright red spray paint, the three words covering the front of his vest.

"Nice, I dig the tag but how will that protect the limbs?" Rook asked.

"Well uh, don't worry about that and just hope the vest takes it for dude" Sharky grinned, giving the junior deputy a shrug.

Before Rook could respond Hurk spoke up.

"Don't worry we got one for you too" Hurk huffed as he climbed out of the boat with the vest in hand.

Rook gently put the shovel launcher onto the ground so he may be able to put on the vest, Hurk himself now also wearing a Kevlar vest that clearly read _B.D.E._

He smirked a little and took the Kevlar vest from him and held it out to see what was written on it, just like on the back of the boat, in red spray paint, crudely written was the message; _Lamb In The Streets Sinner In The Sheets._

"I'm not wearing this" Rook said wholeheartedly as he shook his head.

"Oh, come on it's fuckin' funny, it took me like ten minutes to think of that" Hurk moaned.

"I can't wear this, if my friends see me in this they'll get the wrong idea about me, you seriously have nothing less… Audacious?" Rook asked.

"Sorry dude, only one left" Hurk shrugged.

Rook sighed before putting it on.

"Ok fine let's just do this" Rook muttered.

"Sweet, now help me push this thing into the water" Hurk said as he returned to the back of the boat while Sharky climbed in and got behind the steering wheel.

Rook silently nodded and placed the shovel launcher in the boat before the two men pushed the boat in to the water, then the two men climbed in, Sharky started up the boat and sailed up the river.

* * *

The boat carried the three men down river down towards Rock Bass Lake. Rook had stood crouched on the front of the boat, keeping an eye out for any peggies, Sharky had gotten behind the wheel and only referred to himself as _Helmsman,_ as Hurk climbed into the rectangular frame and maned the M60 in a standing seat, he estimated it was only five minutes but was obviously wrong as it took almost ten to break out of the river and enter the edge of the lake, from there Rook could see just what they were getting into, the lake was smaller then he expected as Rook could see the entire lake from the mouth of the river, a few islands floated in the center of the lake; a handful of trees grew upon them. A few of bridges stretched across the edges of the lake and connected to a very large island in the corner of the lake, but no other boats sat in the lake.

"So where are the peggies?" Rook yelled over the boats motor.

"There here somewhere, I can feel it" Hurk yelled back from his standing seat and raised his hand to his brow to block the sunlight from entering his eyes to get a better look of the lake, he puffed out his chest and hooked a thumb behind his belt buckle, doing his best to strike a power pose.

"You sure dude, I don't see anything either" Sharky yelled.

"Let's do a lap around the edge of the lake and see what we can find" Rook ordered.

"You got it captain!" Sharky yelled enthusiastically as he pulled down on the wheel and steered the boat towards the edge of the river before pulling on it again, turning the boat ninety degrees and skirting the edge of the river.

The boat sailed along the edge of the lake; the trio made it halfway around the lake before Sharky spoke up.

"Yo Hurk, you sure that info was right?" he yelled.

"Wha- yeah I'm sure, Peggies dumping crap in Rock Bass, that's what I heard" Hurk retorted.

"Are you sure you didn't mishear it, you sure they didn't say Rock Base, not Rock Bass?" Rook asked.

"What! no way, peggies are in th' water I know it" Hurk retorted.

"Should I still do laps around the lake?" Sharky asked.

"Yes, keep going around!" Rook yelled back, making a circular motion with his index finger.

"This whole region is called the Henbane _River_ right, so let's just do a quick up and down the river and see what we can see" rook offered.

"Sounds good to me dude, got nothing else planned for today, well besides workin' on my flamethrower!" Sharky yelled.

"I don't care what we do, as long as I'm rockin' it with my bros I'm cool, let's go!" Hurk hollered enthusiastically.

"Alrighty, let's head for that opening!" Rook ordered, pointing towards an opening in the lake that fed into another river that went deeper into the Henbane.

"You got it Captain; the Helmsman is changing course!" Sharky said happily as he turned the wheel and headed for the river mouth.

As the three sailed towards the river mouth, a singular boat lazily floated out of the river's mouth, from what Rook could see, the boat was the same if not near identical to the boat they were in, mounted M60 and all, a few blurry figures moved about the boat, he was unsure whether or not they were friendly.

Hey, you guys see that?" Rook cried, pointing at the boat.

"Hell yeah I do, wanna get closer?" Sharky asked.

"Yeah let's do it, Hurk get ready to fire just in case!" he ordered.

With that, Sharky took the boat closer to the other boat, pulling down on the throttle, slowing their speed so they could properly approach the other boat and as they did the people on the other boats began to scurry about on their small boat.

"Hey, you them peggies dumping shit in the water?!" Hurk yelled, cupping his hands over his mouth to make himself louder.

"Hurk, come on!" Rook scolded, he wished Hurk kept some sort of element of subtlety.

But the response they received was nothing more then angry yelling come from the other boat despite the roar of the motors, the three could clearly see that the other boat had three peggies aboard.

"Hurk open fire, Shark make us some space!" Rook shouted.

"Let's make some noise!" Hurk cheered as he lined up the M60 on the approaching peggies before opening fire as Sharky pulled up on the throttle and wrenched the steering wheel causing the boat to do a hard U-turn.

The heavy fire Hurk produced caused the peggie gunship to also swerve and try to move around the fire, but Hurk kept the heat on, but did not last long as a peggie in the gunner position returned fire with his gun, causing Hurk to instinctively duck down, causing his aim to suffer.

"Careful up there, dude!" Sharky yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, keep th' boat steady!" Hurk yelled back.

As Hurk tried to line up his shot again, the peggie gunship suddenly shot forward in a burst of speed, in an attempt to close the distance between the two boats all the while firing upon the three men.

"Pedal to the medal, Sharky!" Rook yelled as he slowly worked his way to the back of the boat and grabbed a hold of the metal frame that held up Hurk and the large gun, he held on with one hand and with the other pulled the pistol of his leg and fired at the incoming peggies.

With the junior deputy also firing back, it prompted a single peggie to stagger his way to the front of the boat and also shoot at his enemies with an AK-47, neither man could land a decent hit on the other, bullets missing by a few feet.

"You got it!" Sharky yelled as he pushed the boat's throttle to the max and sped the boat up.

With both boats moving at top speed, the peggie boat chased the three men around the lake in large ovals, firing upon each other, the waves hitting the boats, and constant veering to dodge bullets made it increasingly hard for one to land a hit on the other, occasionally Hurk or the peggie gunner would whip their gun around just right and a small hail of bullets would plink off the side of their boats.

"Hey dude, use the shovels!" Hurk finally yelled over his gunfire.

"Right!" Rook returned, he had forgotten he had the launcher and picked up off the floor of the boat.

"Ok let's see what this thing can do" Rook muttered to himself as he dropped to one knee and lifted the shovel launcher onto his shoulder and tried to line up a shot, he could see the man standing on the very front of the boat, firing separately at the trio with an automatic rifle.

When Rook felt his aim was good enough he squeezed the trigger, a part of him hoped the launcher wouldn't just explode in his hands, put instead a dull whoosh emitted from the launcher and the shovel inside flew out silently like an arrow from a bow and sailed through the air and towards the enemy, put the flying shovel fell short, sinking into the lake's depths.

"Aim higher dude!" Rook heard Hurk yell.

Rook silently agreed and reached over to the large duffel and yanked out another shovel and maneuvered it towards the mouth of the launcher and shoved it in.

"Ok, round two" Rook muttered to himself as he lifted the launcher onto his shoulder again and aimed it much higher and sent a few moments lining up a shot on the same man, he sat there and waited, feeling the boats juking and the waves rocking the boats and waited for the for the right time and watched the man dip in and out of his retical and felt a small pattern open up before him, the enemy boat would move left then right then even out to fire accurately, as the peggies juked to right and estimated where they would be when they lined up again then squeezed the trigger again.

The shovel soared through the air gracefully over the water and right towards the enclosing peggie gunship and slammed into a peggie square in the chest sending him flying backwards and off the back of the ship in one quick moment, Rook wasn't sure if the shovel just knocked the man over and his boat's speed just threw him back or if the launcher was just that powerful, regardless, the meatal shovel head slammed into his torso, the man was as good as dead.

"Holy monkey gods in heaven, you see that?!" Hurk cheered excitedly.

"This thing is insane" Rook thought to himself, in awe over what exactly he was holding.

"Look at those bastards, they're real scared now!" Hurk cheered.

Rook focused in on the peggies on the boats, he could exactly see their faces, but they were moving more erratically now, but it didn't matter as the peggie in the gunner seat was still firing away and was getting dangerously close.

"Ok I think we can take them!" Rook yelled before carefully pulling out another shovel and loaded it into the launcher.

"Man, we are bad ASS fella's you see that, we're a bonafide unit, nothin' can stop us now!" Sharky cheered.

"Oh shit, Bros, look!" Rook heard Hurk yell, he looked up to see the man had released a single hand of the M60 and pointed back to the river mouth they intended to enter, and to his and Hurk's dismay, three more boats, obviously peggies come out of the mouth and begin their pursuit.

"Aw dammit was that me, did I just jinx us? My bad dudes!" Sharky sheepishly apologized.

"Aw shit, guys we got to get out of here!" Rook cried, lowering the launcher off his shoulder.

"What, what's going on?!" Sharky asked, to focused on not getting peppered with bullets.

"Three more peggie gunships, we need to leave!" Rook yelled again.

"Fuck! Say no more amigo!" Sharky yelled as he wrenched the wheel again and turned the boat, so it sped towards the river mouth they had first came from.

The three new gunships turned to the Deputy's direction before increasing speed and began firing with their mounted guns.

"Hey, I don't know about you, but I think we should call it a day and head back to land!" Sharky yelled.

"Sounds good to me!" Rook shouted back

A halo of bullets pummeled the side of the boat, many simply bounced off while others sunk into the boat, putting holes into the boat.

"Shit bros, things are getting a lil' hot!" Hurk yelled as more bullets hit the metal hull.

"Yeah, we need a real plan, I gotta slow down a lot if we wanna get through the river safely!" Sharky yelled.

"We're heavily outgunned, I don't suppose you guys got like, some sort of fire explosion thing we can use?!" Rook asked.

"Na'ah man, we left the ol' rocket launcher and flamethrower back at the trailer park right before we tested to see who was better!" Sharky returned.

"Wait!" Hurk suddenly shouted.

"Shark, did you eat hot dogs recently?!" he asked.

"What, uh yeah man, sorry if you were saving 'em for a rainy way" Sharky replied.

"Dep, look in the box!" Hurk yelled, pointing down to a small metal ammo box at the base of the metal frame that supported the M60 and Hurk, the box slid a few feet with every jerk of the boat.

Rook quickly stole a glance back at the enemy boats that fired at him before dropping the shovel launcher then stomped over to the box, but the intense jerking of the boat caused by Sharky trying to evade enemy fire caused the junior deputy to fall over, hitting the ground with a thud, as he pushed himself to his hands and knees, as he did he could see the metal box in the corner of his vision. He reoriented himself and grabbed the box and hastily ripped the lid open to reveal it was packed with a dozen or so sticks of dynamite.

"Hey man, there's dynamite in there and not hot-dogs right?" Hurk asked nervously.

"Yeah we got explosives, I need a lighter though" Rook shouted back.

"There should be one in there" Hurk yelled, trying to line up a shot with the M60.

Rook dug around in the box, pushing dynamite and ketchup packets around, for a few moments before finding a silver lighter.

"Got it!" Rook yelled as he then pulled the lighter and a stick of TNT and light the fuse, he held onto it tightly and watched the fuse sizzle down a few millimeters before turning towards the pursuing boats and threw it at the closet one as hard as he could.

The dynamite sank into the water just as the first shovel had, Rook stared at it intently waiting for it to explode but was quickly swallowed up as the boat drove directly over where it submerged, he was about to write it off as ineffective and obtain another stick but then suddenly the dynamite exploded, launching the back end of the peggie boat up, the amount of speed the boat was generating combined with the explosion in the back was more then enough capsizing the vessel, and showered down a spray of water on the two peggies that swam out from underneath the boat, desperate to catch their breaths. The gunboats behind them blew past them, more interested in stopping the sinners then recover their allies.

"Dude that was fuckin' awesome!" Hurk cheered.

"Let's hope I can do it again!" Rook yelled back as he fished out another stick of dynamite and lit the fuse, like before he waited a few seconds to run down the few before throwing it as hard as he could, the stick flew through the air and splashed down into the lake but the gunships were to far back and saw the stick go into the water, the gunships maneuvered themselves around the area where it landed, the dynamite detonated behind them safely.

"Oh, come on!" rook growled in frustration.

He needed a plan, the _had_ to slow down when they made it to the river's opening to traverse it safely, but if they did they would be torn apart by high caliber weapons.

"Ok I have an idea!" Sharky hollered.

"What you got?!" Rook returned.

"What if we just don't slow down when we get into the river?!" Sharky suggested.

"Then we'd just beach the boat" Rook Yelled.

"But we'd be on land" Sharky countered.

Rook was about to give his rebuttal but what Sharky had said made him pause, he had a point in a way, sure they'd be on land and could be able to retreat inland but could they even clear the distance and get behind the trees before the peggies were on them, could they even beach the boat without horribly flipping it, Rook snapped his head around to see where the boat was sailing, obviously it was sailing right for the river the came from, but what he wanted to see was the terrain of the riverbank, it was a smooth incline or rocks, dirt, and grass. Sharky's idea wasn't completely out of the question.

"Dep!?" Hurk yelled nervously, wanting an answer, his cover fire could only do so much.

Rook paused for a few more seconds, trying to go over all his options.

"Amigo!?" Sharky yelled, also nervous, at this time they drew quite close to the river's mouth, they would pass through it in thirty seconds, tops.

"Shit, ok, do it!" Rook finally yelled and held on to the metal frame with both hands as tightly as he could, he pressed against it, screwing his eyes shut.

"Ight, brace for impact!" Sharky yelled as they sailed towards the river mouth.

"Oh sweet merciful monkey gods of righteousness, please guide your apostles of badassness to the path of safety and if you really want guide us to the path of pizza pockets" Hurk nervously prayed the sides of the river closed in quick making turning the boat very tricky.

The narrow straight line of the river was coming to an end very soon as the river bended very slowly into a ninety-degree angle, and soon to be where they will dock at the speed they moved, they be on land in seconds.

"Hold on to yer butts!" Sharky yelled, he tighten his grip on the wheel and leaned back into his seat and braced for impact.

* * *

The boat slammed into the riverbank, the sheer speed allowed the boat to hop up onto dry land, sliding a good fifteen feet inland, despite the momentum, the initial impact caused the boat, the upward lift generated caused everything except the three men to become airborne briefly, a few odds and ends flew off the back of the boat. If the men had not braced for impact, they surely would have been thrown off.

Rook reached up and grabbed the metal frame; the boat beaching had caused him to stagger then slammed him hard into the metal frame, crushing the oxygen out of him, causing him to fall to the floor, but thankfully the Kevlar vest had absorbed most of the blow so he wasn't it a lot of pain. The Junior Deputy began to carefully stand up.

"Everyone still alive?" He wheezed.

"I think so" he heard Sharky moan as he shifted in his seat, adjusting the off-kilter baseball cap on his head, and slowly rose to his feet.

"Hurk, you still good?" Sharky asked aloud.

The two men sat in relative silence awaiting a response that never came.

"Hurk?" Rook asked a little louder now, shifting is gaze up at the gunners seat to see the man was able to keep himself inside the boat but was slumped over the M60, motionless.

Rook unsteadily rose to his feet and staggered over to the man, with one arm he leaned against the metal frame to catch his breath, while using the other to grab a handful of Hurk's pant leg and gave it a few good pulls.

"Hey Hurk, are you ok buddy?" Rook asked, looking for up at the man, concerned.

"But Ma, I don't wanna go'da Garry's" he mumbled, as he limply stirred in his standing seat.

The engines in the distance grew louder, causing Rook to steal a glance in their direction, he could see that the peggies had slowed they're boats to a near stop so they could safely enter the river one by one and would be a upon them in less then a minute

Rook turned back to the collapsed man.

"Hurk buddy, you gotta get up, the bad guys are coming" Rook said, shaking his pant leg again.

Hurk slowly sat up, moaning.

"Ughhh, I don't feel so good, Mister Stark"

"Come on dude, you gotta walk it off, we need to go" Sharky warned. The motors of the Peggie gunships drew dangerous close now.

Since Rook had found Hurk wrapped around the large gun, he could only assume the butt of said gun had buried itself into Hurk's stomach at the very least, he could have very well hit his head on the gun as the Butt's impact would have mostly likely made him double over to protect his stomach, sure he had the Kevlar on put it wasn't a suit of armor.

"Ugh, I feel like a I fell of an elephant again" he moaned as he slowly slipped out of the gunner's position and shambled towards the front of the boat, then bent down to pick up the shovel launcher that miraculously stayed in the boat and hoisted it over his shoulder.

"Let's rock and roll, Bros" Hurk said as looked back at his friend and cousin.


	14. Chapter 14

"Let's rock and roll, Bros" Hurk said, looking at his friend and cousin.

"Sweet let's roll!" Sharky cried as he jumped of the boat and onto the ground on uneasy legs for a few seconds before finding his land legs.

"Hurk, you ok to move?" Rook asked, looking at his friend before flicking back to the river to see the approaching gunships, if they had not beached the boat so far into land and into the treeline then they would be fired upon.

"Yeah dude, let's get outta here" he said before also disembarking the boat, stumbling slightly when he hit the ground, the shovel launcher throwing off his balance.

Rook swiftly followed Hurk off the boat and the three men jogged in land, deeper into the treeline.

"Yo, amigos follow me I know where to go" Sharky called out.

"Hey what's the plan, where are we going?" Rook asked.

"We head up there" Sharky replied. pointing forward, ahead of them thirty or so feet was the base of a hill that gradually stretched up to ground level.

"My trailer park is up there in that direction" Sharky said.

You sure, Shark?" Hurk wheezed running out of stamina.

"Isn't it lik' ov'r there" he wheezed pointing up to the left.

"What no dude, it's up there" Sharky responded pointing up to the right.

The two bickered for a few seconds on the location of the trailer park then as the three men reached the bottom of the hill suddenly a chunk of tree near the Junior Deputy exploded, causing the three men to duck down instinctively, heavy machine gun fire filled the air, bullets slamming into the surrounding trees, the heavy guns cutting down the skinnier trees and blowing chunks out of the bigger ones. The peggies had finally caught up to them and open fired on the forest.

"Aw shit they found us!" Hurk yelled, as he moved as fast as he could in a crouched position with the heavy-duty weapon on his person.

"Guys come on, almost there!" Rook cried, gesturing towards up the hill, trying to shepherd them up the hill.

Hurk made some grunt of affirmation then sucked in some air before doing his best to move forward up the hill

"Time to make like a tree and leaf boys" Sharky cried nervously as he also trudged up the hill.

The machine guns rattled on, firing into the woods, angry shouting from the peggies could barely be heard as it was masked under the gunfire. The sounds of trees splintering, and cracking got further and further away as the men got further and further up the hill, Rook could hear his friends mutter curses and other phrases as they trudged up the hill, after what felt like forever they made it to the top.

"Oh, thank god" Sharky huffed as the three men made it to the top of the hill.

"Oh man, I think we made it!" Hurk huffed as he looked over his free shoulder to look down the hill, the machine gun fire ceased but the angry yelling didn't, they could hear the peggies yelling from down below, and by the sounds of things they might be working their way up the hill.

"Let's make sure they don't follow us and keep going" Rook suggested, while wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Shit Bro, can't we take a lil break first?" Hurk breathed, taking the launcher off his shoulder and buried its head into the ground and leaned against it to catch his breath.

"Nu'uh amigo, we gotta keep going, if they catch up I got no gun and you got one shot, we can't let Dep do all the work" Sharky retorted.

"But he's a badass, he can get 'em no probs" Hurk said.

"You know Hurk, if you keep soldiering on, you'll earn some badass points" Rook said, trying to motivate his friend into moving forward.

"Aw sheit, you got me alright let's go" he said, picking up the launcher again before moving forward.

"Onward and upward and all that" Sharky said as he followed his cousin, satisfied with his work Rook also moved forward to catch up with his friends and worked their way deeper into the woods.

* * *

The three men ventured for a time, moving forward trying to find a road or any signs to get their bearings, to kill time until then Hurk and Sharky bantered with one another, telling jokes and dumb stories, Rook would have joined in but was to anxious from the gunships and was nervous that they would run into something unfriendly.

"You know I keep finding myself in this exact scenario more and more in the past few days, and I'm getting sick of it" Rook muttered to himself, to take his mind off the walk he tuned back into the conversation his two friends were having.

"So anyways, I tells her I may not be rich like my auntie or world renown like my cousin but I got th' biggest piss bottle collection you could imagine, takes up a whole closet, I'm like contributing to the community, Y'know, helping drug addicts pass drug tests" Sharky explaining the finale of his story.

"But for some reason she didn't really think that was cool or something because she just walked away at that point, and I was like come on lady" he pouted.

"Yeah that's how woman are dude, they are a bizarre yet tantalizing creatures" Hurk replied.

"Do I dare ask what your talking about?" Rook asked, jumping into the conversation.

"Na'ah, you ain't missin' much" Hurk said.

"So how much further do you think we are to like, anything?" Sharky asked.

"I don't know, a lot of this county is forest, so who knows" Rook surmised, he brought his hand up to his brow to block the sunlight from his eyes to get a better look of their surroundings, unsurprisingly it was just more of the same, grass, trees, and shrubs and an occasional hill.

"Man, I shoulda brought some water or something" Hurk moaned.

"Hey, tell you want, let's get up there and see what we can see?" Rook offered pointing to the small ten-foot hill thirty feet in front of them.

"Yeah sure dude" Hurk said before the three men moved towards the hill and climbed up it.

From the top of the hill they could see what one would usually see in a forest, but what really stood out to the three men was a single piece of land one hundred feet away, two white panel houses, the first building was quite large and had a very simple pointed roof, on one side of the building had two white pergolas attached to it just like the Jessop Conservatory, the pergolas was around fifteen feet and on the other end connected to another building, like the building before, this building was white paneled and had a pointed roof but the first building was large and box like, the second building was more squat and rectangular, a concrete pathway tracked through the pergola and stretched across into the other side of the estate ground. Many waist high cobblestone walls were intermittently spread along the estate, sectioning off pathways. Several small patches of bliss grew potted plants of and small trees were scattered along the estate grounds to make the feel more welcoming, but what was so not so welcoming was that peggies meandered around the estate, many peggies with AR patrolled the area while others made various repairs to the place, re-shingling the roof, washing the buildings windows, trimming bushes and tending to the potted plants, the place was void of any graffiti or anything thing to signify that the peggies had taken the place.

"Told you we were going the wrong way" Hurk pouted.

"Shit dude, you got me there, scratch one off ol' sharky's scorecard" Sharky replied.

"Well let's get out of here dudes, today was a bust" he said before got up to walk away with Hurk slowly rising to leave as well.

"now hold on a minute guys" Rook said quickly, trying to keep the two men from leaving.

"What' up?" Sharky asked, looking back down at the Junior Deputy.

"Look at the peggies" Rook said, pointing back at the estate.

"Yeah I see 'em" Sharky said looking at the buildings.

"Look what their doing, they're taking care of the place, they're doing maintenance on the place, why would they do that, they usually don't care about the places they take over" Rook explained.

"I don't know maybe they just really like the place?" Hurk shrugged.

"But what if there doing it for a specific reason, what if something is in there?" Rook deducted.

"Well yeah maybe something great is in there, but it could be just a waste of time, y'know what isn't a waste, finding out how many cold ones we can knock" Hurk grinned.

"What no, I can't just abandon this, I need to find out, listen, you guys don't have to stick around for this, you two can totally go home if you want, but I wanna get to the bottom of this, but if you do wanna stick around then I would greatly appreciate the help" Rook said.

"Now just hold on a minute there, Dep" Sharky interjected.

"You think we're just gonna bail on a bro, then you thought wrong" Sharky grinned as we walked back over to Rook and crouched back down next to the man.

"Hell, yeah man, let's do this!" Hurk smirked, as he placed down the launcher to crouched down to the two men.

"So, what's the plan Bros?" he asked.

* * *

"OK so everyone got the plan?" Rook asked his friends.

"Yes sir" Sharky said, giving Rook a mock salute.

"You know it Bro" Hurk smirked.

"Alright let's move out then" Rook nodded, before he turned towards the estate with the two men in tow.

The three worked their way down the hill and towards the estate, crouched to avoid detection, as they approached the picket fence on the edge of the property, they could hear peggies giving orders to each other, but nothing stood out to the Junior Deputy as the orders where just generic construction orders. With their voice in close proximity, Rook withdrew his silenced pistol just in case they were spotted, in front of them was a small white picket fence stretched across the edge of the land beyond that was the long squat house and a small shed, past that, fifteen feet away was the first cobblestone wall. A concrete pathway cut through all the barriers and straight into the heart of the property.

The three men got right up to the picket fence and pressed themselves up against it, keeping low and out of site, they sat there motionless for a few seconds and listened for anything that would denote a peggie suspected something was up, once Rook decided it was safe, he poked his head up and looked around to take in his surroundings.

From what he could see no one was looking in their general directions the working peggies were too focused on their tasks to notice and the patrolling peggies patrol routes were stretched to thin, allowing the three men to sneak in.

"Alright gents, it's go time" Rook whispered once he decided it was safe to move.

Then the three men quickly hopped over the fence and quickly scurried towards the cobblestone wall.

"Oh shit, I'm getting my shuffle on" Sharky whispered excitedly.

"Shh" Rook shushed the pyromaniac as they made it safely to the cobblestone wall.

The three men dropped down lower to be completely hidden behind the wall, again, they waited a few seconds to listen for any hostile yelling and once they decided it was safe, Rook slowly lifted himself up to take a look at his surrounding, he could see a small set of concrete stares that led up to the pathway to the pergolas, a few peggies wandered about, applying a coat of white paint to the side of the large main building, pulling weeds from the ground and patrolling the area.

A single peggie with a shotgun stood by an open top well that sat in a far corner of the property, from what Rook could see, the peggie had they're back to them, female, and alone and looking down into the well.

"Hurk, up here" Rook whispered.

With that, Hurk slowly poked his head over the wall.

"See the lady by that well at eleven O'clock?" Rook asked.

"Yeah, I see her" Hurk responded.

He turned to Hurk who sat on his left and gave him a silent nod, causing Hurk to in turn give him a silent nod before placing the shovel launcher down then the two men scampered off down the length of the wall and went as far left as they could, with the, in place, Rook could follow through with the next step of his plan. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rock he had collected just before they moved in a threw it in between the wall they hid behind and where the peggie with the shotgun stood.

The impact the rock made with the concrete walkway with a dull clack, it was more then enough to get the woman's attention, she turned to investigate, taking a few steps forward then stopped and stared, trying to figure out what had happened, after a few moments the woman deduced the sound was just her imagination and began to return to her post but stopped as she heard some sort of whistling sound, it wasn't a bird or animal, whatever it was, it wasn't normal. She turned back again to try to focus in on the sound, after a few seconds of listening, she deduced it was coming from the other side of the cobblestone wall.

Hurk, who sat crouched behind the wall, with Rook behind him, was making some sort of whistling noise, drawing the woman closer, once the woman's footsteps could be heard, Hurk stopped whistling and scampered back down the wall towards his cousin, but stopped after moving a few meters and Rook took his place at the end of the wall.

Just as the woman was about too reached the end of the cobblestone wall, Sharky, in one quick motion, stood up and threw a rock at the woman's general direction, the rock flew right by her and hit the ground behind her. The sound of the rock hitting the ground startled the woman, causing her to quickly spin around to see what had happened behind her, with that Rook jumped up and wrapped his arm around the peggies neck and pulled her down behind the wall, the movement caused the woman to drop her shotgun and bring her hands up to try to pry whatever strangled her off her throat, she scratched and clawed at the Junior Deputy's arm, all the while silently wheezing and choking before succumbing to the oxygen deprivation and blacked out, going limp in Rook's arms.

"Holy shit dude, you're like a super splinter cell agent" Hurk whispered excitedly.

"Keep your voice down" Rook advised his friend as he carefully readjusted his grip on the unconscious woman and slowly carried her back and placed her against the base of the wall so none of her friends would notice her from their side, while Rook did this, Hurk retrieved the dropped shotgun and followed the deputy back to Sharky and handed his cousin the firearm.

"Radical" Sharky smirked, taking the gun.

"OK ready for phase two?" Rook whispered.

Both men quietly agreed, Hurk carefully picked up his launcher and the three men slowly moved along the right side of the wall and towards the long squat house. Luckily a door was located right by the cobblestone wall, a very small pergola acted as an awning over the door, Rook signaled his friends to hang back and wait as he investigated, he slowly approached the door and wiggles the door knob, the knob wiggled freely, signalling that it was unlocked. Rook now turned the knob fully and slowly pushed open the door and peered in, the interior was rustic and cozy, the walls were lined with bunkbeds and small dressers, metal struts supported the roof, several rugs were scattered along the hardwood floor on the far side of the building was a door that clearly led to the outside, there was another door on the left most wall in between to bunkbeds.

Rook turned back to his friend, crouched at the wall, clutching their weapons to their torsos, they looked back at him with wide eyes and watching the Junior Deputy, awaiting orders. So, he raised a hand to wave them over, the two men wasted no time a quickly clearing the gap between them and the three entered the building.

With the three men now in the building Rook slowly closed the door behind them, causing Sharky and Hurk to breath sighs of relief.

"Oh, thank god we're in a chill out spot" Hurk breathed, standing up.

"Yeah man that was intense, I don't know how you do it Dep" Sharky said at normal volume, also standing up.

"Let's just keep a lid on things and still keep quiet" Rook said, speaking a little louder, but not at normal volume, also standing up.

"So, know what we do now?" Hurk asked at normal volume, not following the Junior Deputy's instructions.

"Now, we try to work our way over to that big house across the way and use it as a place to start our sneak attack" Rook surmised.

"But it's so big though an' there's only th' three of us" Sharky said.

"But if we get the big place then they'll think there's more of us right?" Hurk asked.

Rook was about to reply but was distracted by a small creaking noise softly emitted from the other side of the room, since no one had moved so it couldn't have been them, so Rook turned to face the source of the of the noise, but what he saw caused him to gasp.

"What's up dude?" Hurk asked looking at Rook then off to what he was looking at, causing him to gasp as well.

At the other end of the cabin, was a single peggie was staring at them, his eyes as wide as saucers, frozen in fear, he was a few feet away from a bunk bed with disheveled bed sheets and ten feet from the door on the far side of the room, the man must been sleeping in the bed and the men's banter had woken him up and once he realized what was happening must have tried to sneak out, but the creaky hardwood floor gave him away.

"Hey there, let's be calm" Rook said, clearly afraid of the whole thing going sideways.

Rook raising his hands up to show the peggie he was unarmed.

"Let's just talk-" began to say but was cut off as the man finally moved again, but to Rook dismay, the man bolted towards the door and slammed into it, causing the door to swing open, allowing the man to get outside and started screaming for help.

"So much for the silent approach!" Sharky cried in fear.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rook said over Sharky and Hurk who were now starting to freak out.

"Hurk, keep your launcher on the door!" Rook ordered pointing at the open door the peggie had run out of.

"Uhh yeah Bro sure!" Hurk said, getting down on one knee and training it on the open door.

By now several angry yelling of peggies could be heard from outside

Rook ran up to a window and pressed his back against the wall directly left of the window and pulled the AK-47 of his back.

"Sharky, get over here" Rook ordered.

"You got it amigo" Sharky replied as he ran up to the window and pressed his back onto the wall on the immediate right of the window.

"Ok uhh, here's the plan, you smash the window with the shotgun and then I'll shot like crazy" Rook explained nervously.

"Alright dude, here goes nothin" Sharky said as he raised his shotgun up and brought the butt of the gun through the window, shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces, then immediately pulled back to allow the Junior Deputy to seamlessly take his place and begun firing sporadically, the sudden gunfire clearly spooked the peggies as several scared screams could be heard outside, but a little further off commanding yells that carried orders could be heard, the fear of harm or death must have bolstered a few braver peggies.

"OK gents, things might get a little rough!" Rook cried

Before anyone could respond a peggie jumped into the door frame, machete in hand, screaming as loud as he could.

The second a peggie stepped through the door, Hurk squeezed the trigger and fired the shovel, the shovel shot out of the launcher with the speed of a bullet and shot straight into the peggies chest, the man let out some guttural noise as he was knocked back. The act of the peggie getting knocked back by the shovel caused every other peggie who saw it yelp in confusion as to just what the sinners were capable of.

"Holy shit that's still awesome!" Hurk cheered.

Rook was about to tell Hurk to now get away from the door but was cut off as a hail of bullets rained in through the doorframe, causing Hurk to drop the launcher and diving to the left, towards his friends.

"Ho-ly shit they are pi-ssed!" Hurk yelled as he crawled towards his friends before rising to his feet again and threw himself against a wall.

"Sharky can you get the door?" Rook asked pointing at the open door.

"You got it boss" Sharky said as he ran to the side of the door and pressed himself against the doorframe and slowly poked his head out to get a better look at the opposition but had to quickly pull himself back in as another hail of bullets slammed into the to the other side of the frame.

"Ok Hurk we gotta get you a gun!" Rook said, sticking his gun out of the window and fired again.

"Fuck yeah man, load me up!" Hurk responded.

The sounds of a few shot gun blast filled the air as Sharky gave return fire.

"So how are we getting out of this?" Hurk asked nervously.

Then door they had entered the building through suddenly flew open, the door hit the wall with a loud bang, causing the three men to look take a quick look at the door.

There in the doorway stood two peggies, both carried SMG's and charged into the building, unfortunately since Sharky was at the other end of the room, he was in the peggies direct line of sight.

One of the men raised their SMG's to Sharky and pulled the trigger, firing a burst of bullets and slammed into Sharky causing him to fall over, slumping against the wall, coughing and sputtering before falling still.

"Holy shit Sharky!" Hurk and Rook cried over there fallen friend.

Rook _needed_ to remove the peggies from the cabin, he had to get to Sharky and help him even though he was hit with a few bullets in the torso, he raised his AK to one peggie and fired, dropping him instantly, instead of letting go of the trigger and readjust his aim on the second man, he kept holding the trigger and turned the AK towards the second man, putting dozens and dozens of bullet holes into the wall behind the peggie and into the peggie himself as he had no way of protecting himself.

With both men gone, Rook ran to Sharky's side and dropped to his knees to tend to his friend.

"Holy shit, dude, can you hear me?" Rook asked quietly, placing two fingers on Sharky's neck, looking for a pulse.

"err, yeah man, I'm good, thank god for this vest huh?" Sharky groaned, animating again, as he limply raised a hand up to tap on his Kevlar vest.

"Vest.. right we're wearing vests" rook breathed, completely forgetting that they were wearing body armour.

With that Sharky slowly pushed himself to his feet, groaning all the while

"I'm goin'a be sore as hell but I'll live" he groaned as he picket up his shotgun

"Yo guys check me out!" they heard Hurk cry.

The two men looked over at Hurk to see standing over the two dead peggies, both of their SMG's in each of Hurk's hands.

"Let's kick some ass!" he cried confidently.

* * *

Now that the three peggies that tried to force their way into the cabin were dead, one via high velocity shovel, the remaining peggies were whipped into a frenzy, sinners had somehow infiltrated their base of operation and had begun taking lives, they needed to be stopped. But fortunately for them, the sinners had trapped themselves in the sleeping cabin, so long as they didn't leave, they were trapped like rats. So, to keep them in, the peggies gathered up all the guns they could and fired at the cabin, some fired in bursts sporadically to scare the sinners, other tried to get shots in through the smashed window and doors hoping to hit those inside.

"OK guys, so I really don't have a plan other just shoot" Rook said nervously over the gunfire.

"That's cool with me dude" Hurk said, joining Rook at the smashed window before leaning in to fire out the window.

But the two men had to retreat from the window within mere seconds of firing as several peggies from the outside fired back at them, shredding the white panel exterior of the house.

"Oh, sweet monkey gods it's a little crazy out there huh?" Hurk joked nervously

"Yeah no kidding, I feel like a fish in a barrel" Rook said, as he poked the barrel of his gun out the window in hopes of blind firing would be effective.

He could still hear some sort of yelling from outside, he wasn't sure if it was because he was effectively dealing with them or just annoying them.

"Hey, you think we're doing anything?" Hurk asked, also blind firing.

"I don't know you wanna take a peek?" Rook said, a part of him hoping Hurk wouldn't actually try.

"Yeah, hold on" Hurk said before looking in Sharky's general direction.

"Hey Shark, how's it looking out there!" he hollered.

"Like a Blink 182 concert!" Sharky hollered back as he reloaded before sticking the gun out the doorframe and firing once.

"What's that even mean?" Hurk asked, losing focus on the task at hand and stopped firing out the window.

Rook wanted to scold the man for forgetting their predicament, but stopped himself as he heard the sound of glass shattering, Rook turned his head to the source of the noise, from where he stood he could see that hundreds of tiny shards of glass littered the floor, he could only assume and adjacent window had been shattered, maybe the peggies planned to climb in, but before Rook could properly investigate, his eyes were drawn to a flickering on the floor. A brick lay on the ground, a long strip of fabric or cloth was wrapped around it, but what really made the brick dangerous was the ends of the strip of fabric was of fire, a peggie must have wrapped the brick and lit the ends of the strip ablaze to be used as a make shift molotov. The flames of the brick-tov licked at the edge of one of the several rugs that littered the floor, slowly setting it on fire.

"Oh shit!" rook exclaimed as he ran over to the growing fire and began repeatedly stomping on the flames.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Hurk asked, taking notice of Rook's actions and begun watching the Junior Deputy stomp of the dying fire.

"What's it look like?!" Rook yelled back as he just about extinguished the flames

"It' looks like your doing that thing that rabbits do" Hurk guessed.

"I'm saving our butts" Rook huffed as he examined the floor for any signs of embers or anything that would reignite a fire before deeming the fire dead and returned to Hurk by the window.

They needed to get out of the building, their molotov brick idea was actually quite smart, smart as it was deadly as molotovs and wooden houses are a scary combination, a few more of those and they place could actually be set ablaze, trapping the three inside, they needed to leave before it's to late.

"Ok dudes, we gotta get out of here now!" Rook cried.

"What about th' big house?!" Hurk cried.

"How would we get over there?" Rook asked, pulling back to reload his gun before firing again.

"There's a thing out there!" Hurk replied.

"You gotta be more descriptive" Rook asked.

Hurk began to make a few _err's _and _umm's _as he tried to look at something from the corner of the window, he was trying to formulate something.

"There's a big white thing out there" he finally said.

"It's big and wooden, and white, you could walk on it like a bridge if you got on top, and they're usually in hoity-toity people's gardens, hell if I know what it's called" Hurk try to explain.

Rook knew what he was trying to say, he also didn't know the name of the pergola he was describing.

"Well what about it" Rook asked.

"It's connected to the big place and I'm pretty sure it's connected to this place" Hurk explained as he pointed to the in between to bunkbeds.

"Hey uh, guys!" Sharky yelled from the door he fired from, he leaned away from the doorframe to reload before firing once more.

"Can we make a game plan sooner then later, thing's are getting pretty hot, and not the type I like!" Sharky yelled nervously.

"OK, give me a few seconds!" Rook yelled back to Sharky.

Rook carefully poked his head out the window to get a view of the outside but retreated quickly as peggies tried to shoot his exposed head. From what he saw in those few seconds was a few bodies littered the area, he wasn't sure just how many peggies there were in the first place, but they had to have made a dent in their numbers. Rook looked at the door in between the bunkbeds before looking back at Hurk, the plan he proposed could very well kill them, and that was even if it was possible, but he couldn't think of any other options, with no better ideas coming to minds, Rook reluctantly agreed.

"Alright guys, we're going to try to get to the big house, I think we can get there through that door there, it should give us a straight shot to it" Rook said pointing to the door between the bunkbeds.

"But like, what's the actual plan though?" Sharky asked

"OK, if it isn't a straight shot to the big house just fall back and I'll close the door, but if it is, I'll take lead, you guys follow me and provide cover on the sides ok?" Rook ordered.

"Ok sounds good dude" Sharky replied as he emptied his before moving to the aforementioned floor, reloading all the while.

"Alrighty Hurk you ready to go?" Rook asked.

"Let's do it!" he replied confidently.

"Then get a move on" Rook ordered as he poked his firearm out the window again and fired, trying to draw attention to the window.

He could hear the foot falls over the gunfire as Hurk left his side and went to the door

"Hey, come on Dep, get a move on" Rook heard Sharky yell.

He turned to look at both men where at the door, both cousins pressed up against other side of the door waiting for their friend.

"Coming!" he yelled before taking a quick look out the window again before turning to run for the door, running at it as fast as he could, then came to a stop, almost slamming into the door.

"Ok ready boys?" Rook asked, taking a step back from the door, holding his AK close to his body.

"As I'll ever be" Hurk muttered.

"Let's rock N' roll" Sharky said.

Both men quickly agreed to the plan, they were both clearly nervous and were ready to accept any plan.

Rook nodded then kicked open the door, the second the door swung open, Rook could see a three peggies, all bunched up, approaching the door, they were most likely planning to come through the door as well, and by the looks on their faces, they weren't expecting the sinners to come out this way. Rook raised his AK-47 and pulled the trigger, but before he could fire a shotgun and SMG flanked appeared on either side of him and fired, since the three were bunched up, they were quite easy to dispatch. Despite the path ahead now clear,

A hail of bullets rained down around them, if not for the pergola around them, they surely would have mowed down,

Fighting back would be suicide, their position was less then favorable, and enemies were all around them, with no cover available either, they had to run.

"Forget shooting and just run for the door!" Rook yelled.

Rook wasn't sure if his friend agreed with him or not over all the gunfire, bullets flew past the three men my mere inches, a few bullets slammed into the struts of the pergola, taking chunks out of the wood, Rook repeatedly as they made it closer to the door, the closer they got, the closer the bullets got.

Rook didn't know if the door was locked or not, but he didn't care, he just wanted to get the door open, he looped the AK's strap over his shoulder and as he reached the door, he threw himself at the door as hard as he could, throwing his shoulder into it, he felt the door shake in its frame for a few seconds before falling still, he swore under his breath as the door did not budge, before Rook could reach for the door knob or even pull himself off the door, Hurk also threw himself at the door as well, the larger man slamming into the door, landing right next to the Junior Deputy, causing the door to swing open, Hurk kept the momentum and kept charging forward, as Rook who was stationary and leaning on the door, stumbled forward and fell onto his hands and knees, cursing under his breath again, but this time in slight pain as the interior had a hardwood floor and stung his hands and knees upon impact. With death dealing peggies directly behind him he tried to move forward and stand up at the same time, causing him to falter again, he was about to stumble to the floor again but before he could hit the floor he could feel a hand grab his upper arm and pulled him up, stabilizing him.

"Come on dude, break time is later" Sharky said, standing on Rook's left, pulling the Junior Deputy back up.

"Thanks man" Rook muttered as Sharky released the man

Whatever Sharky said next was lost out as machinegun fire picked up again, bullets collided with the doorframe behind them, some bullets even flew past them and slammed into the environment around them, bullets flying dangerously close to the two men, as Rook stood up, he pushed Sharky away, trying to protect him from the stream of bullets behind him, causing the pyromaniac to stumble backwards and land on his butt.

Rook moved as fast as he could, turning around while reaching for the pistol on his leg to address the advancing peggies behind him, he turned in time to see two peggies were now in front of him, they were practically in the doorframe, one wielded a shotgun while the other had a SMG raised at the deputy, but before Rook could even raise his pistol, the peggie squeezed the trigger and the next thing Rook knew he felt three sharp pains in his chest. He knew exactly what it was, three bullets slam into his Kevlar vest, the bullets sent bolts of pain through his body, causing him to choke on the breath in his throat, a part of him locked up in fear, sure he was wearing a vest and it protected him, but it still terrified him.

He was shot three times.

Somehow the peggies were able to get the jump on him and line up a few shots on him and almost killed him, this was the first time a peggie actually shot him, thankfully they got body shots and didn't aim for a limb or head, but that was besides the point, he could have died right then and there. Then a loud bang rang out from Rook's right and the man with the SMG's chest just about exploded, a large, deep bloody hole appeared in his chest then fell back. Rook could only assume Sharky had shot him. The peggie with the shotgun seemed quite surprised about his friend falling back then his surprisal turned to anger as he raised his shotgun to Sharky but before he could fire, Sharky was quicker on the draw and squeezed the trigger and filled the man's chest full of buckshot knocking him back as well.

"Shit dude you good?" Sharky cried as he quickly stood up.

"What, uh yeah I'm, uh ok" Rook stammered trying to move past the near-death experience and to re-focus on the task at hand.

He watched Sharky run towards the open door and slammed the door shut as hard as he could, but since Hurk had broken open the door, it was impossible to properly shut it, so with the door closed, he looked left and right of the door for something to help him before settling on a large bookshelf a few feet to his right, he ran to it and pushed on the side of it, pushing it to the left, he really put his back into it until the bookshelf slowly began to upturn and fall to its side, several books and other nick-knacks flew out as the shelf fell sideways, then began pushing it as hard as he could from the bottom of shelf in an a attempt to use it to barricade the door, but struggled as it was to heavy.

"Dude a lil help!" Sharky cried, looking up at Rook.

"Uhhh, yeah you got it" Rook stammered before helping Sharky push the bookshelf in front of the door, loud scraping noise filled the room as the bookshelf scraped along the hardwood floor.

As the bookshelf completely blocked the door, loud banging and angry yelling could be heard from the other side, the door wiggled in the frame as the bookshelf blocked it from opening.

"I think that'll do it" Sharky said, backing away from the door, watching it.

"Shit dudes is it Sunday because its lookin' like we're in church" the two men heard Hurk say from deeper within the building.

Both men turned to see Hurk just standing there, looking around the room.

"Hey man, don't just stand there, you should make sure there's no one else is in here" Rook said nervously.

"Yeah you got it Broski" Hurk said as he walked father into the large room in front of them.

The Junior Deputy and the pyromaniac followed Hurk into the large room and looked around the building, from the side door they entered from, the room opened up into one big main room, from how it looked, the building was predominantly just one big room with a few small rooms off on the sides, to their immediate right was a few rows of pews and folding chairs, they all faced the same direction, they all pointed to a stage with a single podium in the middle and on the far side of the room, all the lights were off but the room was not dark as the far wall with the stage had a large window installed in it and sunlight soaked through, illuminating the room, to their right a small doorless doorframe that led into a small lobby and what looked like the front doors, the building looked like it was once used as a church.

"Rook's mental compartmentalization of the building was interrupted as the sounds of door being kicked open could be heard, he turned his head back to the front lobby to his right, there he could see three peggies coming in through the front double doors and charging forward. Rook wasted no time and raised his AK-47 and fired, dropping two of the men before the third man juked to the left, taking cover in the lobby room.

"Y'know this is actually kinda cool, I always wanted to have a sick shootout in a church" Sharky commented.

"What you crazy, we can't just kill dudes in the house of sweet winged baby Jesus, that's mad disrespectful!" Hurk exclaimed.

"Your thinking of Cupid dude" Sharky retorted.

"Guys focus!" Rook interrupted the cousins bickering as more peggies began filing into the lobby entrance, a few dropped dead as Sharky and the Junior Deputy how had begun firing at them, those who weren't hit, jumped to the sides of the lobby room just as the first peggie had.

With no peggies visible to shoot, Rook and his two friends stopped firing, Rook used this time to run to the church pews behind him and used it for cover, placing the barrel of his AK on the pew's backboard, Hurk and Sharky saw what he was doing and did the same, taking their places besides the Junior Deputy. Eventually a few braver peggies began to poke of the doorframe and fired a few rounds at the three men. The three men ducked down instinctively and a few loud _thwacks_ were heard as the rounds slammed into the back of the pew.

"So, I guess this is the part where we fight or die, huh?" Hurk said over the gunfire.

"Don't miss" Rook ordered as he rose slightly to fire back.

The firefight seemed to go on forever, occasionally one of the men would clip a peggie in the arm, causing them to stumble and leaned away in pain, some of them leaned the wrong way and leaned into the doorframe, allowing the Junior Deputy to pick them off, but of course this fight was a two way street, the peggies were also getting a few hits every now and again, a few bullets buried themselves into Sharky's and Hurk's Kevlar vest's, lodging into just below the collar, each hit caused a scared yelp to come out of the men, before they ducked down in fright for a few moments before returning to the fight. Rook didn't know just how many peggies had been dropped, whenever a peggie died and fell over in the doorframe, another peggie out of sight would pull them out of the frame so their friends would have more room to work, and work they did, the amount of ammunition they shot into the pew the sinners hid behind slowly cracked and splintered the wood, whittling it away inch by inch.

"Hey, man things are looking a lil hairy for everyone" Sharky said, voicing his concern.

"So, let's just finish it before they do" Rook said as his AK-47 clicked empty and seamlessly dropping the longarm and pulled out his pistol and kept firing, the three men keeping on the heat.

A few more peggies began shouting at each other, something about "the welcoming" but whatever that was about was lost to the gunfire that echoed around them.

Then four peggies jumped out from the doorframe and charged the three men behind the pew, the four men all carrying shotguns. The sudden charge took Rook and his friends by surprise, Rook knew they were willing to give their life for the cause, but this was ridiculous. But their attempt was in vain as the three men watched the four men emerge, the shock they gave last no more then two seconds before they calmed and lined up their shots, Hurk shot down two no problem, Sharky got the one closest to the pew and Rook emptied what remained in his pistol's clip in the final man.

"Holy shit what was that?!" Sharky said in awe.

"A last-ditch effort" Rook replied as he stared into the empty doorframe.

During the shotgun charge, what little peggies that still hid in the lobby remained silent and hidden for a few moments before the three men could hear murmurs and whispers come from the lobby room, the were planning to do something, bur what the peggies did next actually surprised the Junior Deputy, they began throwing things at the pews, every few seconds an arm would come out from the sides of the doorframe to throw shoes, empty ammo clips, books and other objects they found in the lobby room most likely in hopes of one or two of the items would hit the sinners and throw off their aim just long enough to be shot.

"What the hell are they doi- ow!" Hurk yelp as he shook his hand in pain as a shoe had hit him.

"If they want to throw things then fine, I can throw things too" rook muttered as he reached for a grenade on his belt.

"OK, guys keep your heads down, things are going to get loud" he said.

Both men then immediately retreated down behind the pew and covered their ears with their hands.

With his friends ready and prepared, Rook pulled the pin then threw it as hard as he could, it sailed through the air and landed a few feet away from the lobby entrance, with the momentum with the momentum it gained in he air, it rolled right on in to the lobby, a few peggies must of saw it because Rook could hear a few scared yelps before the grenade exploded with a boom, causing the building to shake ever so slightly.

Once the explosion subsided, the three men stayed silent, listening for anything they could hear, but there was nothing, just dead silence.

"Y-ya think we got 'em all?" Rook asked quietly, slowly poking his head up over the pew.

Yeah, I think that did it" Rook replied just as quiet.

Rook was familiar with this kind of sudden silence, he had done this dance many times since he joined this war a learned what things meant, he knew what the silence of victory sounded like, it was the silence of one group of people succeeding in killing another group. He slowly stood back up and moved towards the lobby room, he knew he had won but he had to make sure or else he wouldn't truly feel safe. He pressed himself against the lobby room doorframe and poke his head in, there he saw a half dozen corpses littered the room, a few bodies appeared fine, but it was clear they were dead, a few bodies were a little banged up and blood leaking out of them from several newly formed orifices, but some bodies who were clearly the closest to the explosion, got the worst of it a few bodies were burned of parts of their bodies among the holes caused by the shrapnel, certain parts of their bodies were streaked black from burns but were hidden under the dark red of the blood that poured from their open wounds. For some reason it didn't sit right with Rook, he did this to them, sure they were going to kill him and his two friends and killing them was the only way to survive, but still. He snuffed out almost a dozen lives in a matter of seconds with an explosion of heat and shrapnel, when he first joined the police force, he joined to protect and serve his fellow man, not blow up people in what looked to be a church, the whole thing made his stomach burn.

Rook wanted to look away but for some reason he just couldn't look away from what he done, something about the bodies kept him trapped in the doorframe, trapped staring at the people he murdered. Then he felt a hand clasp around his shoulder, the hand was enough to pull him out of the place he felt trapped in.

"Hey there Samurai Cop, you ok?" he heard Sharky's voice came from behind him.

"Rook slowly turned around to see his friend the pyromaniac standing there, curious as to how his friend was, Hurk existed a few meters behind him, still with in the few rows of pews, also watching the Junior Deputy.

"What uh, yeah… I'm uh, fine, what about you?" he stammered.

"Yeah me and Hurk are good" Sharky replied.

"But damn dude we got so many peggies, like we're a wrecking crew or something" Hurk cheered.

"Uh, yeah, real wrecking crew" Rook muttered as his head slowly turned back to the lobby room.

"So, do you think they have some primo goodies in here or what?" Hurk asked.

"They were keeping this place together for a reason, let's see if we can find out why" Rook said, his head snapping back to his friends.

"Hurk, you and me, search the balcony thing for anything useful" Rook said, pointing up above him, directly above the lobby doorframe hung a balcony, it was easily seen from their position behind the pews, if a peggie had gotten up there, it would have been game over for them.

"Sharky can you do a quick sweep down here?" he asked.

"You got it amigo" Sharky nodded before breaking off and began poking around the front lobby of the building.

"Alright Hurk I'm pretty sure the staircase is over here" Rook said as he walked off toward the door they had barricaded, near it, tucked against a wall was a small staircase that led up to an elevated platform.

They ascended the stairs to end up on the balcony, on it was various objects, a bookshelf with a plethora of books, and a basic table with a few things scattered across it, some papers, a few pistols and a corded phone with an answering machine connected to it, other then that, there was nothing of interest.

"So, looks like nothings up here then?" Hurk asked, walking over to the table and examining the pistols on the table, as much as he thought they were cool, he had plenty at home.

"Yeah, looks like it, just garb anything you want I guess" Rook stated.

His eyes eventually wandered off the guns and to the corded phone, it was a basic black rotary phone, nothing that special or worth taking, the answering machine connected to it was just as interesting, just a bland piece of plastic and wires, he was about to pull away from the table but stopped as he saw a single blinking light on the machine, it blinked to signify a missed call.

"Peggies left a message huh, be a shame if I got rid of it" he smirked as he brought a hand up to the answering machine to press the delete button.

"Wait!" Rook cried, outstretching his hand in an attempt to stop Hurk.

"What?!" Hurk chirped, taking a step away from the machine, caught off guard by the Junior Deputy's shout.

"That voicemail could be important, maybe a peggie left it there on purpose, something serious could be on there" Rook explained.

"Then what do you want me to do?" Hurk asked.

"Press play" Rook replied.

Hurk nodded silently before reaching out to press the play button, the machine made a loud click then played the message.

"Rachel's so sad and alone. Once was lost; never found. She led a faithless life and it brought her low. Faith rose up in her, but Rachel stayed _low down_. Faith flies divine—and Rachel... Rachel gropes around in the darkness. I left her there a long time ago." a young woman's voice came out of the machine.

"I don't get it" Hurk said as soon as the recording ended, looking at Rook.

Rook returned the stare for a few moments before responding.

"Me neither" he shrugged.

That was of course a lie, he did get it, to a degree. The woman speaking was Faith Seed, her voice was easy to recognize, how soft it was, but in the recording it wasn't as soft, it sounded deflated, tired, it was like she didn't even want to make the message. But what else stood out to him was she had said the name _Rachel _repeatedly and how she left her in darkness a long time ago. If this was the Rachel that Tracey referred to this morning, then he had a lot to talk about the next time Faith comes calling.

"Hey, I don't see anything down here, I don't know if they have anything" Sharky's voice rang out from below.

"Uh, what did you say?" Rook asked, being pulled from his thoughts.

"Said I got nothin' down here!" Sharky called out again.

Rook walked over the balcony's edge and leaned over the railing to see Sharky looking up at him from the lower level.

"Alrighty, up here is clear too, I'll come down and radio some guys about this place and see what they can do" Rook replied.

"Sounds good Amigo, I'm headed out front" Sharky said before walking off out of Rook's field of view, most likely to leave the building.

"Meet you down there" Rook called out, before he and Hurk descended the stairs and made their way outside.

As the two men left the building they could hear Sharky call for Hurk excitedly from the other side of the large building, Hurk of course did not hesitate and practically ran around the building to find his cousin. With Hurk and Sharky gone Rook felt a little awkward for some reason, just being left alone in what was a warzone a few minutes ago, so in an attempt to calm down off the adrenaline that had been building in him all morning and tried to take in as much of the estate as he could to try to fill in his mental map, he could see the squat house they hid in, with all it's smashed windows and walls riddled with bullets, the dead peggies that lay around the building, a few cobblestone walls and bliss plants, this place might actually have been a nice place at one point but now, now it was just another open air coffin, Rook turned around to face the front of the building he had exited, despite of what happened inside the building it still looked nice, well maybe it would have looked better if _Eden's Covenant _wasn't printing in big letters above the doorframe. Rook stood there for a few moments contemplating his morning and everything that happened, all the what if's and could have been's, eventually he decided it was a good a time as any to call Dutch and let him know what's up, he unclipped the walkie from his hip and brought it to his mouth.

"Hey Dutch, you there?" Rook asked.

A few seconds ticked by before he answered.

"Hey kid what's up" Dutch responded.

"I'm at this place called Eden's Covenant, I'm pretty sure that's not the place's real name but me and a few friends just kicked a bunch of peggies out of it" Rook answered.

"Eden's Covenant? I'm don't know what tha- wait a minute do you mean the Eden's Gate Rehabilitation Center? A little place off by the old Moonflower Trailer Park?" Dutch asked

"Yeah I think that's it, we just cleared it out and it's ready to be taken back" Rook said.

Rook could hear Dutch chuckle lightly.

"That's actually great to hear, Joseph had that place built a long time ago, I think he used it for new converts or something, and well if we clear out more of that area then maybe we could reopen it to treat bliss victims" Dutch surmised.

"Huh, that's actually a pretty good idea, I'll run that by the Sheriff when I get back to the prison" Rook said, scratching his chin.

"Don't worry about it kid, I'll do it when I let people know about what you've done" Dutch replied before the walkie clicked off.

Rook placed it back on his hip, with the conversation over, silence came back, Rook noticed that the area was now completely silent except for a repeated bang, every five seconds there was a bang, not a gunshot but the sound of one object hitting another, curious, Rook followed the noise back to the back of the estate to see Hurk and Sharky trying to kick open the door of a shed.

"Hey guys, so what you up to" Rook asked approaching Hurk and Sharky, watching them try to kick open the shed's door.

"Sharky turned to face the Junior Deputy with a smile.

"Oh, hey amigo, we're doing nothing much, just trying to get into this shed here" Sharky said, sticking a thumb at the door Hurk was trying to break down.

"So uh, why you trying to get in there?" Rook asked.

"Well you see Dep, this used ta be a rehab center right, I would know I got sent here for my love of fire before ol' Broseph bought up the place, anyways so that means that the addicts might have tried to sneak some good stuff in if you know what I'm saying, so we're thinking if it was confiscated, it'd be in here" Sharky surmised.

"Alrighty, you guys have fun with that, listen I'm headed out, you guys are clearly to interested in this to leave so in a while some resistance members are going to come down here and clean the place up and re-enforce the place, so be careful and have fun ok?" Rook explained.

"sure, you got it Dep, but hey, what you think about this morning, wild huh?" Sharky asked with a grin.

"Today was pretty nuts, but I will admit I was a little ticked at the beginning, and then kinda terrified during the whole boat thing, but underneath all that, it was pretty cool" Rook said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah I knew it dude, things got wild and we handled it well… so how many badass points did I get?" Sharky smiled.

"Well, you both did great out there today, so for the moment I'm going to have to say that you guys are pretty even" Rook said.

"Rockin" Sharky grinned.

"But we're a pretty great team Officer Badass, so anyways have a good one dude, keep kickin' ass Bro, see ya around" Sharky said, giving Rook a salute before turning back to Hurk to help him kick open the shed's door.

Rook gave his friends a silent nod before walking around to the front of the building to look for a vehicle to carry him back home, but to his dismay, there was no vehicles on the property, causing him to uttered a curse under his breath in annoyance, with nothing better to do he just walked over to the nearest cobblestone wall and sat down on it, as much as he didn't want to, he had to wait for resistance members to shown up and then ask to take one of their trucks to get back to the prison. He sat there in silence for ten minutes, thinking over what had transpired once again, deep down he still felt uncomfortable about what he saw in the lobby room, a part of him felt like they deserved better, they were just doing what they were told just like how the Sheriff and so many other ask of him. Rook was then pulled out of his thoughts as a few trucks rolled up onto the property and resistance members climbed out, a few approached the Junior Deputy and greeted him, Rook returned the greeting then explained what had happened here before asking to take a truck back to the prison, the resistance members had no problem agreeing and handed him the keys, Rook graciously took the keys and wished them the best before climbing into the truck. He placed the key into the ignition and started the truck, as soon as he did the air conditioner turned on blowing cool air into the cabin as the radio clicked on, playing a song Rook easily identified, the song made him feel a little better as the prospect of music back in his life made him feel like life was going to get a little better, he reached up a turned the volume up a little more before he put the truck in reverse and backed the truck down the driveway and onto the main road, then took off for the prison.


	15. Chapter 15

The drive back to the prison was near quiet there wasn't as much roadside distractions or roadblocks as there once was, Rook wasn't quite sure when the roads at the very least looked safer, but he didn't care, as long as he could get from point A to point B in a good time then he had no reason to complain. With the roads feeling safer and the Junior Deputy beginning to memorize the roads back to the prison well enough to be confident enough not to call Dutch for directions. The drive felt somewhat pleasant, more so with a song he knew was playing on the radio. But as much as he wanted to sing along at a normal volume, he just couldn't bring himself to be any louder than a mutter, the car ride had given him some time to cool down, to process what he saw, it allowed several minute details to surface in his memories, further cementing the images in his head; The bodies he left in the rehab center lobby, the bleeding and burnt corpses, the looks on their faces, how the explosion rag dolled their bodies, the smell of the burnt skin, the copper scent of spilt blood, the sulfur from the fired bullets. A part of him felt like he was still there, standing over the bodies, it made his stomach feel cold as it rolled and flipped, sure he had seen countless bodies since he came to the county, but this was different, for some reason the lobby clung to his brain like a bandage to a wound.

Suddenly his walkie talkie crackled to life, making Rook jump in his seat, catching him by surprise and pulling him out of his head.

"Mister Rook, can you hear me, this is Virgil Minkler if you can hear me, please respond" Virgil's voice rang out

Rook's eyes flicked down to the walkie in the seat next to him, he had tossed it there some time ago as where it usually hung made it difficult to put on the seat belt, his quickly glanced back up at the road to make sure there was no obstructions on the road before reaching for the walkie and responding to the former mayor.

"Hey Virgil, I hear you, what's up?" Rook asked, refocusing on the road.

"Sheriff Whitehorse asked me to check up on you, and well I couldn't find you within the prison, so I asked Miss Tracey if she knew where you went, she said you made some purchases at the quartermaster's table before going out somewhere so well, where are you at the moment?" Virgil surmised.

"Oh right, hey listen that's my fault one hundred percent, I know I'm making a habit of leaving without saying anything, I promise I'll work on it" Rook said, feeling a little bad over his record of absence.

"Ok Deputy I believe you, but unfortunately that doesn't really answer my question as to where you are" Virgil replied.

"Right uh, so I left like I don't know an hour and a half ago, a few friends needed my help and to make a long story short we cleared out this rehab place, Eden's covenant, I'm on my way back now, I'm just about ten minutes out" Rook explained.

"I see, that would explain why a bunch of people left in a hurry, well thank you for taking back another critical piece of land, that building as been a part of the county for as long as I could remember, it has helped a lot of people" Virgil said.

"Wait I thought Joseph had the place built" Rook said, thinking back to what Dutch had said earlier.

"No, no, that building has been there for quite a while, eventually the Seed's bought it up and made some additions to the place, what they used it for is beyond me" Virgil said.

"Ok so why even buy up the place, I mean yeah sure they bought up the land to extend their reach but why add onto it, hell when I got there a little while ago they were actually keep the place together, like peggies were doing proper maintenance on the place" Rook explained.

"hm that is quite odd, the cult never seemed to show much consideration to anything except their bunkers, I'll be sure to make a note of his" Virgil said.

"Oh uh, hey Virgil, when you go to tell the Sheriff where I am and what I've been up too, I don't suppose you can break the news to him gently, this is the third time now I've forgotten to tell someone I'm headed out" Rook said, feeling a little bad over his slowly forming habit.

"I'll see what I can do Deputy, no promises" Virgil replied.

"Thank you Mister Minkler" Rook said before clicking off the walkie and tossing it back into the see next to him, before focusing back onto the road.

* * *

Rook pulled up outside the prison and parked in the small parking lot, when Rook stepped out of the truck he could feel the hot mid-day summer air come down on him, thankfully he, Hurk and Sharky had done there misadventure quite early in the morning so it wasn't as hot, but now that the day had progressed and had gotten a lot warmer. The air conditioning in the truck made him forgot just how hot the day was, and the thick Kevlar vest wasn't helping, he could feel a light layer of sweat build in between the Kevlar and his flannel shirt, matting the two together. If the rest of his day would be anything like this morning, he could very well collapse from heat exhaustion eventually, the vest needed to come off. He undid the Velcro straps and the Kevlar vest slid of his torso; he had been wearing it for the better part of two hours and had gotten used to it's weight, with it gone he quite literally felt a weight be lifted off his shoulders, thankfully it did it's job but now it just felt suffocating, to have such a heavy vest and his AK-47 usually strapped to him, with the vest off he could feel his body temperature dropping, he threw the vest onto the drivers seat then closed and locked the door and made his way into the prison. As Rook got close to the front gate, he heard the guards from above, he looked up to see them waving him in and asking about his well-being, rook waved back and answered meekly before heading inside. Rook wasn't to sure why he still felt the way he did, perhaps the medical wing wound have something would alleviate the feelings that had been building inside and changed directions to the medical wing, he barely made it to the end of the first hallway before Tracey approached him, a manila envelope tucked under one arm and other hand stuffed into her hoodie pocket.

"Yo Dep, where ha- oh shit, what's eating you, you don't look to good" Tracey asked noticing mid sentence that Rook looked rather gloomy.

"What no I, the, well, wait what do you mean, I feel fine" Rook stammered trying to get the lie out, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, when Tracey approached he was a little nervous she would pick up that he wasn't doing to good, but his butchering of a simple question had most likely made things much worse for himself.

"You sure dude?, you sound like a fucking crack addict tweaking out" Tracey replied.

"I mean it, I'm totally fine, just had a rough morning" Rook shrugged.

"Oh yeah? what happened, did Black give you a rough time again?" Tracey asked again.

The question she asked made the lobby room memory floated to the surface of his memory again, bringing back the sick feeling in his stomach.

"Jess- no, she's um, she's out hunting I think" Rook grimaced quietly.

"Then what the fuck happened?" she inquired.

Rook remained quiet for a few seconds; it was clear he was trying to choose his words carefully.

"I was fighting peggies, and uh, things got a little bad" Rook explained slowly.

"Yeah well, news flash, that's been going on, it's best to get used to and move on" Tracey shrugged.

"Yes, sounds good, I can do that" Rook slowly nodded.

"Hey, you going to the infirmary?" Tracey asked.

"What, uh yeah I was thinking on swinging by, why?" Rook asked.

"You think you can give this to that vet you brought back a while ago for me" She asked holding out the envelope.

"Uh you mean Doctor Lindsey, right?" Rook asked accepting the envelope and tucking it under his arm.

"Yeah you mean _veterinarian, _he has a little lab set up in a storage closet, guy thinks he can make some fucking miracle cure for the bliss, apparently whatever is the envelope is supposed to magically" Tracey sighed, hints of anger speckled her voice.

"My investigative skills tell me you aren't exactly counting on his research to save the day" Rook said.

"I don't need to be a doctor or have some fancy-smancy medical degree to know you cant make something to clean up that shit, all we can do it destroy the plants and put down the poor people that got turned into those awful things Faith calls angels" Tracey seethed.

"But what if though, what if we can make a cure or vaccine or something?" Rook asked again.

"No Rook, trust me, there is nothing else we can do, ok so get we just fuckin drop it" Tracey asked, sounding a little angrier now.

"Uh yeah sure, I'm sorry" Rook mumbled, his eyes falling to the floor.

He could hear her sigh before responding.

"Look dude, it's whatever don't worry about and just make sure those papers get to the doc, I got other shit to do, I'll catch you later" she said before turning away and left to fulfill her duties.

"Yeah, see you around" Rook said, limply waving his free hand.

With Rook mostly alone in the hallway, aside from a few resistance members up and down the halls, it made him feel awkward for some reason, to stand there doing nothing, to try to counter this additional feeling he hurried his way towards the single room full of medical cots that was the infirmary.

* * *

Rook opened the door to the infirmary, most of the ceiling lights had been turned off most likely to conserve electricity, what little light in the room came from a few lit candles spread throughout the room here and there, a few people lay motionless in the cots, Rook hoped they were just asleep, he had seen enough bodies for the time being. The sound of two items clinking together pulled Rook's eyes off the hopefully sleeping people and onto a woman in the far corner of the room, she was carefully taking what looked like little bottles out of a milk crate on the floor and placing them onto a small cupboard that pressed up against the wall of the room, the woman had her back to the Junior Deputy but he could easily identify the woman as his friend; Grace Armstrong, it wasn't hard to pick her out of a crowd as it seemed like her military fatigues were becoming a second skin to her, but then again who was he to talk as he had been wear the same clothes for days on end as well, by the looks of Grace's movements, she had just finished taking the contents out of the container and placed them into a small cupboard as she picked up the milk crate and placed it on top of the cupboard, but besides her and the people in the cots, he could not see Doctor Lindsey, his only real option was to ask Grace where he was.

"Heya Grace, long time no see" Rook said with a small smile, giving her a wave, while approaching her.

Grace turned around to greet the Junior Deputy.

"Hey Ben, good to see you too" Grace replied, returning the wave.

"How's the arm feeling?" Rook asked, gesturing to her still bandaged arm.

"Feeling much better these days, thank you" Grace replied.

"So, has anything been going on this morning?" Rook asked again.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary, Sheriff's been scheming up some plans to fight the cult, Tracey is making sure everyone is doing their part, Virgil is keeping the peace, but some men got sent out a little while ago, I'm not to sure why but something must have happened somewhere" Grace surmised.

"Yeah, I think I had something to with that" Rook smirked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Really? I knew disappeared for a few hours; I didn't think you'd get to business this early in the morning" Grace asked.

"Well, getting down to business is a bit of a stretch" Rook offered.

Grace was about to ask what the Junior Deputy meant by that but was cut off as a groan came from one of injured people lying in one the medical cots.

"Shit is that the Deputy?!" the voice said.

The two turned to a cot with a man lying near motionless in the bed, the man was straining to prop his head up to look at the two people conversating, Rook recognized the man as Michael

"Oh, hey Michael, how you doing bud?" Rook asked, approaching his cot.

"I've been better" Michael groaned as he tried to sit up and make eye contact with the Junior Deputy but couldn't as the pain in his shoulder proved to much and dropped back into the cot, head sinking into his pillow, wincing in pain.

"Hey easy man, don't overdo it, just take it easy ok?" Rook said in hopes Michael wouldn't try to sit up again, to keep him from trying, Rook crouched down next to Michael's cot

"Do you need anymore medication?" Grace asked, moving to the end of the cot.

"Naah I'm fine, just restless, but man I really wanna get out of hear you know?" Michael breathed.

"I feel you man, but you got to take it easy you got less then twenty-four hours ago, you need to chill out for a bit if you wanna get better soon" Rook said.

"Yeah I know, doc has been telling me that a bunch, as much as I hate to say it, but I think I'll be out of commission for a long time" Michael sighed.

"I'm sure your feeling restless but I'm sure we can find some things for you to do that isn't going out into the field once your shoulder improves" Grace interjected, causing both men to look up at the veteran.

"I guess, but Hope's County is my home, I lived here all my life, now it's in danger and all I want to do is defend it, but now… now I can't do that, yeah I know your trying to give me hope by offering to help the people fighting the good fight, but it's just not the same, you know what I mean?" Michael said, he spoke with a pained expression, Rook knew it was not because of the pain in his shoulder, it genuinely wanted to defend his home but could not.

"Believe me sir, I understand how you feel, I've seen this kind of thing before but lying here just thinking about the what could have been's are just going to get you all riled up, you _have _to try to keep a level head for the time being" Grace instructed.

"So, what you do want me to do?" Michael huffed as he tried to sit back up, causing Grace to move around to the side of the cot, opposite of Rook and bent down to place a hand on Michael's chest and gently pushed him back down.

"Please get some more rest, let the shoulder heal some more then we can figure it out" Grace said softly.

Michael fought against the hand for a few seconds before collapsing into the cot.

"Fine you win" Michael huffed with a grump frown for a few seconds before the frown melted not a tiny smile.

"You're lucky I think your cute, or else I wouldn't just let you push me around like that" he said.

"Don't push your luck" Grace grinned.

"What you going to do, shoot me?" Michael teased before yawning, his eyelid hung low, the medicine in his systems made him quite drowsy, the appearance of the Junior Deputy had perked him up a little but now he could feel the medicine pull him back into sleep.

"Goodnight, Michael" Grace aid quietly as she and Rook stood up and backed away from the man, giving him peace he deserved.

"He's going to be ok right?" Rook asked when the two got far enough away from Michael.

"He will be yes, but he is going to need a lot of medical attention, the bullet may have hit his left shoulder but it was pretty close to his torso, if it was his other shoulder then the healing process would be a lot smoother, but since it's his left, the wound is quite close to the heart so if he keeps getting excited then his wound will start to bleed again" Grace explained.

"Uh yeah, bleeding is no good" Rook said awkwardly.

"Hey, Ben are you alright, you seem… a bit off" Grace asked, showing a sign of concern.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, one hundred percent" Rook replied quickly.

"If you ever start to feel… I don't know, cold on the inside, let me know ok, not everyone is cut out for war, or any of the sick shit the Seed's have caused" Grace explained, still showing visible concern.

"Uh, yeah I hear you, don't worry I will" Rook promised.

"Good, but I got to get going, I got lookout duty real soon, but hey if you're ever going out to fight the peggies and need some back up, let me know, could always use some target practice" Grace said.

"Yeah of course, I'll let you know if I need any help" Rook replied.

"Good, well I got to get going, see you around Ben" Grace said before turning to leave.

Watching Grace leave reminded him why he had come to the infirmary, he still needed to find Charles Lindsey.

"Before you go, do you know where Doctor Lindsey is?" he asked.

"I believe Doctor Lindsey is still in his lab" Grace pointing to a door at the far end of the room.

"I think he's mostly been in there since he got here, he's real determined to make something to counter the bliss"

"Huh, you don't say, how's that going by the way?" Rook asked.

"I wouldn't know, I've had a few things on my plate recently and hadn't had time" Grace replied.

"Well I got to give him his envelope, I'll find out while I'm in there" Rook said, holding up the envelope.

"Sounds good Ben, the good doctor doesn't leave his lab often, so It would be good to find out where we stand on the matter" Grace offered.

"But I have some thing I need to get done, I need to get going, I'll see you around Ben" Grace said.

"Yeah, see you around" Rook replied, giving her a wave.

Grace returned his wave before leaving the room, leaving the Junior Deputy mostly alone, with Michael most likely asleep and no one else in the room, Rook turned to the door Grace pointed at and approached it. When Rook pushed open the door his nose was bombarded with a plethora of smells, it was a cocktail of different chemicals, cleaning solutions and the ever-present sickly-sweet smell of bliss.

"Holy crap dude" Rook muttered to himself as he entered, feeling a little lightheaded.

"Hello?" Lindsey's voice came from within the room.

Rook looked up to see a man clad in a simple lab coat turn away from a large blackboard he was working on and faced the Junior Deputy, he easily identified the man as Charles Lindsey.

"Are you ok, Mister Deputy?" he asked.

"Doctor, maybe you should crack a window or turn on a fan or something" Rook offered, waving his hand in front of his nose.

"You get used to it" Lindsey said, pushing up the glasses on his face.

"So, what can I do for you Mister Deputy?" he asked.

"I was uh, asked to give you this" Rook said, holding up the manila envelope Tracey had given him.

"And well I never had a chance to check in on you since I got you back here safe and sound" Rook said, eyeing the large blackboard in the room and all the equations and mathematics symbols that littered the board.

"Ah my results!" Lindsey nearly exclaimed in excitement, before snatching the envelope from the Junior Deputy's hand and eagerly opening it, causing Rook to jump from the sudden commotion.

"I take your making some breakthroughs then?" Rook asked, curious as to what could warrant such a response.

"To be honest" Lindsey said, looking back up at the Junior Deputy, returning to a calmer demeanor.

"Quite the opposite really, every attempt I've made has been in vain in one way or another, I'm really hoping these documents would shed some light on the matter" Lindsey explained.

"Damn really, I was kind of hoping for some good news" Rook admitted.

"And so is everyone else in the prison, unfortunately we're all just going to have to keep waiting" Lindsey replied, placing the papers on a table in the corner of the room.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" rook offered.

"Not unless you have access to more advanced equipment" Lindsey shrugged with an unease look on his face.

"Sorry, I wouldn't know what better equipment even looks like, in high school I got a C- in science class" Lindsey chuckled lightly at the joke as he crossed his arm over his chest.

"I appreciate the offer, but the best any of us can do is just keep waiting" Lindsey replied.

"I was afraid you were going to say that, but uh, if you need anything just give me a shout" Rook offered.

"Thank you Mister Deputy I will keep that in mind moving forward" Lindsey nodded.

"Yeah, no problem, hey if that's it I'm going to get going, I'm sure my boss is wondering where I am" rook said, feeling a little awkward again.

"Of course, of course, please don't let me keep you, besides I would like to get to work with the information you have brought me" Lindsey said, breaking away from the conversation and moving back to the table with all his paperwork on it.

"Uh, yeah sure, well see you later" Rook nodded before promptly leaving the small room and headed to the command room.

* * *

Rook pushed open the door to the command room, as per usual a few people meandered throughout the room, handing documents and other resources to each other, trying to plan some sort of push to fight back the cult, a few others worked the radios trying to communicate with who Rook can only assume was someone in Falls End, it was just another day at the office more or less, but for some reason Rook still felt off, he still couldn't shake the feelings he still had, if anything it was getting worse.

"Ah Benjamin, good to see you, now your back let's get to work, hm?" Whitehorse called out unexpectedly.

Rook looked up to see his boss signalling Rook to come over to the planning table the Sheriff always seemed to be at.

"Uh, yeah you got it boss" Rook called back before moving towards the Sheriff.

As Rook approached the table to hear what Whitehorse had to say, as he drew near he could see all the things littered across the table; it still had papers strewn about with various strategic doodles and paragraphs of hastily scribbled notes.

"Hey there kid, so how was the morning adventure?" Whitehorse asked.

"It was alright nothing really out of the ordinary" Rook said.

"And uh, sorry for disappearing again, it was my bad" Rook mumbled.

"It's ok kid, Virgil told me that you were quite adamant on apologizing, listen just please, please stop vanishing, at least call in regularly so we know your ok if you find your self still doing it" Whitehorse beseeched his Junior Deputy

"Uh, yeah I can do that, no problem" Rook nodded.

"Good… So, did anything of note happen while you were out there?" the Sheriff asked.

"Oh, you know… Just the usual" Rook winced, and for the umpteenth time, he was reminded of what he saw in the lobby room.

For some reason with every reminder of what he saw, what he did, it made him feel just a little worse, he hadn't eaten anything today yet something deep in his stomach slowly started to threaten it's way to back up, perhaps he should have take Grace up on her offer when she presented it to him, perhaps he should have at least tell Whitehorse that some had happened.

"But uh, hey Earl, can uh, I talk to you for a bit.. like in private?" Rook asked, he knew he butchered his request and turned it into this awkward, uncomfortable mess.

The sheriff took one look at Rook, upon hearing his request and could clearly see his Junior Deputy looked as uncomfortable as he sounded, he didn't need to be a Sheriff for years to figure out something was up.

"Sure, kid come on" Whitehorse said as he gestured Rook to follow.

Rook silently nodded and followed his boss out the back door and into a near empty hallway, a few people worked away at the far side of the hallway but were far enough away to not be a problem.

"So, what's going on, something on your mind?" Whitehorse asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the far wall.

"Well uh, as you know, I kinda went out this morning, again I'm sorry about just leaving without saying anything again, promise I won't make a habit of it, but basically what happened was me and two friends, Hurk and Sharky" Rook explained as he made generic hand motions, his eyes watching his hands feeling to awkward to stand still and talk, he needed to move, he didn't know where to take his story, it felt best to just open his mouth and just the story come out as naturally as he could.

"We uh, did some stuff and well one thing led to another and we ended up at this place; Eden's Covenant, and well like most things around here, it ended in a big shoot out, and well during this shoot out, a bunch of peggies piled up in one small room, like eight or nine of them all really close to each other, so uh, to deal with them I threw a grenade at them, and well it did, I got all of them, but I wasn't so sure and I peeked into the room and uh… holy shit it was really bad" Rook finished, his arms drooping to his sides and eyes focusing back on his boss.

Whitehorse didn't say anything for a few moments instead, he looked away from his subordinate slightly, he exhaled through his nose.

"I just can't get it out of my head, I, I can't get the smell out of my nose, like, I know they're the enemy and all but for some reason this whole just makes me feel so… so…sick" Rook winced, looking visibly unnerved.

"Kid… listen" Earl started, before pausing briefly.

"I know these past few weeks hasn't exactly been the smoothest, there's been a lot of hiccups and bumps in the road and we've been going off the seat of the seats of our pants for a while now, and from what I've been hearing about what you've been up too; you've been rolling with one serious punch after another, something like this was bound to happen, it happens to all of us eventually, this kind of thing is normal, but I need you to listen me Ben, this is not your fault, what you did was to protect you and your friends, and now from what Virgil has told, we have a new outpost right by the river" Whitehorse said before moving off the wall and approaching his Junior Deputy and placed a hand on Rook's shoulder, and raising his other hand to point a finger at Rook's chest as if it would accentuate his reasoning.

"I want you to know that your hard work is saving lives, what your doing is making a big difference and if you can't see it now, you will down the road, and I know your day to day can be downright terrifying and death defying, but dammit kid, I believe in you, everyone here believes in you, the people of Falls End believes in you, if anyone is going to be slapping the cuffs on Joseph it's going to be you" Whitehorse said, removing his hand off the Junior Deputy as he finished.

"Now I'm going to be honest with you, kid" Whitehorse said, his voice dropping into a softer, quieter tone.

"I don't know a whole lot about dealing with trauma aside from what the force taught me to help victims until the E.M.T's show up, so if you just need to sit down and take a break, go for it, if Tracey or anyone gives you a hard time for it just send them my way and I'll sort 'em out, if your going somewhere just please, let me know ok?" Whitehorse asked.

"Uh, yeah ok, you got it boss" Rook mumbled, Whitehorse's speech didn't pull the weird feelings out of him, but he did feel different now for some reason.

"So, if you wanna just grab a fishing rod and just go fishing to clear your head, go for it, just be careful out there, kid" Whitehorse said.

"As much as I appreciate the offer, I can't really see myself just going fishing, there is just too much to do, people are fighting and dying out there, it doesn't feel right for me to just go off like that" Rook explained.

"But not everyone has gotten snatched up by both John and Faith Seed and lived to tell the tale, and that's just the tip of the iceberg" Whitehorse replied.

"Yeah I know…" Rook said crossing his arms, his eyes slowly falling to the floor.

"Kid not going to tell you what to do, you know yourself far better then me, if you think you can keep soldiering on then you can do so, if not just sit down and do something to take your mind off things" Whitehorse offered.

"I don't know boss, I really want to help, but at the same time…" Rook muttered.

"Then just hang around for a bit, take a breather and just think about it, mentally process everything" Whitehorse offered.

"If like, something major happens, will you let me right?" Rook asked.

"Sure kid" Whitehorse nodded.

"Ok, then uh, I'll uh, I'll go chill out for a bit" Rook mumbled.

"Have fun kid, you deserved it" Whitehorse said gently, before slowly returning to the command room, leaving Rook mostly alone.

Rook wasn't quite sure what to do with himself, it felt very weird that he needed a casual agenda now, perhaps if his friends needed help with something then maybe he could help them but all his friends were all throughout the valley; Nick was back home looking after is pregnant wife, Grace had lookout duty, Jess was hunting, Boomer and his other friends are in Fall's End, and god knows what Sharky and Hurk are up too, a part of him was kind of hoping Faith would call, she stated she hoped to talk about whatever like two friends, that was probably something he needed mentally, but until he could have a chance to lend a hand to his friends, he decided to just take a casual walk around the prison, and see what he could see, if he comes across someone who could use a extra set of hands or someone who needed help learning a thing or two. As he walked around the prison, through the hallways, he noticed a big cork board hung on the wall, he never noticed it before and what was tacked to it looked interesting, so he stopped and looked at it, the board was covered in generic papers that advertised community gathering and basic services, stapled on during better times, but what really stuck out was of to the side of the board was several cut out pictures of different fish with their sizes placed directly underneath the fish, it was easy to tell this was the wall of biggest fish caught in the Henbane, the prospect of fishing didn't sound to bad, the Sheriff even made mention of going fishing in an attempt to relax, but would he even want to go fishing, to sit in the middle of nowhere and be alone with his thoughts, his memories.

"Hey Boy scout, you there?" Rook's walkie chirped to life Rook recognized the voice near instantly as Jess, the annoyance in here voice was as obvious as the voice was hers.

Rook pulled the walkie off his belt and brought it up to his mouth.

"Hey, Jess I hear you, what's up?" he asked.

"Can we meet up? I'm just down the road, right out the prison driveway and just go for like ten minutes, eventually you'll see a gravel road on your left with a dead peggie on it, I'm down there, so you think you can get here, like now?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah I think I can do that, is everything ok?" Rook asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine, just thought I could use a hand hunting" she said.

Rook thought about it for a moment, Whitehorse said he should take some time off and Jess was offering a hunting session, a part of him wanted to do it, he never really went hunting before and was interested in trying, but at the same time he wasn't looking forward to more killing, he looked up at the board.

"Um sure, I'll go to the truck now" Rook said.

"Sweet, see you soon dude" Jess replied before the line clicked dead.

Rook stared at his walkie for a bit, still feeling conflicted, maybe he should just explain his feelings to Jess, would she even understand, would she just tell him to toughen up then move on or would she even take it seriously. Regardless of what she'd say, he said he would help, and he couldn't just leave a friend hanging. With his mind somewhat made up, he clipped the walkie back onto his belt before reaching into his pocket for the keys to the truck and pulled it out. She had said that she was ten minutes out to the right of the right of the prison, that would put in in the direction of the conservatory, but gravel roads didn't stick out in his mind, for the thousandth time, he'd just have to wing it. As Rook headed towards the parking lot he past right by the quartermaster, he didn't feel the need to stock up on supplies, if anything all he wanted was a hot shower and an actual bed for a very long sleep. He mentally pushed away the fantasies as that's all they were and wouldn't be getting them until Joseph is behind bars. As Rook opened the main doors and stepped outside, he had a feeling today was going to be a long one, but hoped against it as he walked towards his truck and opened the trucks door, on the driver's seat, if this morning would be anything like today, the vest would be vital, so Rook grabbed the vest and slid it over his body and fastened the large Velcro straps and made sure it sat snuggly on his body before he climbed into the truck and inserted the key into the ignition before heading to where Jess had asked him to be.

* * *

The drive had been slow and nervous, Rook needed to go slow to spot the dead peggie on the gravel road, but the slow speed made Rook quite nervous as the slower speed made him an easy target for peggies, his look out for live peggies were just as sharp as the look out for the dead ones, the slow pace threw off his internal clock as he knew the drive would take more then ten minutes. Sixteen minutes into the drive he past a few gravel roads but no bodies lying around, perhaps the body was moved or maybe he even drove right past it, he was contemplating turning around and trying a second pass over the roads, but slowed the car even more as he saw an unusual lump on the at the mouth of a gravel road, it was obvious the lump was a body, as the truck rolled closer he could see a body, clad in the usual peggie black trench coat.

"There's she blows" rook muttered to himself as he pulled over to the side of the road and climbed out and examined the body.

The body had a shallow puncture mark in the side of the neck, Rook didn't need to investigate the wound was caused by an arrow, obviously one of Jess's, but the dead peggie in front of him signified that danger to a capacity, maybe Jess got them all if there was more of them, he couldn't be to careful. Rook unholstered his pistol and kept it at the ready, his eyes scanned the horizon as he walked down the gravel road, he couldn't see anything suspicious, but that didn't mean something wasn't a foot. He cautiously ventured down the gravel road, half expecting peggies to jump out of nowhere, half expecting Jess to jump out of nowhere, after almost a minute of walking he heard Jess yell.

"Hey dude, over here!" he suddenly hear Jess yell, he turned to the source of her voice to she Jess two hundred feet away from him, within the trees, waving him over.

Rook turned towards her and waved back.

"Is everything ok?!" he called back, making his way over to her.

It looked like she was going to respond back but her eyes flicked down to his torso, at his Kevlar vest her usual scowl cracked and faltered, turning into a small smile then laughter.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" She laughed, pointing at his torso.

He wasn't quiet sure what set her off, he quickly looked down at what he could possibly be wearing to discover that the Kevlar vest still had Hurk's slogan tagged on the front, a few bullet holes had torn the vest and the writing but it was still readable.

"What no, it's not what it looks like, I can explain" he stammered in embarrassment, he had completely forgot his vest had such a vulgar slogan tagged on it, he hoped she wouldn't tell people of his vest.

"What no, it's not what it looks like I can explain" Jess mimicked in her best Rook impersonation all the while trying not to let the laughter take over again.

"Fuck, you sound like some thirteen year old being caught masturbating!" She said before laughing again.

"What?! No I don't, your just making me uncomfortable, I'll have you know I've been wearing this to protect myself from Peggie gunboats" Rook retorted.

"Shit, I didn't know you had a wild side, so how long did it take you to come up with that?" She asked pointing at the message scrawled on the vest, the laughter subsiding.

"This isn't mine, a friend gave it to me" he said sheepishly.

"I don't know dude, by the way you act I'd say the lamb part is right" she said, wiping a tear from her eye, hoping to draw a reaction from the Junior Deputy.

"I'm serious, this isn't mine Hurk and Sharky gave it to me, we ran into some trouble" Rook whined, the image of the lobby room popped into his head again.

"Shit dude, I leave you alone for one morning and this is what you'd get into, I'd be a little jealous actually of you if you didn't say you were with Boshaw and Drubman"

"They're not that bad you know, just get to know them and see what they're really like" Rook retorted.

"I went to high school with them, I know what they're all about, I've seen and heard it first hand" Jess return, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They couldn't have been that bad, they're older now and must have matured to a degree" Rook said.

"Dude" Jess said becoming somewhat stoic again.

"The last time I left you alone with Boshaw, you and him were burning brain dead drug addicts alive to disco music, how the fuck did they mature from criminal mischief?" Jess said, adjusting the hood on her head.

"Well, ok you got me there, but they can't be all bad, I mean they're good at heart" Rook offered.

"That doesn't mean they are capable of actually doing good, but shut up, your throwing me off track here, listen, I called you because I need your help" Jess said, returning to her usual emotionless self.

"Sure what do you need?" Rook asked, curious as to what she could possibly need, besides killing the Cook, she had never come right out and ask for his help, let alone anyone's help.

"I tried to go hunting a lil while ago but I couldn't find any game, so I did a little looking around and turns out there's some jackass film a movie, an actual fucking movie" she explained.

"Wait what?" Rook said in disbelief.

"Yeah I know right, some chuckle fucks are actually filming a movie out here, and holy shit are they doing a great job of letting everything in a three mile radius know about it, they're so fucking loud their scaring away all the game" Jess explained.

"Ok so what do you want me to do?" Rook asked, unsure of where this could possibly be going.

"Just go in there and wave you badge around, make 'em pack up and fuck off" Jess replied.

"Well as much as I would like to do that for their own safety, I don't have a badge anymore, I gave it to Dutch alongside my uniform so he can destroy them so Joseph would have a harder time identifying me" Rook explained.

His response caused Jess to scoff as she brought a hand up to her face in annoyance.

"But hey, I gotta ask, your no stranger to getting rough, so why get me to shut down the movie thing when you could'a just got up in their faces?" Rook asked.

"As much as I would love to ruin their shot, they've been there, making noise for like, hours and peggies haven't done nothing to 'em, they have to all be packing heat or something to scare the cult off, I don't think I can deal with that alone" Jess explained.

"Hm, that is a good point I didn't think of that, it could be dangerous" Rook said, raising a hand to his chin.

"Yeah that's what I thought so will you help me or not?" Jess asked,

"Uh, yeah let's go" Rook nodded.

"Sweet let's roll" Jess said quickly before turning and taking off into the treeline.

"Hey, come on, wait up!" he called out as he tried to catch up to her.

* * *

"Anyways, I'm lookin' at the price and I'm like _fuck that _and then I ask Lorna if she has some shit in the back, while she's back there I just take them" Jess said, finishing her story.

The two had been walking for a good five minutes, Rook caught up to Jess early on and began conversating, but surprisingly, Jess was the talker between the two of them._  
_  
"Yeah, there real expensive these days" Rook replied, half listening to her story about her tricking a truck stop attended so she could steal a few things off the shelves, he was too focused on his surroundings to really absorb her story, he was to focused on making sure no peggies got the jump on them, or even a few disgruntled film crew members"

"So, what's up your ass?" Jess asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, turning to look at the woman.

"You've just been nodding your head, and agreeing with whatever I say, by now you would have tried to make some shitty joke or tell me not to steal or something" Jess said.

"Well uh, I don't know, I guess, today has been pretty rough" Rook explained.

"What, feel outta bed or something?" Jess teased.

"Naah, nothing like that, but uh, hey can I ask you a question?" Rook asked.

"Sure, why not?" Jess replied.

"So, er… how do you do it, I mean how do you just like, not feel remorse for causing so much suffering to the peggies?" Rook asked.

"What, you fucking for real?" Jess asked, looking at the Junior Deputy, her face scrunched up in a mix of confusion and disgust.

"They're fucking no good shit heel peggies, fuck them all, all they do hurt and take and kill and destroy, fuck them all" she spat.

"Ok sure but I mean like, do you ever feel bad for like, ever going to far?" Rook asked again.

"There's no such thing as going to far with these fucks, they all deserve to burn in hell" Jess growled.

"But do the bodies you make like, stay in your head?" Rook asked a third time.

"Fuck no, I kill 'em all and move on" she said.

"Not even once, even when you started your er, crusade?" Rook asked.

"What are you talking about, of course not… wait, dude are you-" Jess started to say but was cut off as they heard a scream in the distance.

"Cut! Can someone _please_ take care of that!"

The scream made both the Junior Deputy and the Huntress jump to attention, getting to caught up in they're conversation, they both looked at each other briefly before picking up speed and silently moving to the origin of the scream. They jogged through the woods for a few minutes before the two could see something through the trees, causing them to slow down, allowing them to see what look like a movie set, large cameras, boom mics, and everything one would see at a studio, all being manned by people operating said equipment, all of the people that had a gun strapped to their torso's and had various minor bandages wrapped to various parts of their bodies, all of their equipment circled around the mouth of a large cave the had been retrofitted with props to make the area more futuristic but what for what painfully stood out to him was a majority of the props and environment had an ungodly amount neon and ultraviolet lights, so much that it felt like he was in a club, they slowly crept closer to the shot to see what exactly was going on.

"Hey pal, I though I gave you distinct orders to make sure that exactly that would not happen!" a man yelled.

Then man wearing an ugly Hawaiian shirt and generic baseball cap stomped into the middle of the area to where a nervous man stood and began berating him for whatever he did or did not do.

"Holy fucking Christ dude!" He heard Jess practically yelled.

The yell cause Rook to jump, he was not expecting Jess to be so vocal all of a sudden, not only that but her arm shot up and grabbed his upper arm with a iron grip, shaking him slightly.

"Dude! Dude! Dude! do you have any idea who that is?!" She cried, using her free hand to point at the angry man giving the orders.

Rook turned his head to look at Jess, her eyes wide as saucers and he couldn't quite describe the look on her face, he wasn't sure if she was scared or happy.

"What, no, I have no idea who that guy is?" Rook said.

Jess turned to Rook, her expression melted into pure surprisal.

"Dude, that's _the_ fucking Guy Marvel!" She cried, shaking the Junior Deputy again.

"Who is that again?" Rook asked, a part of him felt like he would regret asking.

"What the fuck do you mean you forgot, he's the guy that directed the Blood Dragon movies!" she cried.

"The Blood Dragon movies?" Rook echoed back, the mention of the name sparked some memory deep within him, some post apocalyptic, military rebel movie that Jess said she greatly enjoyed.

"Dude, we should totally talk to him, it sounds like he needs help" Jess said, sounding quite interested in what was going on, shaking Rook a little bit again, still holding on to him.

"I don't suppose you can let go of me first?" Rook asked, looking the hand clamped onto to his arm.

"Oh, right uh sorry" Jess said quickly, she had forgot all about her grip on him and retracted her had, for a few seconds she appeared to be her normal stoic self before looking eager to see what was going on.

"So, you wanna check this out" Rook asked, it was clear she was interested in this.

"Yes, let's do it" Jess said quickly.

"Then let's go" Rook said, take a few steps towards the film shot, gesturing her to follow.

"Hold on, gimme a second" Jess said as for once she actually lowered her jacket's hood then ran a hand through her hand a few times, pushing a few lose strains back.

"This seems really important to you huh?" Rook stated, watching the whole thing.

"The guy made my favorite movies ever, if I'm going to talk to him, I don't wanna look like serial killer" Jess retorted quickly.

"But Jess, you are a serial killer, you kill like twelve dudes a day" Rook said.

"You know what I fuckin' mean" Jess huffed.

"So, we going in there or what?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah.. let's go" Rook said, after pausing for a few seconds, he was caught off guard momentarily, Jess had always hid behind her hood, so to see her with it down with an attempt to look half decent was quite the surprise, more so when he noticed she looked.. nice.

"Then let's get a move on then" she said as she quickly walked toward Guy

"Uh Hello!" Rook said loudly, coming up behind Jess, waving a hand grabbing the attention of Guy and the filming crew.

"Hey, what the hell you doing here?!" Guy said angrily, pointing an accusing finger at Rook and Jess.

"Hey man, couldn't help but notice your having a bit of trouble here" Jess said.

"Yeah, what's it to you" Guy huffed.

"Well as big fans of your works and are willing to help you out" Jess offered.

"Oh really?" Guy said, his expression and tone greatly softened, the angry man quickly became interested in them, happy even.

"Well I why didn't you say so" Guy smiled before snapping his fingers a few times.

"Diego!" he called out to one of the people behind the many pieces of filming equipment.

"Give my fans a little something, yeah?" he called out.

A few seconds later a nervous looking man sped walked towards Rook and Jess and presented them with two large rolls of paper, Jess did not hesitate to take it, but Rook was a little more hesitant and debated on taking it for a few seconds before accepting, upon taking it the nervous man retreated back behind the line of filming equipment. Jess wasted no time unrolling the paper, instead of Rook unrolling his he just watched Jess unroll it to reveal it was a large, colorful poster depicting the movie they were filming, at the top of the poster was decorated with a myriad of black sharpie signatures of all the actors, but Guy's signature was the largest of them all.

"Fuckin' awesome" she grinned before rolling it back up and tucking it into her quiver, among the arrows, before looking over at the Junior Deputy and his poster.

"I'll hold on to that for you" Jess said as she quickly took Rook's poster and rolled it up before tucking it into her quiver like she had done with hers.

"Uh, sure thanks" Rook replied

"So, what can we help you with Mister Marvel?" Jess asked, turning back to the director.

"Well you see were trying to film a scene where our hero; Rex Power Colt enters the haunted cyber cave to hunt the allusive Blood Dragon, but every fucking time we go down there, a bunch of drugged up psychos jump out like they're dead living zombies, those thing people hear called angles or whatever, we kept putting them down but more just keep coming" Guy explained.

"Oh, angel's, yeah fuck those guys, we can totally clear those fuckers out for you" Jess said nonchalantly.

"Hey if you cleat them out, it would be big ups for us if you could do it" Guy said almost begging.

"Sure, we'll do it" Jess said turning to Rook.

"You wanna get in on this?" she asked.

"Uh yeah… sure why not, I don't mind helping a friend" Rook said, slowly taking the AK-47 off his shoulder.

"Fantastic" guy said, clapping his hands once.

"Then get in and do the movie world proud" he said as he ushered them to the mouth of the cave.

The two didn't argue back as they entered the cave proper, the cave led into a large hollowed out cavern, the cavern looked somewhat empty; a few bright neon scaffoldings were placed around the cavern along with a few other props as well as a few angels lay on the ground.

"So uh, where are they?" Rook asked, holding his gun close.

"We probably shoulda asked how many there are" Jess replied.

"Hold on, I got an idea, cover your ears" Rook instructed, and Jess did what she was told and covered her ears.

With Jess's ears protected, Rook pointed his AK up and the air and fired once, the gunshot echoed all around the room for a few seconds before the room fell silent again, a few seconds later, the few angels that lay motionless on the ground stirred then rose, growling and gurgling.

"Here we go" Jess said as she uncovered her ears and got her bow ready.

"Be careful, it's dark in here" Rook replied as he raised his gun and fired at one angel, unloading almost half a clip into it before it fell over again, bleeding profusely

"Yeah, Yeah, just don't shoot up the props to much" she retorted as she shot an arrow through another angel's throat, dropping him as well.

"We're fighting our lives, and your more concerned with props!?" Rook yelled over his gunfire, shooting a few more angels before reloading, taking a few glances off his gun and looked up occasionally to make sure no one was charging him.

He placed the fresh magazine into his gun and raised it to fire, but as he pulled the trigger, nothing happened, he could feel the gun try to fire but yet it couldn't, he could only conclude it was jammed.

"Hey, I think I'm jammed, can you cover me?" he yelled as he began running backwards as a peggie saw the Junior Deputy's dilemma and charged him.

"Don't worry I got you" Jess cried as she reached into her quiver and pulled something out, and in one quick motion loaded it into her bow and fired, it gracefully sailed through the air and collided into the side of the angel's head and bounced of harmlessly, as it collided with it's head Jess realized that the thing she shot from her bow was not an arrow, but it was in fact one of the posters she had stored in her quiver. The angel in question didn't seem to care about being it and kept chasing Rook.

"Oh, fuck me" Jess muttered, annoyed at herself.

"Did you seriously just shoot a poster at an angel?!" Rook shouted nervously as the charging angel drew near and about how he couldn't un-jam his gun.

"Shut the fuck up!" Jess yelled back and quickly loaded another arrow into her bow and tried again, just like the last shot, the arrow soared through the air and slammed into the angel's head, dropping him.

As the angel hit the ground a dead bullet was ejected from Rook's AK, assuming that was the problem with the gun, Rook raised the gun at the last remaining angel and held down the trigger, causing a hail of bullets to come out the tip of the gun, dropping the angel.

"So uh, is that all of them?" Rook asked, ceasing fire and looking around.

"No way, there has to be more then like what, four of them?" Jess replied looking at the bodies.

"Then where are they?" Rook asked again, taking in the only entrance or exit to the cave was back the way they came.

"They seriously couldn't deal with like four peggies?" Jess said, sounding a little deflated.

"To be fair, they can't feel pain and become super tough" Rook retorted.

"Whatever dude let's get outta here" Jess said as she turned to the cave exit and moved towards it but stopped briefly pick up the poster and placed it back into her quiver before they exited the cave.

As Rook and Jess exited the cave they saw Guy running towards them, looking like an excited child.

"Holy fuck, that was incredible, we have a few live cameras in down there and we saw everything" Guy cheered as he ran up to the two and skidded to a stop a few feet away.

"Thanks dude, but it wasn't that exciting" Jess replied.

"Those pussies back in Hollywood could learn something from you the ferocity you showed. Grrr. Intense, frightening, you made me shit my pants a little but I liked it and now I can finally spray my magic all of this film, Blood Dragon three will be a masterpiece, it has to be I fucking refuse to go back on working on repetitive shit like _Far Cry_ I rather put my balls in a vice then touch that shit, you guys saved my movie!" Guy huffed quickly, saying as much as he could.

Rook did not necessarily like Guy, he spoke way to fast and was quite loud, his time on the police force had taught him guys like him usually act like that had something to hide, but the way he spoke about his movie made Rook feel like he was serious about his intentions here, and well Jess didn't detect anything threatening about the place, but then again he wasn't sure if Jess was still acting like her usual self at this point.

"No problem dude" Jess waved off.

"I'll do whatever I can to help make this movie come out" she nodded.

"Then consider your name in the credits" guy grinned while pointing at her.

"Oh, and uh, you too" he said, glancing at Rook.

"I'm Jessica Black, and the boy scout here is Rook" Jess said.

"you got it, now I appreciate the help, but now that the fucking cave is empty out I gotta start filming again, so close set, I need you to get the fuck out of here" Guy said.

"You got it thank you again for everything Mister Marvel" Jess said as she turned to leave, grabbing Rook by the arm and pulled him away with her off set, back towards the gravel road and to the truck.

"So that was something, huh?" Rook said as they got far enough

"Fucking cool, that's what" she replied.

"I never thought I'd help a movie get made… well these past few weeks I've been doing a lot of things I thought I'd never do but I'm sure you know what I mean" Rook said.

"Hell yeah dude, I'd just watch the movie just to see my name in the credit" Jess smirked.

"Yeah that's actually pretty cool, I don't think the concept has hit me yet" Rook remarked.

Jess was silent for a few moments before responding.

"Hey so, uh you remember how yesterday I said how I was going hunting then I wanted to talk you about something?" Jess asked, somewhat quietly, rolling up her hood again.

"Oh, yeah, to be honest I totally forgot about that" Rook admitted.

"Ok so then I'm just going to say what I wanted to say so listen boysc- uh.. Deputy, I know most of the time we roll together I'm usually a total cunt, making life harder for you, but for some fucking reason you still stand by me, treating me like a good person even when you were justified to fuck me over, but for some reason you still haven't, you've always been a good guy no matter what, and what I'm trying to say is, thank you, for not being another asshole, or abandoning me or whatever and that well… I feel like I can trust you, I mean I do trust you, but I mean I actually trust you.. like a friend" she finally said while adjusting her hood, pulling it down further as if it could cover more of her face.

It was obvious she was uncomfortable saying these things, but it wasn't because she was forcing her self to, it felt like she was just unused to showing this side of herself, Rook didn't blame her, who knows just how long she'd been living off the forest hunting peggies. But despite her struggle to get it all out, Rook found it almost refreshing, she was always scowling or emotionless stoicism, he hadn't seen her open up like this since after they took down John's _YES_ sign, it left a warm pang in him to see that she was finally warming up to him and someone like her was willing to call someone like him a friend.

"Wow Jess, coming from you that mean's a lot, it's really nice to hear your willing to step out of your comfort zone for little old me, I know you have a bit of a record of having a hard time saying these kinds of things, so thank you for sharing this with me" Rook said.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it, I'm just letting you know where we stand" she replied.

"Well sure, but it's nice to hear you think of us as actual trusting friends, Jessica" Rook said.

"Oh, don't you fuckin' dare" Jess huffed sticking a finger a Rook.

"What, you call me boy scout all the time, I need to call you something other then just Jess" Rook said.

"Just Jess is fine dude, I don't need a nickname" Jess replied.

"Well ok, if you insist, so, Just Jess, what do you wanna do now?" Rook asked, smiling at his terrible joke.

"No, don't even, that's fucking shit and you know it" She huffed, looking at Rook as she said it, but unbeknownst to her she wore the smallest of smiles as she told him off.

"Yeah, yeah, say that again with a straight face" Rook grinned, picking up on the smile.

"The fuck you talking about, I'm serious as always" she replied.

"Wait, your serious as always? I thought you just said your Just Jess?" Rook joked, feinting confusion.

"I will fucking kill you, I swear to god" Jess declared, earning the Junior Deputy a playful punch in the arm and a small grin from Jess.

"What are you going to do, use your bow to fire another poster at me?" Rook smirked.

"You're just looking to get your ass kicked, huh, what's going on with you, your usually as passive as a deer" Jess retorted.

"I don't know what your talking about, I've always been like this" Rook shrugged.

He felt like her question wasn't a part of their banter but a serious question, if he was honest with himself he did feel different, whatever he felt in the lobby room made him feel different, he still did, Whitehorse sugar-coated it but he implied he was traumatized, but Rook couldn't see how that would affect his interactions with his friends, he didn't feel any different speaking to Jess at all, if anything he felt a little better then he normally did, Rook thought about bringing up what happened in the lobby room but decided against it, whatever energy that was built up between the two felt nice, felt right, why ruin it by talking about something that may or may not have actually traumatized him, he felt it was best to bring it up another day.

"So uh, you still wanna go hunting or what?" she asked, pulling Rook out of his head.

"I left my bow in the truck, I could go get it then we could go if you want?" Rook offered.

"Sounds like a plan, Boy scout" she smirked.


	16. Chapter 16

"Ok, easy now, just like we went over" Jess said, her voice barely above a whisper.

The Huntress and the Junior Deputy had been crouched within some shrubbery, they had been hunting a large deer for the past few hours now, for some reason Jess was quite adamant on making Rook bagging the game. Rook was as still as he could be, trying to line up a half decent shot that would subdue the animal as it nibbled on the grass at its feet with his makeshift bow and arrow. Perched on Rook's shoulder, Jess quietly instructing him on the proper way to take down the deer, while making very delicate adjustments to his arms to improve his chance of making his shot half decent.

"There's no wind, you can do it" she whispered.

"Shh, I'm trying to focus" Rook whispered back, closing one eye, trying to predict where his arrow would go.

"Don't try, just do, believe in yourself" Jess replied a few decibels louder, giving Rook a small nudge.

"I believe your throwing off my aim" Rook said before slowly exhaling before his fingers slipped off the arrow tail causing it to launch forward and sailed right into the side of the deer's neck.

The deer cried in a mixture of pain and surprise as it fell over onto the ground and squirmed, huffing and puffing before falling still.

"See, told ya you could do it, seventh times the charm" she joked as she gave him a friendly arm punch then stood up and walked over to the fresh kill.

"I could totally do it no problem, just didn't want to upstage you and make you feel outdone" Rook retorted.

"Uh-huh sure you were dude, tell you what Master Hunter, why not prove it and lug your game all the way back to the truck?" Jess said, approaching the deer and pulling out the deer.

"Well I would most certainly take you up on such an offer, but you see, the thing his lifting and carrying his more of a manual thing not a hunting thing so I can't really prove it" Rook shrugged as he stood up, feinting ignorance.

"Ri-ight, ok, then let me show you how a woman does things around here" Jess smirked as she placed Rook's makeshift arrow into her quiver then bent down and grabbed a handful of deer in each hand and pulled up and shifted the weight of the animal up to the side and lifted it onto the back of her shoulder and carried it in a way Rook could only refer to as a fireman's carry.

"Holy shit" Rook said in awe over how strong she truly was, he never really knew the upper limits of Jess's strength, but he did know that deer are usually heavy.

"Holy shit is right Boy scout; bet they didn't teach you this back at cop school" she smirked as she began carefully walking back to the direction of the truck.

"Hey uh, I will carry that for you if you want, I was just joking around" Rook said with actual concern, the truck was at least twenty minutes away and didn't want to make her do it while he carries nothing, when he retrieved the bow and arrows from his truck he took off the Kevlar vest and left it in the cabin, making it even easier for him to carry the deer.

"Naah I got it, I did this all the time" Jess said as Rook joined her side, watching her intently.

"Ok, well if that gets to heavy just let me know and we can swap out" Rook offered, feeling a little bad she refused to hand off the deer.

"Yeah sure dude" Jess said, adjusting the weight on her back.

Rook was silent for a time, in a way he felt awkward, he was walking in a forest with woman carrying a deer on her shoulders like it was a normal. If he wanted a conversation he'd have to initiate it, but with the scenario he was in, he didn't know how to build off it, despite their newfound friendship he was sure she still didn't want to talk about her past in detail. When he would hang out with Nick Rye, they just clicked and never run out of things to talk about, to be fair his and Jess's personalities were completely different, with the pilot on Rook's mind, he wondered how Nick was doing, he hadn't heard from him for some time now, perhaps his daughter was recently born and just had his hands full, or maybe something was happening in the valley and Mary May had propositioned him into lending a hand. A part of Rook wished he was here; he missed his friend and was more then certain he would get the conversation going again but then again felt somewhat glad he wasn't here because he could near instantly imagine what would happen, he'd take one good look at Jess and Rook then begin giving Rook a few elbow nudges and sly smiles hinting he should make a move on the woman, Rook knew he'd never actually do it, it wasn't that she unattractive, and the facial scars didn't bother him any, it was more along the lines of he didn't want to ruin what friendship he had built with her, not only that but she didn't like cops, or well anyone with his more softer demeanor.

"Hello, Boy scout, you still in there?" Rook heard Jess say.

"Uh, hey what's up?" Rook said, coming out of his head, looking at his friend beside him.

"I said so you have any other plans for today?" she asked again.

"No actually, Sheriff is giving me some time off" Rook answered

"Wait really, you actually take breaks, here I thought you just go, go, go" Jess said, sounding a little surprise.

"Yeah as much as I would like to just keep working and fight the cult effectively, but Whitehorse kind of gave me mandatory time off" Rook said.

"Why, did you something happen?" Jess asked.

"I well, uh" Rook began to stutter, he had gotten to lax and let to much slip, he didn't want to just come out and say dead peggies affected him more then live ones.

"Oh boy must have been something big" Jess mused.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, hoping it would change the subject.

"Your doing that Porky Pig speech impediment thing again, you only do that when your nervous or embarrassed" Jess explained.

"So, what's got your panties in a wad?" Jess asked.

Rook was hesitant to ask, he felt if he answered she'd insult him or even get angry at him, he could just hear her now "_How dare you feel remorse for the fuckers that kill and take from people, these sick fucks torture people fuck them, asshole" _ he genuinely didn't know how to answer.

"I uh, when I was with Sharky and Hurk, we were fighting peggies, and well things just got rough, we got out fine, but things got a little dark... well pretty dark to me I guess" Rook nervously explained.

Jess was silent for a moment before speaking.

"I was kind of waiting for this to happen?" she finally said.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Rook replied, surprised in more way then one.

"Well, I saw how you acted when we went to the thermal plant, all twitchy and moody, the pressure was really getting to you, so of course something was going to fuck you up eventually" Jess spoke.

"How do you know something would just get to me?" Rook questioned.

"Well when I first saw you when I was in that cage, you had no idea what you were doing, like you've never did anything like this before, I bet you've never even killed someone before coming here, you went from meter maid to solider, I saw a lot of people go through the same thing in the beginning and saw a lot of people break because of it" Jess explained.

"And what you think I'm going to break too?" Rook asked, half afraid she would say yes.

"Fuck no" Jess replied, saying it like she was offended.

"Dude you've been clearing out the peggie outpost things mostly by yourself, you kill peggies like Jason fucking Voorhees slashing up campers, your built to fight dude, hell, you got grabbed by motherfucking John _and_ Faith Seed and here you are, out hunting like nothing is wrong in the world" Jess surmised confidently.

"Gee thanks, Jess, you uh, you made me feel better about the whole thing" Rook grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, yeah, someone has to take of ya… so what happened, what did you see or do that really made you twist up inside?"

"I erm, threw a grenade at some peggies and the explosion kind of chewed them up some" Rook explained.

"Seriously that's it?" Jess said disappointed.

"You started in the valley, it's a hell of a lot worse there then it is there, John's dudes like, hang people from trees with their sins or whatever carved into them, Faith does fuck all besides the angels and bliss shit"

"I don't know, I guess it's because I caused the grenade thing, I activity caused it" Rook said, trying to understand his feelings.

"Dude don't worry about it, they probably would have done worse shit if they caught you" Jess said, trying to reassure him.

"So I'm told" Rook muttered.

"Just keep doing what your doing and you'll do fine" Jess said as the truck came into view, it was still right where they left it, parked off to the side of the gravel road that led back onto the main road.

"Fuckin finally" Jess moaned in relief.

"Wow I thought we were further out" Rook said in awe.

"We were but we talked the whole way" Jess said as they approached the truck.

"Man, we really cleared some distance" Rook said, looking back at the way they had come form.

"About fuckin' time too" she huffed as she dropped the deer at the foot of the truck before standing up again to stretch her back out.

"Hey gimme a hand with this" Jess said, bending back down and grabbed two hand full of deer and looked up at the Junior Deputy.

"Oh, yeah sure" Rook said before bending down and grabbing the deer just like Jess did and the two lifted the deer and placed it in the flatbed.

"Alright, let's get this bad boy home and eat" Jess smirked, wiping her hands together.

"Yeah let's get out of here" Rook said as he pulled the truck keys from his pocket and opened the door to the truck and climbed in, seconds later Jess climbed into the passenger seat as Rook started up the truck.

"Hey Boy scout" Jess said, turning to look at Rook.

"Hey" Rook echoed back softly, returning her gaze.

"If you ever need to blow off some steam, let me know, you shouldn't keep it all inside, trust me" she said quietly.

"You got it, thank you Just Jess" Rook grinned.

The comment had earned him a less then friendly punch in the arm.

"Careful Boy scout, or I'll really give you some trauma" Jess said with a shark tooth grin.

* * *

The electronic clock in the truck struck three-thirty in the afternoon as Rook and Jess pulled up in front of the prison and parked in the parking lot off to the side, and to Rook's surprise, a few more vehicles then usual parked in the lot, he thought maybe something was happening in his absence.

"Oh boy, looks like the circus is in town" Jess sighed as Rook found a place to park the car and killed the engine.

"I wonder what's going on?" Rook asked, trying to count the vehicles, from what he could see he counted seven extra cars then usual.

"Doesn't matter now, let's get the meat inside" Jess replied as she opened her door and climbed out.

Rook silently agreed and climbed out of the truck and met her at the back and the two lifted the deer out the back of the truck and brought it inside, it took some time getting the deer to the kitchen as they struggled to get the deer through a few doors due to it's size weight and antlers, the maneuvering of the deer caused a few people to stop and stare at the spectacle, some out of curiosity and some anticipation as the deer was the most edible meat in the prison for quite some time, eventually the Junior Deputy and the Huntress got the deer to the kitchen backroom where the kitchen crew happily took the meat and began preparing it.

"Hey, I brought that back, so I expect to be the first one to be fed" Jess demanded as she left the backroom and entered the cafeteria with Rook right behind her.

"Don't worry Jess, we'll get some" Rook said as he gently put his hands on her upper back and pushed her slightly as she almost stopped walking to make her demands.

"They better or I'm not bringing back any more meat" she said indignantly.

"Come on, let's go do something to kill time, it will probably take them a while to get it ready" Rook offered.

"Sure, but this is bullshit I could get it ready in no time flat" she sighed.

"I'm sure you can, but hey, I need to check in on the Sheriff and see what's going on" Rook said.

"Ugh, really, what happened to time off" Jess replied, disappointed.

"I just wanna see if anything is going down, you saw it yourself there is a bunch more trucks outside, I just wanna see if everything is ok" Rook answered.

"Nothing has been ok for a long time though so why bother?" Jess said.

"You know what I mean, if meeting are still your thing then come on, if not I'm sure you can do something to kill like five, ten minutes" Rook said.

"Ok, fine, run along, go do your thing, your lucky I have something in mind to do" Jess sighed before walking towards the cafeteria exit.

Rook was almost surprised with how fast she left as usually she would have put up a fight by stating how he shouldn't let himself be ordered around and should just think for himself, but instead she just appeared annoyed with him putting work in front of his time off, not only that but he was somewhat surprised she actually had something to do in a small amount of time, some part of him hoped it was nothing that would get her in trouble. But with Jess out of the way, he decided not to waste any of the time he had bought and went straight to the command room where the Sheriff mostly resided, thankfully the main holding area was very close to the cafeteria and made it to the command center in no time at all.

Pushing through the big doors, Rook's eyes immediately went to the table that they normally planned things on at the far end of the room, at said table stood Tracey, Virgil and Grace, but the Sheriff was not. Unsure of where he could be, Rook took a few more steps further into the room, scanning his surroundings, looking for anyone in green and wearing a Stetson hat. He headed towards the table in hopes of his friends would know where the Sheriff was but stopped as he heard the Sheriff's voice.

"Hey there kid, welcome back" Whitehorse said.

Rook turned to see Whitehorse before him, most likely emerging from a ground level cell.

"Oh, hey Boss, is something going on, there's a lot of truck's outside?" Rook asked.

"In your absence we've been working on to projects, one hopefully short term and the other long" Whitehorse said.

"So, anything I can do to help?" Rook asked.

"Kid, you can listen in to keep you up to date, but I don't expect you to get to work" Whitehorse said.

"Uh ok, sure" Rook shrugged, if he was honest with himself, he truly didn't know if he was ready or not to get back to work.

"Alright then come on" Whitehorse said as he gestured Rook to follow him back to the main planning table where Tracey, Virgil, and Grace waited for them.

As Rook joined everyone at the table he exchanged pleasantries with everyone present before Whitehorse began the meeting.

"So, ladies and gentlemen, we have two immediate problems at hand, our short term problem is the angels, for some reason they're starting to form large groups, and I'm sure you all can figure out why that's bad, but the real problem about this is that they're attracted to noise so when our guys are out doing a job and get into a fire fight there's a good chance that a angel herd will just show up and make things a lot harder, now we have a plan to deal with this of course but it doesn't hold water to well but it's the best we got, for those who don't know we plan to use our excess of vehicles in an attempt to corralling them to a secluded area" Whitehorse finished, earning a few groans of disbelief from those listening.

"Dude, for real?" Tracey moaned.

"If you have any better idea's I'd love to hear it" Whitehorse said.

"They aren't cattle, these are people we are talking about, poor sick people" Virgil voiced his concerns.

"I'm well aware of what they are, but what other options do we have, they aren't like the peggies, they show fear, they show emotions but these angels are just going off instinct, we can't trick them or lure them anywhere, they're gone inside" Whitehorse said glumly, crossing his arms.

Rook had almost forgotten about angels as he had a full plate most of the time and more recently just had a lot on his mind but the talking of the angels reminded him of the very brief skirmish he and Jess and even farther back in his memory, his first encounter with one on his way to the prison for the first time, how animalistic the thing was, how inhumane it was, it felt unreal that a single drug made such a thing, there had to be some cure or sedative to fix them Rook thought, before the doctor; Charles Lindsey popped into his head.

"Well what about Doctor Lindsey, I gave him some papers or something that could help him make something or other that could help?" Rook offered.

"I just checking in with him, still no progress on stopping the effects of bliss" Whitehorse grimaced.

"I fucking knew it would be a waste of time and resources, he should just stick too being a doctor!" Tracey growled as she rapped her fist onto the table once in anger.

"Tracey please try to show some restraint" Virgil said, turning to the angry woman, extending a hand in an attempt to calm her somehow but she recoiled at his touch.

"How can I calm down, the vet is just another fucking drain on our very limited resources, we can't just sit on our asses waiting for him to make some miracle that will just make the bliss go away" Tracey cried.

"Tracey" Grace said, finally speaking up.

"I'm just as angry as you are, but lashing out like this won't get us anywhere, we need to focus and deal with this one step at a time" Grace said, trying to console her.

"Tracey, Miss Armstrong is right, getting angry won't solve our problems, we need to calm down and think" Whitehorse said.

Rook was about to open his mouth to offer something that could calm her down but stopped when suddenly he felt a weight on his left shoulder, he rotated his head to look at whatever was on his shoulder and was to surprised to see it was Jess, she had placed her forearm on the end of his shoulder and ever so slightly leaned in on him, she did this as if this was normal between the two of them, she stared at the table, clearly disinterested in whatever was being talked about and was most likely here because she was waiting for Rook to finish up.

"Oh uh, hey Jess" Rook said, a little nervous that the woman and suddenly invaded his personal space.

"Sup" she clucked, she sounded just as bored as she looked

"Oh, hey Black, welcome to the meeting, glad to have you here, do you need something or you just jumping in for shits and grin?" Tracey grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Nah, just waiting for boy scout here, he was given some time off from whatever you guys talk about so we can head out again" Jess said.

"So, you're not going to help then, so then can you just leave us alone if you're not going to contribute" Tracey asked, but before anyone could respond, Rook jumped in.

"Now hold on a minute Tracey, maybe Jess could help with the angel thing, she taught me how to use a bow so maybe her, myself and Grace with a silencer can just silently pick off the angels instead of chasing them all of the place, I mean what's the worst that can happen, drugs cant make you impervious to headshot" Rook offered.

"Fuck it, sure, I'll glass anyone, just don't expect me to follow orders like another soldier or whatever" Jess said, finally showing some sort of interest.

"No way, we ain't doing that" Tracey demanded.

"Why not, it's a better idea then corralling them" Grace asked.

"Guys" Tracey said quickly, looking at Grace and Virgil.

"She obviously doesn't care if she's killing peggies, the poor people who became angels, or some random dudes, she's just a goddamn psychopath that has no respect for anyone, just look how she's treating the deputy" She said pointing at how Jess was leaning on Rook.

"And when she's not doing that she just stands there and says nothing" Tracey finished.

"Rather be silent then run my mouth all day" Jess replied, not skipping a beat, still disinterested in what was going on around her.

Her response clearly ticked off Tracey.

Rook knew exactly what was going on, Tracey was all riled up from Lindsey's lack of success and had no where to put it, and now with Jess here with the give no fucks attitude, she could easily pick a fight with Jess, she would just about do this every time Jess had joined them at the table to scheme some makeshift plan. But for some reason this time, it rubbed him the wrong way, this time Tracey's need to tell Jess off just seemed irritating, she always did this, so why wouldn't that mean she will do it every time Jess joined them, he really wasn't looking forward to listening to her bickering in the future.

"Tracey" Rook suddenly interjected.

His voice carried a shadow of annoyance, it went unnoticed to the Junior Deputy himself, but was detected by those around him, all those who were at the table looked at him, curious to what had agitated him.

"Listen I apologize if I sound rude but Jess and I are actually out there, risking our lives and getting things done, not only that but Jess here has saved my life many times and I would want to have her here as someone who is actively watching my back and is someone I can count on as a friend and when things get intense, I don't think I've ever even seen you hold a gun, to be honest I much rather have her here more then you" Rook said, crossing his arms.

No one said anything for a few seconds, caught off guard over what he had said.

"I'm sorry but that's how I feel" Rook said again, reaffirming his point.

"Ok everyone" Whitehorse said, filling in the silence, hoping to defuse the situation.

"I can see that this might be a little difficult to plan, so why don't we put a pin in it and come back to this later?" He offered.

"Yeah maybe we should" Tracey said sternly, crossing here arms and staring down Rook.

"Alright then" Whitehorse muttered, eyeing everyone present.

"Then that brings us to our long-term problem; Faith Seed, we need to make a serious plan to stop her for good" Whitehorse said.

The prospect of Faith coming up in conversation made Rook nervous, the conversations he had with Faith swam to the front of his memory, one of which he willingly committed to entering a actual friendship with the woman they were conspiring to arrest, or even kill if need be, he wasn't sure if he should even let his friends know about what he formed with Faith, would they trust him if he did, would Jess and Tracey tear him a new one for it, would Whitehorse fire him on the spot for it, Rook could just feel all the possibilities build off of what he could say, so instead Rook decided to talk about his work once Faith gives him something that could actually help.

"She is most likely hiding in her bunker, but Lord knows we can just get in there" Grace said, snapping Rook back to attention.

"Well if we know where this bunker is the why don't we just camp out b the entrance, keep track of who comes and goes, wait for an opening then strike?" Rook asked.

"Believe me kid, that was one of our first plans, but the place is just to well guarded to get close and even if we were to punch through it, there's a large door designed to withstand a nuclear blast and locked from the inside" Whitehorse explained.

"And besides we can only assume she has hostage" Whitehorse muttered.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked.

"There's a strong chance she still has our good friend Cameron Burke, now I don't know if he's even still in the Henbane, or even alive, but the Henbane is where he got grabbed so we can only hope Faith is squeezing him for info" Whitehorse said.

Burke, Rook had completely forgotten about the U.S. Marshall, he barely had a history with the man and never met him until a few days before leaving to arrest Joseph, anything that came before entering Hope's County felt half forgotten to him, too concerned with the well-being of his newfound friends, co-workers and citizens of the county to worry about anything else.

"She's not torturing him or anything, that's more John's thing" Tracey said, causing everyone to look back to her.

Faith is the poster girl; she wouldn't be tasked with some like pulling info out a guy" she explained.

"Regardless of where he really is or what has happened to him, we still need to be careful as we move in for the kill at her bunker" Whitehorse ordered.

"So, to make a long story short, it's all going to come down to luring her out of her bunker somehow" he surmised.

"Again, I say we should blow up that god-awful statue of Joseph, that would really piss both Joseph and Faith, she'd come running out to find a way to make it up to him probably" Tracey muttered.

"What would we even blow it up with, we have no real explosives" Virgil replied.

"But still, it would do us wonders if we brought that thing down, just imagine it, all the peggies lose their minds and we all celebrate, and besides I once heard that when he first hearing the _voice of god_ or whatever he wrote some of that shit down and stored it up in the top of the statue, or something along those lines" Tracey responded.

"Regardless of what's inside the statue, there's just no way that thing is coming down any time soon, so we're just going to start low before we really start swinging" Grace answered.

"So, then we should just keep destroying here bliss fields?" Virgil offered.

"She won't give a shit; she'll just get someone to grow more" Tracey huffed.

"Speaking of bliss, there's always that Feeney character that seems to be the head of bliss growth?" Grace asked.

"That's a good question" Whitehorse said, shifting around a few papers that cluttered the table to reveal a comprehensive map of the county.

"Let's say he's not in back at her bunker, where would he would he be?" he questioned.

The question prompted everyone to lean in slightly to get a better view of the map in hopes of seeing the landmarks would inspire ideas.

"What about here?" Grace said pointing to a landmark right by the river.

"Drubman marina, close to a body of water, good enough to keep the plants hydrated and the river could be used to transport the stuff up and down the region" she surmised.

It's not a bad spot but that river could work two ways, we could also come down the river and start kicking in doors, it seems to risky for the head chemist to set up shop" Whitehorse answered.

"What about the Whistling Beaver Brewery?" Virgil asked pointing to the location.

"I don't know to much about botany or drug creation, but the brewery have very large brewing casks, they could cook a lot of drugs in them or something like that" he said.

"Your right, that is a good place to make bliss, we can but that on the list and keep looking just in case" Whitehorse replied, writing the places name down on a scrap of paper.

Rook stared at the map, contemplating where this Feeney could possibly be, he never met let alone seen the guy so all he had to go off of was he was the head chemist of bliss production, Rook had very limited experience in deductive reasoning, it was more of a detective thing more then a Junior Deputy thing, but he had a very basic understanding of it, if he wanted to catch Feeney he would have to think like him, the last chance they had at getting the chemist was when they stormed the Jessop conservatory, sure it was secluded, but it was so secluded that any requested help would take a while to show up so why did he set up there, what did the location provide. The building was large, big rooms, multiple floors, the estate the building was expansive enough to have multiple greenhouses, so with all that being said, that had to be his ideal set up if it was not based in the bunker, so if he were to lose it, he'd be pretty upset, so after the heat dies down where would go to try to reopen shop?

"OK guys, well I'm mot exactly a brilliant detective or anything but I have an idea of where Feeney could be so hear me out" Rook said pulling everyone's attention off the map and onto himself, Jess even came off his shoulder and took a step back to hear him out.

"So the last place we almost got him was that Jessop conservatory right, and that place was huge, it had three floors and big rooms, and had a bunch of bliss fields on it and we took it all away from him, so where would he go to get a similar location to continue his thing?" Rook asked.

"But where would such a place be?" Virgil asked, bringing a hand up to his chin.

"What if he left the Henbane for greener pastures?" Grace pondered causing a few noises to signify heavy thinking from the Sheriff.

"I don't know about that, they have everything they need here, why start to move it all over to the valley?" Rook pondered.

"Wait!" Tracey exclaimed, snapping her fingers.

"What about right here, King's Hot Springs Hotel" she cried pointing to the place on the map.

The hotel sat just below Rock Bass Lake close enough to the lake that it could be used to hydrate the plants but far enough away to minimize boat-based attacks. It was quite close to Sharky's trailer park, about twenty minutes to half an hour away, as far as Rook knew, it had to be the only hotel in the county.

"The place is fucking huge, bigger than Jessop's old place, there's no fences or whatever to fence off the property so it's all rolling hills and it has these big hot springs out back so they wouldn't have to go far for water" she exclaimed loudly.

"Shit I think the Junior Deputy got it figured out" Grace commented, impressed with his line of thinking.

"Wait really, are we just going to assume I'm right?" Rook said, feeling a little anxious as this could just be a false lead.

"Makes sense to me, I like to keep my hunting grounds similar" Jess shrugged, finally speaking.

"This ain't the same, animals and drugs are totally different things, but still" Tracey sighed.

"This could actually lead to something the hotel should be on the top of the list" she said.

"My thought exactly, I think we should strike while nothing is giving us grief" Whitehorse decided.

"What's the plan, chief?" Tracey asked.

"Tracey, can you get on the horn and start letting people know to stay away from the hotel and brewery, we don't want to spook anyone if their inside" Whitehorse ordered before turning to Grace.

"Grace, get some people together and go over some maps to find the best place to camp out and watch the hotel and see if anyone's home, if anyone is home keep an eye on them as long as it takes to learn their routes so we can strike" he ordered, then turned to the former mayor.

"Virgil, can you make sure that the infirmary and front door guards ready for action just in case the stakeout goes sideways" Whitehorse finished.

The three people the Sheriff called upon all made noises of affirmation before breaking off from the table to fulfill their assigned duties, leaving the Sheriff, Junior Deputy and Huntress alone at the table.

"Is there anything I can do?" Rook offered.

The sheriff turned to his subordinate and examined him.

"Tell you what kid, as you can see, we're still in the planning stage so if your up to it, once we get something concrete going again I'll call you to lend us a hand?" Whitehorse asked.

"Um, ok sure boss sounds good to me" Rook nodded.

"Glad to hear it, and good job on coming up with the leads, your really turning things around" Whitehorse grinned, giving Rook a tap on the shoulder.

"Well I don't know about that, I'm just doing what I'm being asked to do" Rook guessed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Regardless of what's going on, you and your friend here are really giving Faith a run for her money" Whitehorse said gesturing to Jess.

"And Miss Black, I know we've never really had a chance to properly speak but thank you for keeping an eye on my Junior Deputy, I don't know what we'd do without him" he said.

"It's no biggie, he's more reliable then most people around here, and he somehow earned my trust, fuck knows how he did that so he must be doing something right" Jess shrugged in response.

"Is he now?" Whitehorse asked, cracking a small smirk as he looked at his Junior Deputy who was still looking at his hooded friend.

"Holy crap, I think that was the closest thing to an actual complement was I ever got from you" Rook joked, jumping back into the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, don't expect to many from me, I'm still waiting for you to bring down a deer by yourself first" she said, trying to wave off his comment.

"But hey, the Sheriff just said until your pals get back with something solid your still off the clock, so let's some of that meat we bagged then get the fuck out of here" Jess said, grabbing Rook's arm and limply pulled him towards the rooms exit.

"Wait hold on, I still need to ask Boss a few things" Rook pleaded, trying to pull his arm back as Jess slowly began to pull harder, little by little.

"Get outta here Ben, if I have learned anything in the fifty-five years I've walked this earth is that you should never keep a lady waiting" Whitehorse offered as he pushed up the tip of his Stetson hat.

Rook was almost surprised the Whitehorse was just letting him run off with Jess the last time they spoke about her was when he scolded Rook for shirking his responsibilities and running to learn how to shoot a bow. But as Jess's arm tugging got more aggressive, he gave his boss a hasty goodbye before giving in to Jess and left with her to backtrack to the kitchen and left the command room, the second the door closed behind them; Jess spoke up.

"God, it was so fuckin' boring back there, how do you even stand it?" she moaned.

"Well these things are necessary, no matter how boring, we need to coordinate if we want to win" Rook explained.

"But still, I don't know how you even stand it, it's like listening to the Whitetails again but worse except the bit right where I showed up, like holy shit I wasn't expecting you to take the offensive like that" Jess smirked.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, looking at Jess.

"What the fuck was that back at the big meeting thing, you verbally backhanded Tracey back there" Jess explained.

"She just says the same thing every time you join in on some high-level planning, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is getting tired of having to listening to it and well I was just being honest with how I felt" Rook explained.

"Holy shit dude, I didn't think you were even capable of being a dick" Jess replied, slightly surprised that the Boy scout would actually voice his feelings.

"Wait, was I actually being a dick back there?" Rook asked nervously, he didn't feel like he was doing anything differently, it made him nervous to think he might be seen in a different light, if he was acting differently would it alter the friendships he established, if anything he felt like he acted like he normally did, cautious but courteous.

"Naah dude, embrace it, these people think you're a badass, you are a badass, use it and roll with it" Jess replied.

"I don't know, I don't want to look like a dick" Rook said unsure of her suggestion.

"You gotta live up to your rep" Jess offered.

"I don't know, I really don't want to be seen as a bad guy or anything" Rook said.

"Whatever dude tell you what, just forget about and let's enjoy some of that deer we brought back" Jess grinned, rubbing her hands together in anticipation for the meal.

"But god I hope they didn't fuck up the meat, the deer looked pretty good, it could feed me for days" she complained.

"I'm sure they know what they're doing, they're working in the cafeteria for a reason" Rook offered.

"but they won't do it they way I do it though" Jess moaned.

"How would they know your ways, it's your way" Rook replied.

Jess sighed then remained silent for a few seconds.

"Tell you what, I'll go steal some of our meat back, so wait of me on the roof, ok?" Jess asked.

"The roof?" Rook asked.

"Yeah, you know, that thing over our heads, keeps the rain off and the heat in, get on top of it" Jess said.

"How would I even do that?" Rook asked again.

"There's an emergency exit that leads right up there, but the door is like rusted or something so your going to have to put your shoulder into it" Jess explained.

"OK but why go up there?" Rook asked a third time.

"Quit asking questions and just go" Jess said, pointing off in some direction, Rook could only assume it was where the rooftop access was.

But before Rook could retort of ask more questions, Jess had turned and quickly left for the cafeteria, leaving the man alone with himself in the hall, a part of him wanted to follow the woman but decided against it as she would prove the action a waste of time, so instead he went to find this rooftop access she spoke of.

With minimal searching Rook finally found the rooftop access, it was some small, lonesome, staircase the paint job along the walls seemed chipped and cracked, most likely due to lack of maintenance and neglect. Rook never heard anything about a helicopter landing pad or anything of note, so this staircase was probably only used to repair the roof, as Rook made it to the top, he turned the knob and pushed the door, but just as Jess said, the door refused to budge, it just rattled in place, the door must have been so unused that the hinges must have rusted up, he gave it a harder shove as he tired to open it to no avail, so in response to the door's inability to open, he threw his shoulder into the door, causing the door swing open with a loud creak, emitting from the hinges. As Rook regained his balance he closed the door behind him before venturing onto the center of the roof, with the prison sitting on a hill and Rook on the roof, he was elevated quite high up, too high up, just knowing how high up he was made his fear of heights creep up on him and put a slight tremor in his legs. If not for that he would have actually enjoyed being up there, from there the view was actually quite nice, he could see kilometers of the winding trail that was the Henbane river, countless trees were scattered along the region with a few branches swayed gently in the light breeze, the singing of birds in the distance, despite the ever present fight that took place in the county, the beauty of nature still managed to find it's way back in to fill the void in in between one near death fight for survival to the next. The county appeared like nothing was wrong, no gun toting maniacs waving their guns around trying to fulfill their leader's wishes or dangerous drugs that polluted the region. It almost looked like it was just another day in Hope County, peaceful, quiet, happy, it looked like one of those places where everyone knows everyone by name, but now with the cult ready to take the land by force, people had to know others by name if they wanted a chance surviving this poor excuse of a religious group.

But then the crackling of a walkie talkie filled the air, pulling Rook way from his view of the county, the crackling that poured from his walkie only lasted seconds before the person on the other end started speaking.

"Test, test, one two" the voice came, Rook instantly recognized it as Faith Seed.

The sound of her voice made him jump, it scared him as _the _Faith Seed was personally calling him on his walkie talkie seemingly without reason or warning, it scared him to think that someone might her voice suddenly come through his walkie. The implication and rumors would spread like wildfire, being outcast from the resistance as a whole would be the least of his concerns at that point. Rook frantically looked around his surrounds to make sure he was alone, despite being alone on the roof before responding.

"Uhh, hello?" Rook said nervously.

"Hello Ben, how are you?" Faith asked, as cheerful as ever.

"I'm uh, I'm ok... Uh what about you, how are you" Rook replied.

"I'm good thank you, things have been a little busy here, I've been getting reports from all over the Henbane, it appears your cohorts are getting bolder" Faith cooed.

"Yeah sorry about" Rook apologized, it felt weird to apologize to the woman who was laying siege to such a large region of a single county, but he needed to use this friendship to gain some sort of tactical advantage.

"Oh no, don't apologize, ever since you came to the Henbane, the people here have become more resistant, bolder, your inspiring them to fight, a born leader, you should be proud of that, it's a very good skill to have" Faith praised.

"Well I don't know about, all I'm just doing what I'm told" Rook said, rubbing the back of his head.

"So how have you been, are you well, has my flock been giving you any trouble?" Faith asked curiously.

The events of the boat chase and Eden's Covenant flickered through Rook's mind, causing him to shutter.

"Nope… No problems… just another day at the office" Rook stated, trying to move past the question.

"That's good to hear, as much as appreciate their hard work, I can't have them just lay down they're arms, you I trust but your friends I do not" Faith said.

"I can understand that, as much as I want to end the bloodshed, you got to break a few eggs to make a cake" Rook muttered

"I appreciate your honesty, you know things will get worse before they get better, you're a realist, your so unlike the other men that I cross paths with" Faith replied.

"As a one of Joseph's lieutenants or whatever and his sister, you come across a lot of men?" Rook asked

"Most of the men I speak with are those in my flock as I give them orders, or my brothers, other then that, no" Faith said.

Talking about men Faith as come in contact with made Rook remember that the Sheriff had mentioned the she had the U.S. Marshal Burke in0 her possession.

"Hey so uh, can I ask you a question?" Rook asked sheepishly.

"Of course Ben, you can ask me anything" Faith replied.

"What did you do to Burke?" Rook asked bluntly.

Faith was silent for a few seconds before responding.

"Burke?" She finally said, it was made clear by her tone of voice the question confused her.

The fact that the question confused her had confused the Junior Deputy, if she didn't know who Burke was then that meant she didn't have him in her possession, which meant the peggies outright killed him when they captured him and didn't say anything about it or she was just not informed on his existence.

"Oh you must mean Cameron?" Faith said, her voice picking up slightly.

"You are referring to the U.S. Marshall, are you not?"

"Yeah that's him, Marshall Burke, I take it he is in your custody then?" Rook asked.

"You are correct, and I must say, he is quite happy to be here" Faith beamed.

"What really, why is he so happy?" Rook asked again.

"We were able to open his eyes to the truth and he saw the Father's light" Faith explained.

"Really?" Rook said, not surprised at all.

Rook had never met Burke until it was announced that he would be the warrant officer assisting in Joseph's arrest, which was about three days before the actual arrest, that was more then enough time to figure out just what kind of man Burke is, brash, aggressive, short tempered, and all around rude, the Marshal went even as far as to tease the Junior Deputy repeatedly on his fear of heights within the first five minutes of the helicopter ride to Hope's County. For someone like Burke to just conform to Joseph's ideals was very suspicious, bliss had to have been a vital component to the process.

"Did that eye-opening thing involve bliss?" Rook asked.

"Mm, your just full of questions today, that's good to hear, a curious mind is an open one, but yes we gave him some bliss, but it was not for the reason you think, so please tell me, how well do you know Cameron?" Faith asked.

"Not that well, he showed up at my precinct with the Sheriff saying he's taking point of arresting Joseph, and well.. he didn't let us forget it until we got in the helicopter here" Rook surmised.

"So you do know just what kind of man he is; rude, pigheaded, wants to be the center of attention, so full of pride and wrath, even when he was brought to my gate he was yelling, always yelling, at first we gave him just a little bliss to quiet him down, a while after simmering down he just became so.. receptive to the Father's teaching, one of my flock was reciting some of the Father's teachings to a few others and Cameron was just so interested in what he heard, and now the next thing I know Cameron and I are discussing the Father's work over coffee, like friends, isn't that sweet; a man as angry him, now so happy and loving his place in life" Faith beamed.

"If he's so happy, do you think I could talk to him?" Rook asked.

"I'm sorry Ben but I can't make it happen" Faith replied, sounding a little sad.

"Is that you can't, or you won't?" Rook asked

"Well honestly, both, Cameron isn't hear at the moment, he won't be back for a few days" Faith explained.

"Is he ok?" Rook questioned.

"Oh yes he is fine, more then fine really, he is just away to become a true member of our family" Faith said.

"I know I said I didn't know him that well but I'm sure he probably wouldn't want to join if he was in a clearheaded" Rook said.

"You could be right" Faith said.

"But you could wrong"

"But I could say the same for you and what you had done today" Rook replied.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked.

"You had a few guys out of the lake just dumping bliss into the lake, that could like really ruin the county's ecosystem or something" Rook spoke.

"Well as I said before, Cameron was quite receptive to the Father's teaching while on bliss, as is everyone else, so my High Priestess's line of think was what if we made it so that it was easy to welcome people into the bliss then it would be easier to open their eyes to the Father's teachings" Faith explained.

"Wait, you have a Hight Priestess?" Rook asked in confusion.

"Yes, she is my number two, and she helps me keep everything in check, you actually met her once, but you were in the bliss at the time, so I doubt you remember her" Faith said.

Rook quickly scoured his memory for anyone or anything that could be consider priestly, but nothing came to mind to mind, except for bits and pieces of the very first time Faith had spoken to him.

"Your right, I don't remember her, but uh, I do remember you, sort of, I think we talked about how Joseph saved you from something then we like, flew somewhere" Rook said.

"That's good to hear" Faith beamed.

"I'm glad you remember my story of how the Father picked me up and raised me higher than I could ever carry myself, and he can do the same for you if you give him the chance"

"I'm sure you could have lifted yourself up, you seem like a confident woman, you seem quite capable" Rook said.

Rook could hear Faith chuckle softly on the other end.

"I appreciate your confidence in me but like I said, when the Father found me I was in a low point in my life, have you ever been trapped in such a lowly state before, one where you just don't want to get up anymore, where you regret what you have done?" Faith asked.

Rook could hear a sadness in her voice he wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but her question threw him off, her question brought the lobby room back from the depths of his memory, the smell of cooked flesh and blood, twisted bodies and frozen faces of fear, how he butchered them.

"I uh, well, I ca- I can't' say, uh that, well maybe but, erm" he began stumbling over himself.

"Are you ok Ben, you sound a little distressed?" Faith interjected through all the stammering.

But before Rook could even begin to formulate a sentence a loud banging emitted from the old door he used to get onto the roof, the banging caused him to flinch, in a mixture of fear and surprisal.

"Shit, Faith, hey uh, I gotta go, something has come up, I can't talk for a while, I need to go" Rook said quickly.

He could hear Faith begin to say something, something about if everything was ok but was cut off as Rook clicked off his walkie and clipped it to his belt before quickly running to the door.

Rook could only conclude that the person on the other side of the door but for some reason she couldn't open the door, unsure of why, Rook grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open, creaking all the while, to reveal Jess standing in the doorway with two steaming bowls, one in each hand, she wore her usual scowl but as she saw the Junior Deputy her expression softened.

"You ok, you look like you've seen a ghost" she asked.

Rook remained silent for a few seconds, trying to think of something to say.

"Not a fan of heights" Rook muttered.

"What, seriously?" she smirked as walked through the door frame and past the Junior Deputy.

"Big bag deputy, scared of fucking heights, like seriously?" Jess asked, as she walked further onto the roof closer to the center of the roof and plopped down on the roof, she crossed her legs then placed the bowls down to take off her bow and quiver off her shoulder before picking up one bowl and the spoon inside and began eating.

"So, uh… why are we eating up here?" Rook asked, looking down at his friend.

"What you actually wanna eat down there, it smells awful down there, I don't think anyone has bathed in weeks, it's fuckin' gross" Jess said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"You know what" Rook said, looking down at himself.

"I don't think I'm crescent fresh myself either" Rook admitted.

"You could say that again, y'know I think I'm the only one here that actually jumps in the river every now and again, so you want some or not?" Jess replied, picking up the second bowl and held it out to Rook.

Rook reluctantly took the bowl and awkwardly sat down next to Jess and picked up the spoon that sat within the bowl and pushed around the contents of the bowl. It was some sort of dark broth with bits of meat floating within it.

"Yeah I know right" Jess said, causing Rook to look up at her.

They gave us little bits of meat with some sort of soup, we brought the fuckin' meat back we deserve more" Jess complained.

"We have to make sure there is enough for everyone" Rook replied.

"Yeah, yeah you know what I mean dude" Jess groaned before eating again, and for a time the two ate in silence.

* * *

When Jess finished her bowl she placed it at her side then leaned back and lay down on the roof and stretched herself out before placing her hands behind her head.

"So… how long until your buddies finish with all their planning and what not?" Jess asked out loud.

"I don't really know, as I long as it takes them I guess" Rook asked, placing the spoon back in the bowl and looked at his prone friend.

"But don't you hate that, just sitting around, waiting for someone to tell you to do something, then once it's done you just go back to wait for orders?" Jess asked.

"Well sure I guess but it's not like I could any better, and besides there are a lot of people that are smarter then me at this, he's been Sheriff for decades, and Virgil is… was the mayor, he knows how to lead, how to keep the peace, Grace has the military experience, she knows how to fight this, I know none of these things, all I can do is listen to them and try to learn from them as we fight Eden's Gate" Rook admitted.

"But you don't need any of that" Jess said, rolling onto her side to get a look at the Junior Deputy, propping her head up with an arm.

"You don't need to lead, or keep order or police people or this or that, all you need is to know how to kill, and I've seen what you can do, you can kill just about any peggie that gets in your way" Jess explained.

"But just killing any peggies we come across won't solve the problem, we need to hit them where it hurts if we want to stop the cult" Rook retorted.

"Dude just hear me out" Jess said, sitting back up and facing Rook.

"Your buddies can plan and scheme as much as they want, they spend so much time planning and not enough time fighting, they need to really start fighting or the peggies are going to start bombarding this place all over again, but that's never going to happen because they're just a bunch of thinkers, but you, you're a doer, you've just been slaughtering these assholes like you were born for it, there ain't anyone else like you in this whole damn resistance so… let's just get out of here, you and me, let's just go, let's go and just kill peggies until there are none left, I know we can do it, if you keep practicing with a bow you'll get as good as me in no time, I just know it, and with bows we will never run out off ammo, so come on, fuck these guys and let's go, we can do their jobs before they figure out how" Jess explained.

Rook had truly listened to what she had proposed, a part of him wanted to agree to make his friend happy but deep down he knew he couldn't just go with her, he knew he could never just abandon his other friends, too many people counted on him, it was just as Jess had said, there wasn't anyone like him in the resistance. Jess knew it, Faith knew it, Whitehorse knew, he was slowly becoming a beacon of hope to the citizens of Hope County and he knew he couldn't just leave them, he felt morally obligated to help whoever he could, it was one of the very reasons he became a officer of the law, to serve and protect those he could not, he couldn't just turn his back on them and his beliefs.

"Jess listen" Rook began, hoping to let her down gently, but as soon as he started Jess scoffed dejectedly before laying back down and attempted to pull her hood further over her face.

"I appreciate this.. faith you have in me but I just don't think I can abandon everyone like that, as Junior Deputy of Montana I have a moral and legal obligation to everyone around me, I need to help them however I can, even if it's a detriment in the long run because well… I'm a boy scout I guess" Rook said.

"Fine" Jess said loudly, flailing her arms in the air once.

"Whatever dude, fuck it, pretend I didn't say anything, I had a feeling you would say no" Jess sighed.

"I'm sorry if I upset you or something but I just can't do it" Rook said, hoping to salvage the conversation.

"Dude" Jess said again as she stood up and collected her bow and quiver.

"Just… whatever dude, I'm going to fuck off for a bit, call me when your going to kill some peggies or something" she said as she walked towards the exit door and yanked it open with a loud creak then disappeared down the staircase.

Rook watched Jess leave wordlessly as he couldn't escape the feeling of letting down his friend, sure her plan was to much for him but sill, he didn't like the feeling of letting down such a close friend like Jess, with her gone Rook was left sitting on the roof by himself under the mid afternoon sun, with nothing else he could do, he collected his bowl and made his way to the stairs. Maybe if he buried the lead or chose better words then maybe he wouldn't have set her off the way he did, but even she was half expecting him to decline, he wasn't sure if he should actually apologize for it, all he could do now was find something to kill time until the Sheriff called for him, or for Jess to cool off, whichever came first, until then, he needed something to take his mind off of the shit show that was his day.


	17. Chapter 17

"And so, once you finish with that, you just line up the notches on the slide and well.. it will do its name sake and will slide back into position until you hear a click then there you go, one clean gun" Rook said as he reattached the slide of his pistol back on then held it out to the people watching.

For the last forty-five minutes he had been teaching any Hope County Cougars members how to maintain and clean their firearms, step one to winning this war was having proper weapons to fight with so Rook was more then happy to teach anyone who would want to learn. Once Rook finished his demonstration a few people thanked him then left while a few hung around and asked the Junior Deputy questions before they slowly dissipated into the halls again, satisfied with his teachings Rook screwed his silencer back onto his pistol before holstered back onto his leg, it was clear that there was no one else was interested in learning so he needed something new to do, with the Sheriff and associates hard at work trying to create some plan to free the Henbane there had to be some minor jobs going on around the prison, Rook had very minor medical training but hoped it wouldn't prevent him from helping Doctor Lindsey create his miracle bliss cure or at the very least lend a hand to help treat the wounded trapped up in the infirmary.

As Rook traversed the halls towards the infirmary a few people stopped him and thanked him for all the hard work he had done since he came to the Henbane, Rook of course couldn't accept their praise and tried to wave it off as just him doing his job and carried on to the infirmary. But as he approached the infirmary doors his radio crackled to life, a part of him trembled in fear as there was a chance that it could be Faith on the other end.

"Hey, uh Amigo, you home?" Sharky's voice came.

Rook sighed in relief as it was merely Sharky and not the woman plaguing the region.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Rook answered, bringing the walkie to his mouth.

"So, like, I know you were a real team player this morning an' all but I was wondering if you'd be willing to come back for round two?" Sharky asked.

Rook visible winced, he couldn't imagine what Sharky and by proxy Hurk got up too since he left them merely a few hours ago, not only that, if what Sharky needed was anything like Eden's Covenant then there was just no way he could do all of it again.

"Erm, what do you need exactly?" Rook asked apprehensively.

"Hurk's ma, my auntie, has this marina on th' far side of the Henbane right, big ol' place you can't miss it, and I think a bunch of fuckin' peggies just rolled up and are like _give us everything _but if they know my auntie like I do, the only thing she's giving is a bad time for them peggies, but the thing is Hurk went down to the marina a while ago and when he got down there he saw a bunch of peggies just strolling about like they own the place, and well we could really use the help clearing the place out and find out if auntie Addie is OK" Sharky explained.

"I see, that does sound serious" Rook muttered, thinking over what the pyromaniac said, while looking up at the infirmary door then back to his walkie, he did this a few times trying to decide what to do.

What Sharky wanted was just a basic clear out and rescue job, it sounded a lot better then whatever one would call his morning, if done right it could be done quick clean and silent, no need for throwing grenades and with the place cleared out perhaps it could be used as an outpost to fight the cult, it would be a good way into the Mountains if he could play his cards right he could take the place without alerting whatever Jacob has, and besides with Jess, Sharky and Hurk by his side then what could possibly go wrong?

"Ok Sharky, I'll wrap up what I'm doing and grab a few things then head out, where you want to meet up?" Rook asked.

"Groovy dude! We can meet just outside of the marina; just follow the edge of the lake until you get to the to where the Henbane turns into the Mountains, it's right there on the edge of Silver Lake" Sharky exclaimed excitedly before hanging up.

With the pyromaniac's voice gone, Rook realized that he probably should have asked for more details, but if he knew anything about Sharky is that he is most likely running off to do something he probably shouldn't and wouldn't answer it he called back. But besides all the new information that he had, another thing that pinged in his mind was Jess, she did say to give her a ring when he was headed out to kill peggies, and well this was exactly that, but he hadn't seen Jess since they ate their late lunch on the roof, she could be anywhere, he wasn't sure where she would go if she was even still in the building.

Perhaps she was in the command room, if she wanted to kill peggies the quickest way to do so would be through the command room, the people inside would know where all the peggies would be camping out. With that in mind Rook headed towards the command room, luckily the command room was quite close to the infirmary and made there relatively quick and pushed open the door, from where he stood in the doorway, he scanned the room but couldn't see the usual green hoodie that she always wore. But he could see the Sheriff still at the planning table, giving a few papers to a handful of people before giving all of them orders, most likely something involving the budding plans to fight the cult.

Rook watched from the distance for a few moments and waited for what looked like the tail end of their conversation before he stepped in and spoke to the Sheriff.

"Heya Boss, I don't suppose you've seen Jess around here recently?" Rook asked as Whitehorse began rummaging through the mess of papers on the big table behind him.

"Can't say I have; I've been pretty focused on getting everyone up to speed with something were planning here" Whitehorse said, looking up at his Junior Deputy.

"So, you didn't happen to see her come in here or you know she's not in here?" Rook asked.

"I did not see her come through here, she might be hanging around in here, but I doubt there is anything of interest in here besides the sleeping area" Whitehorse offered, nodding up to the levels of cell rooms and walkways above them.

"Oh, right the cells" Rook said, the idea dawning on him, there could be a chance that she returned to there pseudo-bedroom to sleep or think or whatever she did when she wasn't hunting or killing.

"Thanks Boss" he offered as he headed towards the steel grate staircase that led up to the higher up cells but was stopped as the Sheriff called out to him, stopping him and getting his attention.

"I take you two are hatching something?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, a friend asked me to lend him a hand with making sure a family member is OK, wanted to see if Jess wanted to come" Rook paraphrased, not wanting to bore him with the details.

"I see.. stay safe out there, kid" the Sheriff said as he turned back to what he was doing.

Rook silently nodded, taking his warning to heart then scaled the series of steel grate staircases to the highest level of cell rooms and approached his cell and slid open the barred door, the second Rook entered the cell he could see a change in the room, on the cell wall on his immediate right hung the two poster the movie director Guy Marvel had given them for their efforts, they were tapped to the wall, side by side with duct tape on each corner, as gaudy as the bright colours of the post apocalyptic neon wasteland was, it was welcome change as it brought colour to the concrete cell. To his immediate left was his and Jess's bunks, one hung over the other, Rook's bunk was perfectly made as per usual but the bunk above his was a disheveled mess, the blankets were twisted and bunched up all over the mattress and in its center lay Jess, she was curled up into a ball with her back to the Junior Deputy, the ball that was Jess Black slowly expanded and contracted as she breathed.

"Jess are you awake?" Rook said softly, unsure if she really was asleep or not.

His question was met with silence as Jess continued to lay there unmoving and unresponsive, Rook wasn't sure if he should wake her, he did make an agreement that if he were to go anywhere he would let her know, albeit only if he went back to the Holland Valley or the Mountains, would she really care if he went to the far side of the Henbane for a few hours, if he woke her and explained to her what was happening then the worst to come would be being told to fuck off before going back to sleep.

"Screw it" he muttered to himself as he slowly raised his hand up to Jess's bunk and poked the unmoving mass of green hoodie, the second he touched her, she shot up in her bed with a gasp before turning quickly to look at what had come in contact with her.

"You OK?" Rook asked, looking up at her, her sudden movements silently startled him, but clearly not as much as her.

"Fuck" Jess breathed, staring at the Junior Deputy.

"Sorry I spooked you, it wasn't my intention" Rook said.

"Shit dude, what you want?" Jess asked, catching her breath as she put her hood down and ran her hands through her hair before pulling her hood up.

"I got a call, peggies are doing something down at this place called Drubman Marina, they are probably up to no good, was wondering if you wanted to jump in and lend a hand" Rook replied.

"Drubman marina, huh" Jess echoed back as she slowly climbed out of her bunk and pulled down the bow and quiver she kept up there with her and strapped them over her shoulder.

"You know the place?" Rook asked, a little surprised she knew the place, a huntress would have no business at a water-based establishment.

"Course I know the place, it's owned by Adelaide Drubman, she was the talk of the town a long time ago" Jess said.

"Hm, can't say I blame her, found out that she's Hurk's mom and Sharky's aunt, if she's anything like them then yeah that makes sense" Rook nodded, struggling to imagine just what kind of woman Adelaide was like.

"Well yeah there's that but she got married to Hurk Drubman Senior a while back and holy fuck they made the whole County know about weeks in advance then years ago or something then later they got divorced and they made just a big a noise as the wedding" Jess explained.

"Damn, they must have been pretty important if they got the whole County to hear about it" Rook surmised.

"What? fuck no, it was just the talk of the town at the time when they married, she was in her twenties and he was like mid forties or something, it was really creepy, but everyone knew she was just gold digging" Jess answered.

"So, then what's this Adelaide lady like them?" Rook asked.

"I don't know, never really talked to her, but I was in the same room as her every few months when I doing my thing, and when I was, she's usually brags about her real estate gig or how she's more of a Hope County Cougar then the rest of us" Jess replied.

"What, she helps out a lot at a homeless shelter or something?" Rook asked, the expression flying over his head.

"She's a man eater dude, the second her divorce went through, she took all her money and ran off somewhere and had all the boy toys she wanted" Jess surmised.

"Ohhh" Rook nodded, forgetting that the word cougar has more then one meaning.

"So, what the fuck is happening down there again?" Jess asked.

"The marina was recently taken over and was asked if I could see what I could do, and I said sure, so do you wanna come along?" Rook asked.

"Yeah fuck it, it's not like I'm doing anything else, let's go" Jess muttered before moving past the Junior Deputy to leave the cell.

Rook silently followed her down the few sets of stairs onto the ground floor, he had given her quite a scare when he woke her, as much as he cared for hid friend's well-being, he felt like if he asked about it she'd just shake him off. As Rook touched down on ground floor and moved for the doors to leave the command room, he quickly stopped by the sheriff to let him know what was happening.

"Hey Boss, found Jess, me and her are headed out to do that thing I mentioned" Rook said as he slowly walked past his boss

"Roger, stay safe out there, kid" Whitehorse replied as he gathered up a few papers and stuffed them into a manila envelope.

"You know me" Rook said as he followed Jess across the room and towards the exit door and out into the parking lot.

* * *

The drive to the marina was almost peaceful, for some reason not as many peggies were out today and made the drive more lax, aside from the quiet singing of the radio and Jess giving directions, the ride was rather quiet, and made it to the marina's general area, as they drove extremely close to the marina, Rook slowed down and came to a stop a couple hundred feet way from the turnoff into the marina so any peggies would not be alerted to their presence. Not only that but there was a single pickup truck parked on an angle on the side of the road, they had to be around two hundred feet from the marina's front door. A lone man was standing at the open door of the back seat of the pickup and looked like he was digging around the cabin, looking for something. It was clear the man was not with Eden's gate as he did not wear anything that resembled the usual peggie attire, whatever the man was looking for must have been found as he pulled his out of the cabin and closed the door before turning around. From Rook's perspective it was clear as day, the man standing by the pickup was Hurk, and by the expression on his face; Hurk could see how was driving then began excitedly waving his hands over his head, trying to wave them in.

"Oh my god, I should have known" Jess muttered emotionlessly.

"What's wrong?" Rook asked, stealing a glance at his friend before slowing his truck down and pulling off to the side of the road.

"You never said anything about Drubman being here" Jess muttered.

"What's wrong with that?" Rook asked again.

"It's Hurk fucking Drubman, he's a walking accident waiting to happen, and he carries a goddamn rocket launcher like it's made of gold" she sighed.

"Well yeah sure I get that but still, it might be good to have some heavy fire power on our side, who knows what they have, besides it's a marina, they might have some gunboats nearby" Rook offered.

"Again, he's a walking accident waiting to happen, he's obsessed with explosions, hell he'd blow up a house if it meant getting a box of hot pockets" Jess groaned.

Rook didn't reply as he knew she was right, Hurk was the type of person to blow up things he shouldn't for petty rewards, instead of responding, he climbed out of the truck to great Hurk who was happily jogging towards him.

"Yo Broski it's been a while, huh?" he said happily while holding out a fist, awaiting a fist bump.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Rook said returning the fist bump, the second their knuckles touched Hurk pulled his fist away while wiggling his fingers, all the while making an explosion noise with his mouth.

"Oh, you know, same ol' same ol" he said as he turned to Jess who looked clearly disinterested in interacting with the man.

"Yooo Jessica Black, what's crackin' girl, I don't think I seen you in years, what's goin' on with you" he asked, holding out his fist for another fist pump.

"Killin' peggies, the usual shit" she stated bluntly, not returning the bump.

"Uh yeah that's cool, fuck them peggies right, they ain't doing anything cool" Hurk replied, slowly lowering his outstretched hand, now realizing she was going to leave him hanging.

"So Hurk, is Sharky going to be joining us?" Rook asked, pulling Hurk's attention back to him, but before Hurk could respond Sharky suddenly popped up from the far side of Hurk's pickup truck.

"Yo man thanks for coming!" Sharky said smiling as poking up from the other side of Hurk's truck.

"Oh fuck me six ways from Sunday" Jess sighed emotionlessly as she buried her face in both her hands.

"Wait, were you just back there waiting for us or something?" Rook asked, he knew Sharky was a bit weird, but this was a little too much even for him.

"Nawh dude, when I saw you comin' I noticed that my shoe was untied so I took care of it, can't fight the cult with those bad boys undone, you know what I mean?" Sharky smiled.

"Uh, yeah so what are we getting into exactly?" Rook asked.

"Oh right, I took a sneaky-peeky at the marina from a distance, damn peggies have the place on lock down, I didn't see anything major, just usual peggie stuff" Hurk shrugged.

"Right… so, then are you ready to head out and get this taken care of then?" Rook asked the two men.

"Just give me a minute dude" Sharky said as he opened the back door of the pickup and withdrew his flamethrower and held it up confidently.

"Oh, right I should gear up too" Hurk said as he also went to the backdoor of the pickup and pulled out his rocket launcher and hoisted it up onto his shoulder.

"Oh, sweet fuckin' Jesus no" Rook heard Jess mutter.

"So, I take it you guys are ready to go?" Rook asked, eyeing his friends.

Both men made a noises of agreement, letting Rook know they were ready, and Jess simply shrugged and agreed.

"Alright then let's move out" Rook said, signalling them to follow him down towards the marina.

Thankfully the marina needed to be sitting on the edge of the lake to be considered a marina and was at a lower level then the natural landscape, meaning it would be quite easy to creep up to the side of the property and look down in to see just what they were dealing with.

* * *

As the four of them slowly moved closer to the property, the interior of the marina slowly came within view, to get a proper look, Rook crouched down by some bushes.

"So, what are we looking at?" Rook asked as he crouched down to get a look at the marina before him.

"My momma's marina is pretty cool, some pretty sick keggers went down here but there isn't like a super sick defense system or motion activated turrets or anything like that, it's just a marina" Hurk replied as he, Jess and Sharky all crouched down with him.

"Well that's good to know I guess" Rook muttered as he examined the marina.

Two large green buildings, the far building was very simple looking and was clearly a storage house for all Miss Drubman's boating needs, the building closer to the group was where the business took place as it was much more detailed, it was equip with an awning that wrapped around the entire building and a sturdier roof compared to the storage house, a chain link fence with green tarps tied to it wrapped around the behind the business house. To the immediate left of the building was a few docks with a boat parked on it, the lake the dock sat on was a lot bigger than Rook expected, it was bigger than Rock Bass Lake and he could even see mountains deep with the northern region of the county. But what was the most off-putting was that dozens of peggies littered the area, patrolling and going in and out of the two buildings, and a few tinkered on a gunboat that was parked at one of the docks.

"Hey, you guys hear that?" Jess suddenly said, causing all three men to freeze in place to hear what Jess might have heard, the four of them stood unmoving and silent for a few seconds but nothing of note could be heard.

"I don't hea-" Hurk started but was immediately shushed by Jess, silencing him so they would be in silence once more.

After a few more seconds of waiting and listening, something could be heard, from somewhere deep within marina, woman's angry yelling could be heard, what she was yelling was unknown as they were just out of range, but it was clear she was angry and full of life.

"That sounds like my aunt Addie" Sharky laughed.

"Hells yeah man, my momma just doesn't die like that" Hurk said proudly.

"Alright now we know Miss Drubman is alive, why don't we take it real slow and careful, if someone sees us then they might use her as a hostage or something" Rook said, still studying the area.

"So how do you want to play this?" Sharky asked.

"Ok, I got an idea" Jess said as she moved up and re-positioned herself besides the Junior Deputy.

"I think you and me should sneak around the right side of the place, we move right up against the fence tarp thing and get to the entrance" Jess explained as she pointed to their entry path as she spoke.

"As we come in through the driveway entrance, we glass anyone who gets in our way and pull them out of sight and move towards the big building, not the big storage house the other one" she continued explaining.

"But anyone on the dock can just look down the path and just see us rolling in" Rook countered.

"OK, fine good point, how about the second we enter the place we still stick to the fence tarp and make our way around the building and enter the place from the back door and take it from there" Jess said.

"Wait what about us, what do you need us to do?" Hurk suddenly jumped in.

"I don't know, jerk each other off or whatever you two do when your alone" Jess said, brushing the two men off.

"Aww, come on, let us help" Sharky whined.

"Sorry dudes but you and your weapons are not exactly silent" Jess replied.

"Now hold on Jess, they were with me this morning and they were kind of sneaky, sure we got caught but it wasn't due to us making to much noise or anything like that" Rook said.

"Yeah girl, you should have seen us, we did some tag team take out maneuver, it was great I got to throw a rock and everything" Hurk said, trying to sound impressive.

"You got to throw a rock?" Jess echoed while giving Rook a look, she was clearly not amused by what Hurk considered sneaky.

"Maybe they can help" Rook finally said, taking his eyes off the marina and turning to his friends.

"How can they possibly help us, their as subtle as a marching band" Jess replied.

"Ok listen, see that boat down there?" Rook said pointing to the lone peggie gunboat parked at the marina dock.

"Yeah what about it?" Jess asked, eyeing the boat.

"Be a hell of a distraction if it were to mysteriously and suddenly just blew up, huh" Rook offered.

Jess looked back at the boat and the environment surrounding the dock before looking back up at her friend with an annoyed sigh.

"I'm listening" she groaned.

"OK, so I was thinking that we do what you said and sneak in and around the side, but when we're good and ready back there, Hurk fires a rocket and blows up the boat and everyone gets all freaked out, while they're all scrambling around you and me start picking them and once they start to get wise about what were doing, Sharky just comes in through the front and starts cooking dudes" Rook explained.

"OK, you know what, that's not a bad idea, I'm fine with that, except the whole flamethrower bit" Jess huffed.

"What why not?" Rook asked.

"Because it's fucking stupid, the fire isn't going to work" Jess huffed.

"Well why not, from the peggies perspective their just doing their thing, whatever that is, then all of a sudden a boat explodes causing them to freak out, then all of a sudden they just start dropping like flies, upon investigation it's the sinner and friend, as they turn to deal with the duo they get blasted with dragon fire" Rook offered.

"Nope, still don't care, we're not doing it" Jess said, shaking her head, sounding a little angrier than before.

"OK if your worried about him burning down the marina I get that, I feel confident he can keep a handle on it" Rook offered.

"OK" Jess spat.

For a second Rook though she was agreeing with him, but before he could say anything he felt her wrap an arm around his shoulder and squeezed, the squeeze was way to tight to be considered friendly.

"Listen, dude, I said; No. Fucking. Fire" she hissed, she was trying to keep her voice down, but Rook could hear the intensity in her voice, for some reason there was vitriol in her voice and Rook wasn't sure why.

He wanted to ask what had angered her so much but Sharky jumped in before he could.

"Hey Dep, uh if she really doesn't want me down there then I won't go down" Sharky finally said, breaking the back and forth.

"There you heard him; problem solved" Jess said quickly.

"But what's he going to do, he can't just sit up here and watch" Rook said.

"Hey, I still have these" Hurk finally said, gently putting down the rocket launcher and pulled two SMG's he acquired this morning off the sides of his belt and offered it to Sharky.

Sharky looked at the gun's before looking back at the Junior Deputy.

"What do you want me to do Chief, this is your rodeo" he said.

"Ok, here's the plan" Rook said, scratching his chin, thinking of all the pros and cons of every possible scenario.

"Jess and I will sneak in and around the house, once we're in position, Hurk will blow the boat, and we will use the distraction to pick dudes off, once they grow wise to what's going, Sharky with the SMG's and Hurk will come around the entrance and we get them from both sides, sound good?" Rook asked, finishing his plan.

Both men agreed almost instantly as Jess took her time to agree as if was almost hesitant to.

"OK before we go, Sharky you can use the flamethrower in emergencies only and Hurk, when you and Sharky come around to give cover fire, please, please, be very careful where you shoot, please" Rook begged.

"One hundred percent, I hear ya" Sharky nodded casually as he took the guns from his cousin.

"Oh yeah man, I got this, don't worry" Hurk waved off nonchalantly as he picked up his rocket launcher.

"OK then me and Jess are going to go down there now so get ready" Rook said before slowly moving forward towards the marina with Jess silently in tow.

* * *

Rook and Jess slowly made their way down the small hill and towards the marina, Adelaide's yelling got louder as they approached but was still muffled as she was locked in one of the buildings. For some unknown reason they had not killed her, Rook hoped they could get to her before they decided to change that. As the two crept closer and closer to the marina's entrance, Jess loaded an arrow into her bow and Rook kept a hand on the pistol that rested in its holster, both were more then ready to deal with anyone who stood guard at the front, but as they reached the front gate, it was thankfully unprotected for some unknown reason, Rook pressed himself up against the lip of the entrance way and poked his head out and looked in; peggies still moved about the area, most likely following some unknown orders they were given.

"Ok it looks clear, you ready to go?" Rook whispered.

"Yeah let's go" Jess replied.

Rook silently nodded before quickly entering the property and sticking to the tarped fence and moved along the inside of the perimeter with Jess right behind him and the two slowly and carefully moved behind the big business house, when they got far enough behind the house they peeled off the fence and moved to the house itself and hid under the awning that stretched along the entire house and stay low enough to sneak beneath the windows so no one inside could see them and ventured to the far end of the house, then again Rook poked his head around the corner to see what lay before him. He could see a few peggies doing something on the dock next to the other dock that the gunboat was parked at, there was the concrete strip that bridged the gap from the docks to dry land, and the land itself, a small concrete set of stairs sat on the strip and led up to dry land with a railing lining the edge of the land.

"What you see?" Jess whispered, tugging on his sleeve.

"Enough to know this spot is the best were going to get" he said as he retreated from the corner of the house.

All they needed now was for Hurk to blow up the boat, Rook looked back up the hill at his friends to see Hurk up there by himself enthusiastically waving down at his friends, Rook waved back hoping he would take the hint, then Hurk then stopped waving and ducked down out of sight.

Rook sat there in silence as he waited for Hurk, after a few moments his eyes drifted to the woman next to him.

"So, uh... What was that back there?" Rook asked softly, breaking the silence.

"I don't know what your talking about" Jess replied quickly.

"Yeah you do, what's with you not wanting Sharky in on the plan, I know Hurk and him aren't your cup of tea, but you let Hurk in but not Sharky, so what's up?" Rook asked again.

"I fuckin' told you, I don't know what your talking about, so fucking drop it" she hissed.

"Jess, I can tell your lying, just lying and moving on won't make it go away, we're a team, we need to communicate" Rook replied.

"It's because he's got a motherfucking flamethrower" Jess snarled, trying not to be loud.

"So, what, it's not like he going to go crazy or anything, he has trigger discipline" Rook said.

Jess then suddenly grabbed a hand full of his shirt and pulled him closer.

"It's because he reminds me of the fucking Cook" she growled before she pushed Rook back, releasing him, causing him to fall back on his butt.

Of course, Rook had completely forgotten about the Cook, his weapon of choice and just what he had done to Jess and her family, and now she had to work with some like Sharky who just carried the same weapon like it was a normal thing, then of course she would be aggressive. He wanted to apologize for his lack of foresight but before he could say anything, an explosion went off, followed by several scared and confused yells from the peggie populous, Hurk had blown up the boat.

"It's go-time" Jess muttered as she moved in, drawing a bow out of her quiver and loaded it onto her bow and went around the corner.

"Aw shit" Rook grumbled as he reoriented himself back up into a crouched position and drew his pistol and kept it close to his chest as he moved to catch up with the woman.

As Rook rounded the corner he could see Jess line up a shot on a Peggie in the water, the explosion must have knocked a Peggie off the dock and into the water and was desperate to get back on dry land, but thankfully one of his friends was quick to investigate and saw his struggling friend and got down on all fours and extended a hand in an attempt to fish him out. As the Peggie was about to grab his friend in the water, an arrow suddenly appear in his head, causing him to go limp and sink beneath the waves and a red mess floated to the top of the water in his stead. The peggie who was trying to fish him out was justifiably scared and tried to stand up and run away but couldn't follow through as another arrow priced his skull, causing him to fall backwards and off the other side of the dock, disappearing the two without anyone noticing.

With the two peggies gone, Jess, still staying low prepared another arrow in her bow and quickly moved up and climbed the stairs and entered the property, Rook wanted to call out to her and ask her to wait and let him catch up, but couldn't as with the distance she was making would have to make him yell. Not wanting to give away his position he remained silent and followed the woman up the stairs, as he reached the top of the stairs the scared and confused yells from the peggies had become angrier and more defiant then before he knew it gunshots rang out. Causing Rook grumbled under his breath as their cover was blown, he holstered his pistol and retrieved the AK-47 off his back and stood up, he could see several peggies all along the long pathway from the entrance to where he stood, a few bodies lay on the ground with arrows sticking out of them, but the act of standing up caused him to be seen by some of peggies, they shouted something about something a priestess said but Rook couldn't pick out what was said exactly as they also opened fire at him.

Rook swore under his breath again as he crouched back down, regretting standing up he took a few steps back and used the concrete stairs as cover as he brought his weapon up and fired a few bursts. He lay on the heat firing at peggies that slowly tired to push up on him, he knew he couldn't stay here forever he needed a plan,

A peggie that was getting a little to close for Rook's liking suddenly dropped dead, an arrow sticking out of him, the arrow sparked his imagination as he had no idea where she was and could most likely lend him a hand, he carefully examined the area around him as he returned fire hoping to see his friend, after what felt like forever he finally spotted her, she crouched down behind the corner of the storage house, firing arrow after arrow at the peggies that slowly swarmed their end of the marina.

"Hey, you ok over there?!" Rook yelled over to her.

"What's it look like!" she yelled back as she tried to position her bow at an angle where it would give a lethal blow.

But she was stopped short as the door of the main house suddenly flew open and a peggie wearing a full suit of riot gear, toting a LMG came stomping out of the house and out into the middle of the of the estate's grounds, shouting about how Rook was a sinner and deserved to die, as he raised his LMG to try to shoot the Junior Deputy, then a hail of heavy fire suddenly emitted from the gun, the large bullets slammed into the concrete stair and slowly began chipping away at it, causing Rook do fall back a few more steps, far back enough that he could no longer see his newest attack.

Jess watched the armored peggie's assault on the Junior Deputy, as much as she wanted to help the poor idiot she couldn't, the other peggies were using him as the spearhead in the fight and let him take the lead, he focused on the sinner while the rest focused on her and continued to fire upon her, the edge of the storage house she hid behind was made of wood and was slowly being whittled away from gunfire, at this rate she wouldn't be safe for long, making it very hard to get a good shot off, all she could do was very carefully watch and wait for her time. But she also kept an eye on the armored man to make sure he didn't turn to shoot her as well, but suddenly the man disappeared into a fiery puff of smoke and a deafening roar; the man had been hit with an explosion. The explosion shook the foundation of the storage house and the windows rattled in their sills, Jess could feel her heart skip a beat as the boom hit, the hot air pushing up on her, causing her to look away to keep their eyes from stinging.

"OH fuck me, what the hell are you doing to my marina?!" they could hear Adelaide shout angrily from within the building.

"You see that Shark, that's what I call deep cooked peggie!" Jess heard Hurk cheer from the other side of the estate.

"I swear to god I'll do twice over to you, what you do to my marina!" Adelaide shouted again.

"What the crap?" Rook muttered as he could hear terrified yelling from deep within the marina, to find out what was really happening, he poked up from the stairs to steal a look.

As all the smoke settled from the explosion he could see what was going on, at the far side of the marina Hurk and Sharky finally began their assault, obviously Hurk was firing off his rocket launcher randomly, hitting a few small groups of peggies, but what really stood out was Sharky, for some unknown reason he was using his flamethrower, burning a horrified peggies, engulfing them in fire, a few more peggies lay on the ground, slowly becoming charred husks of what they once were as they were reduced to a smoldering bonfire.

* * *

The assault from both ends of the marina terrified the peggies to no end, on one was the sinner the Father was so interested in along with one of his sinner friends, and on the other was two maniacs armed with flamethrower and rocket launcher, they tried to put up a fight but it was useless, the wall of fire was impassable and the rockets slammed into the ground around them, blowing small craters into the ground, knocking over a few closer peggies and injuring or killing a few others, the one-sided fight forced them back into the waiting arms of Jess and Rook who slowly picked them off one by one with arrows and bullets, bout half of the remaining peggies were unaware to what awaited them from behind and were cut down easily, the fight had become a slaughter.

"Is that all of them?" Rook called out to his friends as we walked towards them on the opposite side of the estate.

"I don't see anything Broski!" Hurk called back

As Rook got closer to his friends, as he past by the storage house they could clearly hear what Adelaide was shouting.

"And another thing, if you hurt one hair on my beautiful Xavier's head, I'm going to put my foot so far up your crazy asses instead of saying amen you'll be saying A-Jesus!" she shouted angrily.

Rook looked at the door to the storage door, it didn't have anything blocking it or anything that kept it shut, he could only assume that it was just locked, before he could even think about how to get it open Jess came out from around the corner and took one look at what Sharky had done and stared Rook down for it, she didn't say anything, she didn't need to, she just stared at him with this angry look, the look said it all, on the inside she was seething.

"Dude that was fuckin' awesome, we got 'em good!" Sharky cheered as he and Hurk approached Rook and Jess.

"Holy shit, we're like a unit, you guys ever see the Avengers movie, that's us, we clean out just like them, I thin-" Hurk began to say excitedly but stopped as Jess turned her gaze to him, intimidating him into silence, brining silence to the group.

"Hey why don't we let your auntie out" Rook said, breaking their silence as he looked at the door that Adelaide was banging on, yelling angrily that her precious marina was being ruined.

"I'll let her out" Hurk said as he jogged to the door that Adelaide was heavily banging on.

He picked up an assault rifle that lay on the ground and raised it up and brought the but of the gun down on the doorknob, breaking it off the door, causing the door swung open and a very angry middle aged dirty blonde woman came stomping out, ready to do something drastic but stopped near instantly as she saw her son smiling up at her.

"Yo mama, we here to bust you out!" he cried happily.

"Oh… Hurk… hello sweetheart, I take it you were involved with all that racket a little while ago?" she guessed, looking around at the damage and bodies that riddled her property.

"Yeah but naah, I was just the back up, my friend; Deputy Badass here really did all the hard work, he's a real trooper" Hurk said, praising Rook as he gestured to him.

As Adelaide looked over at Rook her expression changed to one of almost surprisal.

"Deputy? You don't say" she smirked as she closed the distance between Rook and herself.

"Adelaide Drubman, real estate extraordinaire, pleasure to make your acquaintance" Adelaide said with a smirk and a wink as she held out her hand to Rook.

"Junior Deputy Benjamin Rook, nice to meet you too ma'am" he replied, he appreciated the mature greeting from her, his time with Sharky and Hurk made him think she was an entirely different breed of woman.

"It's always good to see a man in uniform out here cleaning up the place" Adelaide said.

"It's all in a day's work ma'am, just trying to help" Rook replied with a smile.

"I appreciate all your help getting my marina back, but honey I got a problem" Adelaide said.

"Those peggie shitbirds stole my Tulip, she's the nimblest goddamn helicopter this side of Montana and I'll be goddamned if those fucktrumpets are gonna take her from me, I won that bird in my divorce fair and square, the walking erectile dysfunction who took her painted her that awful shade of peggie mayonnaise, so the only way to know which helicopter is mine is getting inside, on the dashboard I scratched in the words _Mile High Club_, big letters, can't miss it, so how 'bout it honey, you help me, and Tulip and I will show up wherever and whenever you need me" Adelaide said.

"And I'll do what ever you need me to do" she said with a wink as her voice got smoother.

"Of course, I'll do whatever I can to help someone in need" Rook nodded casually.

"We'll go too, big guy could always use some help" Hurk spoke up.

"No way kiddo you and your cousin are staying here to help me clean up, this is clearly your mess" Adelaide said, crossing her arms, the area was littered with scorch marks and errant flames still crackled on corpses.

Both men groaned in disappointment.

"Aww, come on aunt Addie, it wasn't our fault that happened" Sharky pouted.

"No buts, get to work, we got a lot to do, so get to it" Adelaide said clapping her hands together.

Both men groan again as they placed down their weapons before turning to the mess they had made; Adelaide was about to join them but suddenly stopped.

"Aw shit, I almost forgot" Adelaide muttered before turning back to the door she had come out of and poked her head in.

"Xander sweetheart, it's all clear, come out and check the house" she hollered.

"Coming!" a man called from within.

Moments later a tall fit man in a tank top came out of the house and turned to Rook.

"Much respect for helping us" he smiled as he brought his hands together in a prayer motion and bowed to Rook before jogging off the other house

"No problem" Rook said as he turned back to Adelaide.

"So where is your helicopter?" Rook asked.

"I think I heard the fuckers said they were taking her to some hill down the road about ten fifteen minutes out, there should be a big watch tower that hunters used to use, it's now some big lookout tower or somethin' and a few fields of that bliss crap" Adelaide replied, pointing off in the general direction of the tower.

"hm, alright I'll get right on it" Rook said.

"Thank you Mister Rook, you're a real peach" she smiled before walking off to begin cleaning up, leaving Rook and Jess alone.

"So uh, hey there Jess, do you uh, wanna come or do you want call it a day?" he asked awkwardly.

Jess remained silent instead, rolling her eyes and shrugs.

"Let's get it over with" she grumbled as she turned to the entrance and slowly made her way back to the truck.

Rook watched her go for a few moments, desperately trying to think of something to say to her to make her feel better, he couldn't help but feel like this was his fault, he may not have torched the peggies but he felt like he did, he should have remembered how she felt about people burning to death like that. But his feeling got the better of him once again, it took him a few moments to realize Jess had gotten a big lead on him and was practically out the front gate, Rook mentally cursed himself for not paying attention and began jogging to catch up to her but only got half way before he stopped again, but this time it was for a different reason, at his feet was a black charred thing that once was a person, Sharky must have cooked this person so much that they're skin became coal black and cracked, what Rook thought was skin was peeled and twisting off the corpse's warped body, the smell that emitted from it was truly awful, it was some sicky sweet smell of burnt meat and curdled blood, the body itself was splayed across the ground as if in they're last moments they tried to make a snow angel, what was left of what was once a person made bile rise in the back of Rook's throat, nobody should have to die like that, something deep down within him rolled over, and it did not feel good.

Rook stared at the charred corpse for a little longer before he was able to pull himself away mentally and looked back up to find the Jess was nowhere to be found, and mentally swore again as she had cleared even more distance and was out of sight and was most likely already in the truck. The last ting he wanted to do was anger the woman further, he took the image of the charred corpse and shoved it in a box and shoved it deep down within himself before breaking into a quick jog and hurried through the front gate and up the small hill where the truck was parked, as he reached the top he could see her sitting in the passenger seat of the truck, arms crossed and somehow pulled off the stoic but furious thousand-mile stare as she waited for Rook to join her.

He nervously open the driver's door and climbed in.

"Uh, sorry for the wait" Rook muttered, barely above a whisper as he clipped on his seat belt.

Jess didn't say anything, she just sat there unmoving.

"Right.. I'll just uh, get 'er running then" Rook murmured as he inserted the key into the ignition and turned on the engine.

* * *

The drive was silent and awkward, Jess was still silent and visibly seething at what had happened, Rook was beginning to feel that empty cold feeling deep down in his stomach, the same nauseous feeling he felt this morning and the feeling was amplified with the anxiety of angering Jess further a part of him dared himself to talk to the fuming woman as the flamethrower thing was not his fault, but then again it was his fault as he was in charge of this operation and gave Sharky explicit orders to use the flamethrower in emergencies but it appeared he ignored that and went straight to the thrower despite having Hurk's guns, and when Sharky regrouped with them, he didn't chew him out for it even though Jess had told him how she felt. Rook wasn't sure if Jess was angry at him or at Sharky, nor did he want to press her to find out. So, Rook remained silent and tried to focus on the road the best he could, trying not to let the image of the burned corpse creep back into his mind, the last thing he needed was to throw up while driving.

He could see what he thought was the hill that Adelaide's helicopter was on in the distance, if it wasn't the one then it would be the hill beyond that, the area they were in was nowhere near the mountains to the far north of the county, yet there were many large hill and dips in the terrain, this made finding the exact hill Adelaide spoke of quite hard to find, the only other piece of info they could go off of was the bliss fields and some sort of converted hunter's tower, he didn't really know what they looked like and secretly hoped that Jess would remark upon see it.

As they eventually got close to the hill they believed to have Tulip parked on it, Rook slowed down the truck and leaning forward in his seat to try to get a better look at the hill.

"So… you see any hunting towers?" Rook quietly asked, squinting at the large hill as the afternoon sun had slowly begun it's decent into the shades of midsummer orange light as the evening would be upon them in a few hours.

Jess was silent for a few moments.

"Nope" she stated, not even looking up at the hill.

"Ok.. on to the next one" Rook said, leaning back in his seat and speeding back up.

As the truck rounded the curve another hill came into the view, from the angle they were at they could see clear as the afternoon day, a single hunter's tower, a small helicopter parked a few meters away.

"There she blows" Rook muttered as he sped up and changed course for the hill.

Thankfully Rook could see a side a side path that pulled off the main road and up to the base of the hill and slowed the truck down as they drew closer.

As the pickup slowly pulled up near the base of the hill he killed the engine.

"So uh, you ready to go?" Rook mumbled, turning to his friend.

"As I'll ever be" Jess huffed as she opened her door and climbed out, not bothering to look at him while she spoke.

"Be careful, please" Rook said but Jess was already out of the truck and out of earshot.

He wasn't sure if he was saying it to her or to himself.


	18. Chapter 18

The ascent up the large hill was slow and quiet as the Junior Deputy and the Huntress could hear the peggies at the top yelling at each other about something, presumably because they could no longer get in touch with the dead peggies back at the marina, as they slowly reached the top of the hill they lowered themselves to the ground and got onto their stomachs and crawled forward a little bit more to see what they were dealing with. They could see the hunter's tower again, a single man stood guard, armed with a sniper rifle, thankfully he was facing a different side of the hill and did not see the pair's approach. Below the tower grew a small patch of bliss, two peggies stomped around within the field, doing something as they still yelled angrily at each other, something about communications while two more stood around outside of the bliss, silently watching their two comrades, rifles on their backs, and off to the edge of the hill sat the helicopter, Rook could only assume it was the Tulip as it was unlike any helicopter he had ever seen as almost ever panel was covered in pink camouflage and had two long cylinders belonging to large guns were attached to the sides of the helicopter, a belt of what looked like fifty caliber fed into both guns.

"So how do you want to handle this?" Rook whispered.

Jess didn't respond, instead she pulled an arrow out of her quiver and loaded it into her bow as she slowly crept forward.

"Hold on a second" Rook whispered again, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Jess turned her head slightly and glared at the Junior Deputy to hear whatever he had to say.

"Look" he said, pointing to helicopter.

"The helicopter has like, huge guns on it, if we don't play this right, a dude could just get inside and get airborne then just swiss cheese us" Rook explained.

Jess scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"There's like five fuckwads, we can easily kill them all" she groaned in annoyance

"But still, we need to be careful, there's five of them and two of us, we need a plan" Rook whispered.

"You want a plan?" Jess spoke, squinting her eyes in annoyance at his absurdity.

"Here's your fuckin' plan" she scoffed as she quickly rose to one knee and in one quick motion loaded her bow and fired before dropping back down, the arrow finding its way into the neck of the man in the watchtower, the impact and pain clearly terrified him as he dropped his rifle and began clawing at the protrusion in his neck as he stumbled backwards before falling out of the tower, emitting a garbled yell as he fell.

The four peggies all stopped what they were doing to looked over to where the tower was to figure out what had happened, but before anyone could even say anything, another arrow suddenly found it's way into the side of the head of one of the peggies in the bliss field, dropping him instantly without a sound, disappearing into the bliss.

"What the hell was that, do you see anything?!" the other peggie in the bliss asked his friend that disappeared.

But he got no response, annoyed he turned to look at him only to see he had disappeared.

"What, Steve, hey where'd you go?!" he cried nervously.

"Hey, there's an arrow in Mike, we're under attack!" one of the peggies by the helicopter cried, now crouching down by the first body.

The three remaining peggies all suddenly became visibly scared as they pulled their firearms off their backs and readied themselves for whatever may come, scanning the

"Let's go" Jess muttered as she limply pushed Rook forward.

"What, what do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Fuckin' shoot them" Jess ordered.

"That doesn't sound like a good idea" Rook muttered, unsure with the whole plan.

"It's just three dudes, fuckin' get 'em" Jess ordered again.

By now the three remaining peggies began to slowly get more confident as they shouted plans at each other, one wanted the three to fight whatever was attacking them, while the other two wanted to get into the helicopter and get far away from here

"Dude, they're going to get out of here with the copter, you need to do something now" Jess commanded.

Rook sighed in light frustration, he didn't what to go head to head, let alone fight in general, but she had a point he needed to do something.

"You gotta friggin' kidding me" Rook grumbled as he rose up from his spot and onto one knee and removed the AK-47 from his back and rose it up and fired upon the peggie closest to the helicopter, bullets impaling their body and dropping to the ground, lifeless.

The whole act scared the two remaining men, they jerked towards Rook's general location and raised their guns to shoot him but before either could line up a shot Jess also rose to her feet and sent an arrow sailing through the air and slammed into the final man in the bliss field, ending his life.

The death meant that the last peggie was the last peggie, he was locked in fear, his four friends all disappeared before him one at a time by an unseen enemy, now that he could see clear as day that he was out matched and out numbered, he locked up, unsure of what to do, but those feeling were short lived as an arrow suddenly embedded itself into the man's chest, casing him to fall back with a death rattle. With all the peggies gone, Jess hooped her bow over her shoulder before wiping her hands together.

"Bout fuckin' time, told ya you could do it, let's go" Jess groaned as she walked over to the helicopter.

"Yeah, uh sure thing" Rook muttered as he slowly followed her but halfway over he stopped as something lay in front of him

Rook looked down at the thing at his feet, it was the peggie from the hunter's tower, by the way the peggie fell off, he must have instinctively extended his arms, but of course it did him no good as an arrow was buried in his throat, in fact it was probably worse for him as the bone in his forearm was sticking of his arm, the bone was broken in half, the end snapped at a grisly point, muscles and tendons still clung to chunks of the snapped bone, skin and flesh bent and twisted to accommodate the protrusion, blood and tiny shards of flaked calcium pooled around the corpse.

The site of this made Rook shutter, how many times had he narrowly avoided this fate, death or shattered bones, he knew his luck would run out eventually, how long until one of his bone snap out of his body or catches a bullet with an important organ, the idea made him sick to his stomach.

"Hey, come on" he suddenly heard Jess call out to him, her voice made him jump as he was lost in his head full of grim possibilities.

"Huh, wha-?" muttered as he turned around to face Jess, she was standing next to the helicopter, arms crossed and glaring at the Junior Deputy.

"Right… sorry" Rook muttered as he staggered towards Jess and the helicopter, upon reaching the Tulip he opened the helicopter door and climbed in, he remembered something about Adelaide saying that she carved something or other carved into the dashboard of the vehicle, he scanned the metal that housed the many expensive looking dials and toggles before his eyes rested on the small words _Mile High Club_ was delicately engraved in shallow lines most likely made with a knife, it rested at the very top of the dashboard.

"So, is this this or what?" he hear Jess groan as she opened the passenger door.

"Uh yeah, we got it" Rook stammered.

"Sweet, let's get out of here" she replied as she climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door behind her.

Not wanting to fly the helicopter due to his fear of heights nor did he know how, he brought up his walkie talkie to his mouth and called Adelaide in hopes of there being another way to get it back to its rightful owner.

"Ok so I found your Tulip, how do you want me to get it back to you?" Rook asked.

"You fly it back obviously, it's a helicopter what are you expecting?" Adelaide replied, slightly amused by Rook's question.

"I was afraid you were going to say that" Rook gulped, he was not looking forward to getting high up in the air.

"Don't worry so much, Tulip may sting like a bee, but she still floats like a butterfly" Adelaide said.

"I'm sure she does" Rook replied nervously.

"Don't worry Sweetheart, I'll guide you in really good like, it's just harder than it looks" Adelaide spoke.

"I don't know, this could go real sideways real fast" Rook stated.

"Dude just do what she says, and you'll be find" Jess muttered as she relaxed into her seat.

"It's not the flight that scares me... Ok yes it is but that's not the main reason" Rook said nervously.

"Then what is? You afraid you'll slam this thing into the ground or something?" Jess guessed.

"I am now" Rook said slightly nodding, deep down he had forgotten that Jess was not aware his fear of heights, if he was in any other scenario he would be readying himself for her to make fun of him for it, but with the situation at hand, he couldn't muster it.

"Then what the fuck is going on?" Jess asked, beginning to grow tired of his shenanigans.

"I uh, I well, I kinda have this fear of heights" Rook winced.

"Yeah real funny, now really, what's the hold up?" Jess asked, no believing what Rook had.

"Jess" Rook said somberly, turning to look at her.

"I really am afraid of heights" he said much to his chagrin.

"Wait seriously?" Jess asked, suppressing a laugh.

"Yes, seriously, I've been afraid of heights ever since I was kid, I don't know why" Rook sighed as he faced forward again.

Jess was silent for a few seconds before she started laughing, it started as giggles but quickly worked its way up to actual laughter. Rook sighed and screwed his eyes shut, he was expecting something like this from her, but it didn't ease the embarrassment.

"Dude, dude, dude, no way" Jess said through laughter.

"Oh fuck, holy shit, no way" she continued much to Rook's pride.

Eventually her laughter subsided.

"Why the actual fuck are you afraid of heights you like, almost get shot to death everyday, everything you do almost gets you killed, why are you like this?" She giggled.

"I don't know" Rook answered, feeling his cheeks start to burn.

"I just don't like the idea of being that high off the ground, if man was supposed to fly then God would have given us wings" Rook.

"This is just sad" Jess smirked, rubbing her brow.

Rook sighed before bringing the walkie back to his mouth.

"So how do I start Tulip up?" he asked.

"Start flickin' the toggles by the _Mile High Club" _Adelaide instructed.

Rook looked down at the control panel, and sure enough, there was the toggles Adelaide spoke of and flicked them all, one by one, causing a light hum to emit from the engine.

"Then pull the big lever on the floor all the way down" Adelaide continued

Rook looked down to see a large Frankenstein-eusqe lever sat in between him and Jess, he reached down and pulled it all the way, causing even more noise to come out of the engine.

"OK, now what?" Rook asked.

"Flick all them switches on the ceiling then pull back on the flight stick" Adelaide instructed.

Rook did what he was told and flicked all the switches before pulling back on the flight stick, his need to complete his goals made him forget about what the end goal was, as the helicopter slowly began to lift off the ground his fears got the best of him again.

"Oh shit, oh shit, here we go" Rook muttered nervously to himself as he could feel himself sink into his seat in some sub conscious attempt to move away from the sheet of glass in front of him that showed just how high off the ground he was going to be.

The helicopter slowly rose higher and higher off the ground Rook got more and more nervous as where Jess was as relaxed as ever, arms crossed and casually looking out the window to her side, after almost half a minute of slowly elevating, Rook finally pushed the flight stick forward slowly, in turn causing the helicopter to dip forward before physically moving forward.

"See, told ya you could do it, it's not that hard" Jess sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, tell me that once we land" Rook mumbled as he reaffirmed his iron grip on the flight stick, doing everything in his power not to look down in any degree.

Rook slowly took one hand off the flight stick and lifted his walkie to his mouth.

"OK, Adelaide, we are slowly making our way back to you, be back soon" Rook said meekly.

"I hear you loud and clear, sweetheart, see you soon" Adelaide responded.

With the helicopter high above the treeline and slowly moving forward through the air for a while now, Rook ever so slowly built up the confidence to push the flight stick forward even more, if he had not flown Nick Rye's plane what felt like months ago then he would have kept the helicopter at a slow pace as the plane is much faster then a helicopter. As the helicopter some what slowly moved across the sky, despite moving at a graceful speed, they were making a good time as they couldn't see the marina through all the trees, but it was quite obvious that they were getting close, Rook was starting to feel a little better as his flight would soon come to an end, but suddenly his walkie talkie crackled to life, causing him to jump.

"Hey Sweetheart, I really need you to get back here now!" Adelaide's voice suddenly exploded from Rook's walkie; her voice full of fear.

"Is everything ok?" Rook asked, nervously as he slowly brought the walkie to his mouth.

"A bunch of boats showed up and started shooting up the place, I think they're Jacob's boyfriends or something, they ain't anything like Faith's boytoys!" Adelaide loudly explained, as she spoke, as gunfire could be heard in the background.

"Wait, what does that mean?!" Rook cried.

"Jacob got re-enforcement comin!" Adelaide yelled as more gunfire could be heard before the line went dead on her side.

"Shit it sounds like Jacob sent his guys in or something" Jess said.

"Damnit, we need to hurry" Rook said as he slowly pushed the flight stick even further forward, picking up speed, trying his best to stow his fears to make it back to the marina in a timely manner.

* * *

As they flew over the marina, they could see just what had arrived at the marina, four gunboats, all parked at the docks with a few men and woman on board, all wielding automatic weapons and firing at the main house, most likely where Adelaide, her friend, Sharky and Hurk were taking cover. The color scheme of the boats and the outfits of the attackers were drastically different from what Rook had seen the past few days, despite them wearing the usual black or cream colored jackets and shirts, their outfits seem a little altered, they looked almost military like, their assault was short lived as it was hard not to notice the pink camo helicopter floating several hundred feet above them, so a handful looked up and fired at the copter, bullets plinking off the under carriage.

"Don't just sit there, fire back!" Jess ordered.

"How?!" Rook yelled backed.

"I don't know, start pushing buttons, those guns on the sides aren't for show!" Jess yelled as she started flicking a few knobs and toggles, hoping for something to happen.

Rook scanned the control panel before him, the many gauges, knobs and switches were not labeled nor did it look like it would activate the guns.

"I don't what looks like a gun button!" Rook cried, his nerves slowly getting the best of him.

"Try that, dumbass!" Jess yelled angrily as she pointed to the top left of the dashboard.

On the top left, a small box was bolted to the dash, it was lined with three buttons rows of green LED's with a toggle and a symbol scratched next to each row.

"Just fuckin' try something!" Jess ordered.

"Uhhh ok" Rook replied, unsure how to respond or what else to do.

He flicked down the toggle next to the symbol of three diagonal lines, doing so caused a small red LED within the semi-transparent red button on the flight stick.

"Here goes nothing" he thought as he rested his thumb on said button before pressing it.

A hail of bullets shot out from either side of the helicopter, this spinning barrels and discharge of every bullet congealed together and sounded like a pair of chainsaws over then spinning propeller and engine. The noise made him jump as he wasn't expecting such a noise, and taking his thumb off the button, causing the guns to power down.

"Do that again on the dudes on the ground!" Jess ordered loudly.

Rook sat there trying to think of how he could hit the peggies on the ground, trying not to let his fear of heights, dying, his friends dying, and failure get the best of him as he tried to figure something out.

"Dude, fuckin' do something!" Jess yelled, grabbing his shoulder, peggies continued to shoot the underside of the helicopter, the hull could only take so many hits before the dents became something worse.

"OK, uh hold on to something!" Rook cried as he jerked the stick, causing the copter to lurch forward, just enough for the helicopter to line up with the people storming the dock and pressed the button.

The gun barrels spun for half a second before bullets spewed from the barrels with a loud whirl, he bullets slammed into the ground and peggies, shredding everything it touched before the helicopter leveled out again, causing Rook to stop firing again.

"Shit, do that again!" Jess cried.

"Yeah sure!" Rook replied as he jerked the stick again, trying to line up a shot, but as he did, a few peggies climbed into the heavy guns attached their boats and began firing at the copter, bullets slamming into the under carriage, this time bullets began penetrating the hull.

"I think they're trying to shoot our air conditioner!" Rook cried in fear as he tried to maneuver the helicopter around, attempting to avoid getting hit.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Jess cried back.

"The spiny blade things on the top of the helicopter, if it just stops then we're really going to start sweating!" Rook explained.

"Are you seriously cracking jokes now of all times?!" Jess yelled

"It's how I try to stay calm!" Rook loudly retorted.

"What make me calm is when you kill peggies!" Jess yelled.

"I'm working on it!" Rook yelled back in fear.

As he continued to try to maneuver the helicopter around the heavy fire but to no avail, a few lights and sounds flashed to signify that something wrong was with the helicopter as it took damage.

"Oh god, oh geez, oh god, oh geez" Rook muttered to himself as Jess continued to berate him for his poor job.

Things were starting to feel grim to Rook as the pressure was continuously mounting but then suddenly, one of the boat exploded, fiery chunks of metal rained down the area where it used to be, Rook couldn't see the enemy on the ground but could only assume they were freaking out as they all lost interest in him and began firing back at the house.

"What just happened?" Rook asked, trying to get a better look at the ground while trying to keep his legs from turning to jelly.

"I don't know I think… I think Boshaw finally used his rocket launcher" Jess guessed, trying to get a good look at the ground as Rook struggled to keep the aircraft steady.

"Hurk? Really?" Rook replied.

"Yeah now come on, fucking shoot back" Jess ordered again, giving him a punch in the arm.

"Ok, ok, ok, no more punching" Rook pleaded as he reoriented the copter and began jerking the stick forward to angle it down and began firing down upon everyone on the ground, pulling everyone's attention back onto the helicopter.

With the helicopter giving suppressing fire, it gave everyone in the main house time to fire back, a few rockets flew out of a window, flying right over the boats and the peggies, but it appeared that everyone was doing a better job at defending as the peggies quickly moved back to the remaining boats they came in on. Rook expected them to climb into the guns attached to the boats, but instead, they fired up the engines and slowly began backing the boat off the docks as the people on board shot at the helicopter as It reversed, Rook tried his best to line up the copter to get more shots in but before he could, the boats had backed up enough to turn around and headed back across the river, firing at the helicopter all the while, instead of chasing after them, he kept the helicopter stationary.

"Go after them, what are you waiting for!?" Jess demanded, as she grabbed a hand full of his shirt.

"They're retreating, why bother, we won" Rook stated, but in truth, he wanted to get back on the ground more then chase after them.

"Who gives a shit, let's go blow 'em up!" Jess ordered.

"Jess listen, I know you want to but enough is enough, I'm landing" Rook said as he pulled down on the stick and descended quickly.

Rook descended a lot more then he should have as the helicopter slammed into the ground with a loud thud before doing the reverse of what Adelaide had told him to get into the air as Jess continued to yell and berate him for his unwillingness to kill. Despite her yelling he calmly exited the cockpit.

"Oh, thank god in heaven" he sighed as he felt solid ground underneath his feet, he forgot what it felt like and it was amazing.

He could hear Jess also climb out and begin to yell at him again but fell silent as Adelaide came jogging over to them.

"Sweetheart that was some damn fine shooting" she cheered as she jogged towards them.

"What really?" Rook said, looking around the dock, examining the plethora of bullet holes in the environment, it was clear he missed more then he hit.

But he also couldn't help but notice that the times he did hit, it was something awful, a few dead peggies lay on the ground, the bullets the copter used were most likely fifty Cal, more then enough to shred human flesh.

"Doesn't look like I did to much" Rook said, looking back up at Adelaide who was now standing before him.

"Ohh don't worry honey you did more then enough, you got my bird back and cleared out my marina out twice, I really owe you one sweetheart" Adelaide said with a wink.

"Uh, no problem, but hey do you help with clean up, I did kind of tear up the place?" Rook asked.

"Oh no, it's quite alright, I got those two good for nothin's cowering in th' house" Adelaide said, sticking a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the house.

"Ok then, if you got nothing else going on, then I'm going to get out of here" Rook said.

"Thank you again Mister Deputy, and please, if you ever need anything, give me a call" Adelaide smirked.

"Oh, and the same goes for you" she said, glossing over Jess.

Jess didn't respond, she just grumbled and pulled the adjusted her hood.

"Thanks, well see you around" Rook waved as he began walking to the front gate.

He could hear Jess stomping behind him, he knew she was pissed and was not looking for the car ride back home.

She quickly overtook him and sped walked to the gate and towards their waiting pickup truck, not wanting to keep her waiting any longer than he already has, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the truck keys and picked up the pace, not wanting to anger her anymore.

* * *

The drive home was silent, Jess just sat in the passenger seat, leaning against the window and eerily glaring at whatever she looked at, Rook really wished he knew how to properly talk to her so he could smooth over what had happened today, he knew just sitting in silence wouldn't do anything, he had to try something.

"So…. Do you want to talk about it?" Rook asked.

"No" Jess huffed quickly.

"Are you sure, a few things did kind of set you off today" Rook offered.

"A lot of things set me off" she groused.

"I know, but not as much as they used, so I was thinking that talking about it might help" Rook explained.

"No" Jess said again.

The brick wall that was Jess was really hard to talk sometimes, Rook let out a sigh and hoped he could find a hole in the metaphorical wall.

"So, I don't think my fear of heights changed at all today" Rook said, hoping to get a conversation going.

"Whatever dude…. Hey pull over" Jess asked.

"Uh, sure, you ok?" Rook asked as he slowed the truck down and pulled off to the side of the road.

As the truck came to a full stop, Jess opened her door and climbed out.

"Hey you ok?" Rook asked again.

"Yeah sure dude, hey just head home without me, I gotta blow off some steam or whatever" she muttered.

"Are you sure, we're a ways away from the prison" Rook said, unsure of his friend's choice.

"Yeah, it's cool dude, fuckin' flamethrower pissed me the fuck off" she muttered as she adjusted her hood before turning to walk into the forest behind her.

"Uh ok… hey call me if you need help or anything" Rook offered as she disappeared into the treeline, Jess offered no reply as she left, leaving Rook alone.

Rook watched Jess disappear into the forest before taking off down the road again.

Rook could have returned back to the prison half an hour ago, but instead he just kept driving, he just did small loops around the Henbane, he felt that he needed alone time again, and for some reason the prison just seemed to noisy for his liking. He just wanted to be alone with his thought in silence, try to process just what he had seen and did in the last twenty-four hours, and how it was a stark contrast to what he wanted, he was a officer of the law, he was supposed to serve and protect, not slaughter and murder, he was supposed to be better then this. With all that swam around in his head he almost didn't hear his walkie talkie crackle to life, making him jump in his seat.

"Benjamin are you there" Faith's voice came softly out of his walkie; her voice was a lot softer than usual as she most likely didn't want to get him caught.

A part of him wanted to just ignore it and just enjoy his peace and quiet, but he just couldn't do it, she had been nothing but nice to him, not only that but she could have easily ordered his execution, but she didn't.

Rook slowed his truck to a crawl before pulling off to the shoulder of the road and brought the walkie to his mouth.

"Hey Faith" he sighed.

"Ben are you ok, when we lasted talked you seemed a little off, a little distressed, and well you still do, are you ok?" She asked, her voice carrying concern.

"Yeah I just… I don't know it's been a rough day I guess" Rook mumbled.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Faith asked.

"No" Rook answered quickly.

"What happened Ben, bottling it all up won't make the pain go away" Faith asked softly.

Rook let out a sigh, he didn't like how she could just read him like that, he really didn't want to take about Eden's Covenant, the smell and sight of the charred corpse, the torn, bullet riddled bodies at the marina, all the death and destruction he brought.

"I uh… I've been making a lot of mistakes today" Rook muttered.

"We all make mistakes, that's what it means to be human" Faith replied.

"No, I… I am an officer of the law; all I do day to day now is kill… I don't like it" Rook responded.

"You don't have to kill, maybe we can work together and find a peaceful resolve?" Faith asked.

"You know I can't agree to that" Rook replied.

"Then what do you want?" Faith asked.

Rook paused for a few moments to think about what he wanted.

"I want to help people so bad but... I don't know how much more bloodshed I can handle"

"Benjamin… what happened to you today?" Faith asked softly again, her voice full of concern.

"I… I killed a lot of people today… just… mowed them down… I, I blew a bunch of guys up, just boom, gone, just can't get the sight and smell of the bodies out of my head, I told the sheriff about it, he told me I was traumatized by it, gave me some time off, I ended up doing some stuff that got a few people burned alive, I didn't do it but I might as well have… I really don't like the smell of over cooked human… to be honest I think he's right, I am traumatized" Rook bleakly surmised.

"Ben, Th… I'm sorry you had to go through everything you did" Faith said somberly.

"I have a feeling I will have more days like this for a while, to be honest… I don't know how much I can take" Rook muttered.

"I know this will sound quite obscure, but you can't give up, you need to press on, you can't let adversity get to you" Faith said, trying to encourage him.

"What… why, we are enemies, why are you trying to help me?" Rook asked.

"Listen to me Benjamin, I know this may sound unbelievable or even a trap, but I need you to believe me, please… please, will you meet with me, alone, I have to talk to you face to face" Faith asked.

"What?!" Rook exclaimed, taken aback by her proposal, how could she even think he would say yes, this was obviously a trap of some kind.

"How can I not think this is a trap, if I meet with you, you can easily get rid of me" Rook asked.

"Why would I do that to such a good friend Ben, please I don't want you to go through this alone, please listen to me, I know what your going through, please, let me be there for you" Faith begged.

"What… why… Even if I wanted to… where would we meet?" Rook asked.

"There's this old rangers tower I used to frequent a very long time ago, it's right by Silver Lake, well it's on the mountain by Silver Lake, it's called Taft Lookout Tower, if you go there I promise you I will be there by myself, ready to talk" Faith spoke.

Rook wasn't too familiar with the far end of the Henbane, but the name did sound familiar, if he remembered right, it was right by Drubman Marina.

"But why would you but yourself in such a dangerous position like this?" Rook asked.

"Because I want to help my friend, you clearly need it" Faith replied.

She had been nothing but honest with him up until now, so why would go back on it now, if she wanted him dead then he would be a long time ago, and a part of him wanted whatever help she was offering.

Rook thought about it for a few moments before finally replying.

"Ok… sure I'll meet you" Rook said gently.

Rook heard a small gasp come from the other end.

"Thank you Ben, I'll head on over right now" She said gratefully before the line went dead.

"Uh, yeah sure, no problem" Rook muttered to himself as he looked at his walkie before lightly tossing it onto the passenger seat.

With an uneasy sigh, Rook turned his truck around and went back the way he came, back towards the marina and the mountain near it, a part of him felt like he was walking into another trap.

* * *

As Rook's truck past by a large wooden sign that read "Taft Lookout Tower" with a large arrow pointing forward, Rook finally knew he was going the right way and followed the road as far as he could before the road ended with a wooden barricade, indicating there was no more road ahead, Rook parked his truck right up against the barricade and killed the engine before climbing out and looking up the mountain. He could see a little square structure in the distance way up the hill, he could only assume that was the lookout tower, and it was quite high, at least ten minutes of uphill walking with a gravel trail dotting the way up, with no easier way up, Rook let out a dejected sigh as he slowly began his ascent up the trail, as he slowly worked his way up he could see the surrounding area, the nearby trees were sparse and thin, there was nothing anyone or anything could hide behind, if there was a trap it would be in the lookout tower itself, it was either it was full of peggies or explosives, either one would most likely be enough to get him. If this was a trap, it would come in fast and hard, ready for anything, Rook kept a hand on the pistol, ready for anything.

With the setting sun on his back the climb seemed all the more tiresome, it made Rook realize just how dehydrated he was and had not drank anything in quite a while now, to counter it, all he could do was stare at the slowly approaching lookout tower. It was still a good ways away, and as much as he didn't want to, he gave him more time to think further upon how this could all just be a trap and was walking into his grave and about his day and everything that had happened in it.

It was like a grim slideshow on repeat.

As he continuously thought about his day again, that cold dead, feeling clawed its way back into his stomach, it did not feel good.

In an attempt to fend off the feeling Rook looked back up to the lookout tower to gauge just how much more walking he needed to go, but to his surprise and relief, he some how got a good hundred feet away from it.

"Aw, thank god" Rook muttered to himself as he stopped to catch his breath before continuing.

He looked up at The Taft Lookout Tower was a basic ranger's tower; park rangers would sit up here all summer to keep an eye on the forest below and to keep an eye out for forest fires, a simple wooden staircase that went up the side of the tower and attached itself to a balcony that wrapped all around a small cube shaped room with all the basics a park ranger would need. Several sections of the railing was missing or lightly damaged, Rook could only assume it was caused by some skirmish, he carefully approached and ascended the staircase walked along the walkway until he reached the mid point and examined the interior of the small room, and could clearly see it was empty besides the bare essentials a ranger would need, satisfied with how safe he was, he leaned on the battered railing and looked over the landscape before him, the sun was tipping low into those bright orange colors that bled onto the forest below, the breeze made the trees shake gently in the wind, he wasn't sure how long he stood there admiring the beauty of the County, but a squeak from a floorboard pulled him from his thoughts and turned to look at what caused the noise.

A Caucasian woman stood before him, she looked young, had to be early twenties, not much older then himself, she had long auburn hair and wore an intricate white dress lined with curling lines and patterns, a few flowers were embedded into the hip of the dress, despite it looking so plain, she pulled it off, she looked quite pretty in it.

Rook only saw Faith once while clear headed, it was when he and his cohorts walked right up to Joseph and slapped the cuff on him, she and her brothers hovered behind him, despite that feeling like an eternity ago, the woman match the basic profile the person before him.

True to her word, the woman in front of him was in fact Faith Seed.

"Holy shit" Rook thought.

It was clear by the look on her face she was nervous, Rook couldn't blame her, he was as well, she was hunched down ever so slightly, most likely some instinct told her to keep her head down as being spotted out here would be an immediate death sentence, not only that but the Junior Deputy, an enemy, stood before her.

The two stood there, staring at each other for a few seconds, both were unsure of what to do or say.

"So uh, should I talk first, or do you want to?" Rook asked nervously.

Faith stared at him before a moment before giggling briefly.

"Serious as ever, I see" she said.

"Uh sorry, this just feels really weird" Rook said, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's ok, I feel really weird too" Faith said, trying to put on a brave front.

"So uh, why did you want to meet me?" Rook asked, hoping to get to the heart of the matter.

"I'm here because what your going through, I know what it's like, how it affects you, how it leaves that cold, dead feeling in the pit of your stomach, I cant bare to stand around and watch you get worse and worse without being able to help" Faith explained.

"And how will you help?" Rook asked, unsure of what she could possibly mean.

"Why don't we have a seat, it's a long story" Faith offered, gesturing to the base of a missing section of railing.

"UH, yeah sure" Rook said awkwardly as he walked over to the spot and lowered himself down and sat on the edge of the walkway, his legs hanging over the edge.

He sat there with a mix of anxiety and fear as he now realized Faith could now easily push him off the side and to his death, but before he could say or do anything, Faith lowered herself down next to him a mere two feet away from him, after getting comfy next to him see ran a hand over her dress a few times to smooth it out. A part of him was waiting for the peggies to come out from around the corner and execute him, or even Faith herself to pull out a weapon and make an attempt on his life, so deep seeded part of him thought about doing the same, if she was really true to her word then it was just the two of them, he could just take the pistol off his leg and just shot her, it would be quick, clean and no body will know, not until he brings to the body back home with him to prove that he had basically liberated the whole Henbane River.

"Benjamin, listen" Faith said somberly, pulling him out of his murderous thoughts, he turned to look at her as she stared out into the sunset.

"Trauma and abuse are... are very slippery slopes, you think they don't have a hold on you but the next thing you know they suffocate you.. a very long time ago, I was just a normal girl, like everyone else, I went to school, had a friend, a part time job... Parents" Faith began.

"My, my parents, they grew many, many different types of flowers and used them to make medicine and other pharmaceuticals, we, we didn't have a lot of money so they were desperate to produce as much as they could, we used to live in an old conservatory despite the mounting debts as it was prime growing soil, and for a time we managed, but not everything was as manageable as bills and taxes, for some reason, I always felt like the whole county against me, I was always the target so some rude prank, joke or some sort of exclusion… in high school people were always whispering about me, talking about me behind my back as if I had done something to them, I never did anything to cause any of this of course, I was, well… like you I suppose, always bending over backwards trying to make everyone happy, so I ignored it… mostly, but thankfully I had a single friend who was nothing but kind to me, she was in a similar situation as me so we were kindred spirits I suppose, and we were best friends, we did everything together, she was the only one who could really make me laugh, made everything tolerable, it was the two of us against the world, whenever things got to unbearable for either of us, we would sneak away to our own little corner of the county and smoke marijuana"

"But one day my mother was diagnosed with Severe Coronary Artery Disease and the news changed her, her and my father, for some reason the thought they could make a cure with their flowers and pharmaceuticals instead of finding a way to pay for the treatment, I guess they believed if they found a cure they could save her and sell it to absolve all the debts, so they spent day after day after day toiling away, trying to make something that could save her, but they couldn't, he knew it, she knew it, I knew it, medicine just doesn't work like that, but yet they spent so much time trying to make something that would save her that they begun neglecting their jobs, And when they did do it, they cut corners in time, resources and care, the product was almost as bad as what they were supposed to treat, it was then I was able to find out why the county was so against me; my parents had been making medicine with horrible side effects, thousands of blood pressure pills had to be recalled as they had blood clotting side effects, of course they blamed me for that too, since they spent nearly all their time in our conservatory, no one had a chance to get to them for their inferior product, so they decided to get to them through me… only the joke was one them as they failed to notice what was happening to their child"

"Like I said, we all knew that the cure was out of reach, but yet they still poured all their time and efforts into trying, and yet when they got failure after failure and they got angrier and angrier, and after a while they took it out on each other, everyday would end in them shouting at each other, when they did I always kept my head down and out of their way, I never said how I felt about it when they cooled down as I didn't want to upset them further, I just wanted to make them happy again so badly so I didn't question their judgment but… eventually they slowly began turning their anger towards me, they slowly became more and more strict, they started taking control of my life, who I talked to, what I did after school, what I did in my free time, eventually they made me quit my job for some unknown reason, leaving me with no personal income and with my parents constantly at work, I virtually had to fend for myself, and when I couldn't and had to ask for help which in turn they would always say something along the lines of _Toughen up kid, once you're an adult, things will become so much _harder and if I continued to press them I would get _Your just a dumb kid, be quiet and listen to what I say so do this and do that and stop questioning us_ and occasionally if I was doing some random action that they didn't agree with or just keeping to myself, doing nothing they would just threaten to kick me out of the house, I was never sure if they were serious or if it was just a idle threat to keep me in my place, eventually I had to do everything they told me, which meant helping them make their medicines with next to know knowledge of what I was doing, for some reason they believed that if they could do it so could I, when I made inferior product they yelled at me for it, when I explained that my lack of knowledge was because they showed me the bare minimum they started going on about how I should never, ever criticism as the quote unquote pay the bills and keep the roof over my head"

"I just felt so trapped, so... Denied of my own life… this went on for months… then one day, my mother died, despite how she treated me, I still loved her, but my father… he just lashed out at everything, blaming me and everything under the sun for her death… when I offered if there was anything I could do and he just… snapped… he just grabbed me and through me out of the house… told me to get lost… with the loss of the mother and my father kicking me out, I just… I don't know I just, I just walked, and I walked to my friend's house and I told her what happened, she got so mad, she even threatened to beat up my father, and as I said before, she was in similar situations as me and with everything going on between us, she offered that we just leave the county… and I just agreed, so we grabbed what little we had, and we just left and we just went west for a while, we got by with what we had for a while but it didn't really last long as we didn't have much to begin with, on day three of having nothing we ran into this… hippie movement, as you would call it and well they just talked to us, they were so nice and friendly it… it reminded of what I once had, and they offered to take us along with them as they went place to place to protest violated environmental laws, with no options left, we joined… as still they were all so friendly and happy with one another… like one big family, it was exactly what I wanted but… all it did was make all the feelings float to the surface, our new friends were hippies of course so marijuana was never hard to find and I used it to bury the feeling for a while, but it slow grew and grew until I realized that the commune was all just a big distraction, deep down I was still in so much pain, the parents that loved and raised me, blamed me for my mother's deteriorating health and death, they made terrible medicine that caused the whole town to turn against me and probably killed a bunch of people, those feelings of hurt and betrayal just… compounded and compounded until the only way I could cope was through marijuana, but the marijuana could only dull the feeling so much, eventually those feeling still grew and swelled even when I was high and he feelings just… consumed me, I truly felt that everything was my fault, if it wasn't then why would god let something like this happen, I never did anything to deserve it nor did I do anything to cause it… and I found the only way I could bury those feelings was through the use of cocaine and the next thing knew, my friend and myself were hooked on the stuff, our addiction was so bad that our commune noticed we were a couple of bad apples and they ex-communicated us"

"And once again, I was abandoned by those I cared about, we just… felt so lost, we had nothing but our cocaine addiction, we just floated around the area for a few days before we finally gave up and began our slow journey to Hope's County, when we finally returned to our supposed home another movement had recently moved in, curious to see if they were anything like the last, or well, if they had any drugs, we investigated, and that's how we met Joseph Seed, he was just so nice and smart and interesting, he of course knew of our addictions and understood the pain of our pasts, he saw under all the addiction and hurt that there was a person underneath, a person worth saving, he offered us a place within his movement so long as we underwent treatment for our addiction, we of course agreed, who couldn't, Joseph was so nice, and generous, and loved everyone as if they were his children and gave them everything, once we became clean I felt so much better than I did in such a long time and we were properly welcomed into the Project At Eden's Gate, and just like Joseph everyone was so happy and kind and caring and everything was just perfect again, and I just... flourished… It wasn't long after Joseph took notice of how much I loved what we were doing and how I my tender loving care brought in more and more people into are cause, then one day he and his brothers brought me into his office to discuss something important with me, when they're cause first started they had a sister and well, she past away, and I was very similar to her in, looks, personality, and mannerisms, they wanted to ask me if I'd be willing to well, take her place and become their sister, they believed if people thought that if we were related it would make the cause look better as they wanted it to be family friendly, it's what we needed if we wanted to save people from the collapse, how could I say no, Joseph gave me everything I ever wanted, friends, a home, sobriety, safety, all I had to do was change my name to Faith Seed, Joseph even offered to take care of my Father's debts, but he had to much pride and refused the money for a time, so I happily accept and became their loving sister and well… the rest is history" Faith finished, leaving the two in silence for a few seconds.

"Benjamin" Faith finally said, turning her head to look at him,

Rook turned to meet her gaze, but what really surprised him was that there were actual tears in her eyes, he couldn't tell if she really was upset or if this was just an act to let his guard down.

"Please.. Please, come with me, come back to my bunker with me, I can't bare to have to listen to my friend fall down the cliff as I once did, I can't bare to hear you slowly kill yourself trying make others happy like I did" Faith begged.

"I will make sure no one will ever hurt you once you join, together we can save everyone.. peacefully just like you want, together and no one will have to suffer until the collapse has come and gone"

"Wow... Faith... That's, that's a lot to take in" Rook muttered, his mind was a whirlpool of concerns and doubts, as he went over everything she said in his head, it sounded believable but a part of him didn't want to believe it, he couldn't see the people he had met bully this poor girl for what her parents did, people like Mary, Grace, Nick and Jerome would never do something like that, but if they were aware, why not speak up. But what made him believe her was that large portions of her story strongly lined up with the story Tracey had told him a while back when she explained how she got into the cult, her and a friend ran away and joined some hippies, got hooked on cocaine and got kicked out, then returned home and joined up, that meant the women sitting next to him might have very well been know as Racheal at some point, it didn't help that Faith had said _all I had to do was change my name to Faith Seed._

"I know.. I know, but my intentions are not to overwhelm you, I just want you to see that I you can't win every little fight, save every life, those failures and self blame are just going to stack and stack until you start to feel like it really is your fault and it's weight crushes you, I don't want to see you destroy yourself, the people here are terrified, not until you came here they started to fight back, to me it seems like your doing all the work, and when all that work overwhelms you they will blame you for your failures, please come with me so I can save you from that" faith pleaded.

"But why though, within a week of me being in the County, John kidnapped me and just about drowned me in his so called baptism before almost sending me to god knows where, Lord know Jacob is preparing for me or whatever, they want me dead, but you want me safe, you want me to be happy, why are you so kind to me?" Rook asked.

Even though Faith had told him everything about her past, a part of him still didn't know who sat next to him, everyone in the prison made her out to be some sort of monster but from her point of view, if it was the truth, she was merely a young girl who had misfortune after misfortune and made her a unfortunate victim of circumstance whether she knew it or not, his allies wanted him to end her life but now, he wasn't sure if she deserved that, jail time or simply a therapist.

"As much as I love the Father, I know that his greatest weakness is his honesty, if he doesn't like something he will say it, and the same can be said about the things he likes, and he thinks your special, there is something about you that he needs to prepare for the collapse and as much as John and Jacob disagree, I believe him, even when I first saw you, when you came into the Father's church to arrest him, there was something about you that was different, you seemed so unlike your coworkers, it wasn't that you didn't belong, it was more along the lines of someone who wanted to do the right thing, even if people hated you for it, I saw you hesitate when you were asked to place the handcuffs on the Father, a part of you didn't want to, because you didn't know what the right thing was" Faith replied.

"And weeks later I still see that same belief, I still get notification that you spare members of my flock, you don't kill if you don't have to, you care about the lives of everyone, people here started fighting back when you arrived because you are a leader, your inspiring hope no matter how displaced, that's why the Father needs you so bad, you were but on this earth to save lives, we need that to prepare for the collapse" she explained.

"Faith… I, listen, I have a feeling you are telling the truth, and I am truly, truly sorry that all that happened to you, you deserved so much more then that but I'm sorry Faith, I just can't do it, I can't just abandon my friends and join you, I don't feel like it's the right thing" Rook muttered.

"Oh, I see" Faith mumbled, placing her hands in her lap, dipping her head down slightly and looking away from the Junior Deputy.

The two sat there in awkward silence for a few moments before Faith perked back up slightly.

"well, regardless… I would still like us to remain friends" she said nervously.

"I don't see why not" Rook replied just as nervous; he couldn't jeopardize his chance for a direct line to Joseph.

"So, you know what I've been up too, what have you been doing?" Rook asked, trying to dispel the tension and awkwardness.

"Well, I've been preparing for the end, making sure we have enough supplies, beds, tools, everything we would need to build Eden, other then that not too much asides from keeping the Henbane in check" Faith explained.

"Sounds really exciting huh?" Rook said.

"It's more stressful then exciting but as long as I can help then it's more then worth it if I can help" faith smiled lightly.

"And it goes to show how much you mean to mean Ben; I'm putting aside my duties for a little bit to help my friend in need" she said.

"Uh, thank you" Rook replied before the two entered a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"Hey so uh, can I ask you a question?" Rook asked sheepishly.

"Of course, Ben you can ask me anything" Faith replied.

"What did you do to Burke?" Rook asked bluntly.

Faith was silent for a few seconds before responding.

"Burke?" She finally said, it was made clear by her tone of voice the question confused her.

The fact that the question confused her had confused the Junior Deputy, if she didn't know who Burke was then that meant she didn't have him in her possession, which meant the peggies outright killed him when they captured him and didn't say anything about it or she was just not informed on his existence.

"Oh, you must mean Cameron?" Faith said, her voice picking up slightly.

"You are referring to the U.S. Marshall, are you not?"

"Yeah that's him, Marshall Burke, I take it he is in your custody then?" Rook asked.

"You are correct, and I must say, he is quite happy to be here" Faith replied.

"What really, why is he so happy?" Rook asked again.

"We were able to open his eyes to the truth and he saw the Father's light" Faith explained.

"Really?" Rook said, not surprised at all.

Rook had never met Burke until it was announced that he would be the warrant officer assisting in Joseph's arrest, which was about three days before the actual arrest, that was more then enough time to figure out just what kind of man Burke is, brash, aggressive, short tempered, and all around rude, the Marshal went even as far as to tease the Junior Deputy repeatedly on his fear of heights within the first five minutes of the helicopter ride to Hope's County. For someone like Burke to just conform to Joseph's ideals was very suspicious, bliss had to have been a vital component to the process.

"Did that eye-opening thing involve bliss?" Rook asked.

"Mm, your just full of questions today, that's good to hear, a curious mind is an open one, but yes we gave him some bliss, but it was not for the reason you think, so please tell me, how well do you know Cameron?" Faith asked.

"Not that well, he showed up at my precinct with the Sheriff saying he's taking point of arresting the Father, and well.. he didn't let us forget it until we got in the helicopter here three days later" Rook surmised.

"So you do know just what kind of man he is; rude, pigheaded, wants to be the center of attention, so full of pride and wrath, even when he was brought to my gate he was yelling, always yelling, at first we gave him just a little bliss to quiet him down, a while after simmering down he just became so.. receptive to the Father's teaching, one of my flock was reciting some of the Father's teachings to a few others and Cameron was just so interested in what he heard, and now the next thing I know Cameron and I are discussing the Father's work over coffee, like friends, isn't that sweet a man as angry him, now so happy and loving his place in life" Faith beamed.

"If he's so happy, do you think I could talk to him?" Rook asked.

"I'm sorry Ben but I can't make it happen" Faith replied, sounding a little sad.

"Is that you can't, or you won't?" Rook asked

"Well honestly, both, Cameron isn't at my bunker at the moment, even if he was, I was explicitly told that he can not come in contact with you" Faith explained.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is he?" Rook asked.

"He is in the Valley with John, he needed Cameron for a few hours and will be back by tomorrow morning at the latest" Faith spoke.

Rook let out a low groan, he could only assume that meant John was going to "baptize" Burke or something along those lines, what really made it uncomfortable was Burke probably wanted it or something.

"I take it your still worried about him all things considered?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, I uh, kinda feel like it was my fault he got grabbed by your buddies the night we showed up" Rook admitted.

"But it is not your fault, I'm sure you tried your best, besides my High Priestess was spearheading your capture that night so the chances of both of you escaping very slim" Faith replied.

"Wait, you have a High Priestess?" Rook asked in confusion.

"Yes, she is my number two, and she helps me keep everything in check, you actually met her once, but you were blissed at the time, so I doubt you remember her" Faith said.

Rook quickly scoured his memory for anyone or anything that could be consider priestly, but nothing came to mind to mind, or really anything from his time on bliss.

"Your right, I don't remember anything about anyone high priestly" Rook admitted.

"It's quite alright, I asked her to make sure you wouldn't remember getting to me" Faith replied.

"But speaking of bliss, we planned to do a few things out on Rock Bass Lake this morning, but the people we sent to carry out the tasks had a few minor inconveniences this morning, I have a sneaking suspicion you were involved with that" Faith asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah me and two friends were out on the lake, Hurk, Sharky and I were checking some things out" Rook said.

"I'm sorry, did you say Sharky, what is a Sharky?" Faith asked in confusion.

"Sharky is the name of my friend" Rook said.

"You have a friend named Sharky?" Faith said, she sounded almost like she didn't believe the Junior Deputy.

"Yes, well Sharky isn't his real name, it's a nickname, his real name is Charlemagne, Charlemagne Boshaw, you know he actually told me that you two talked to each other a lot before Joseph really kicked things off, do you remember him?" Rook asked.

"I can't say I do; I spoke to a lot of people all the time before our plans moved forward" Faith said.

"He was the guy that burned down the roller rink some years back, may or may not own some trailer park down by the lake, loves fire" Rook said, surmising his friend.

"Charlemagne!" Faith chirped; her voice full of recognition.

"Oh, I remember Charlemagne now, yes, he would come to almost every one of my sermons then talked to me for a while afterwards albeit he rarely spoke of what was said in the sermon, but it was nice to speak with someone so high spirited, and well... to be honest I think he had a small crush on me" Faith giggled.

"He talked to me about you for a bit, he never out right said it, but yeah even I think he does too" Rook said.

"So, what else did he say about me?" Faith asked, getting curious.

"Not too much really, just how pretty and nice you are, oh he is like, in love with your voice, that was like, the main reason he talked to you so much is because your voice is just amazing to him" Rook explained.

"Aw, isn't that just the sweetest" Faith cooed.

"As we started moving forward with our plans I started to see Charlemagne less and less, I actually started to miss him at a point, sure he didn't seem too interested in what I said but he still actually listened to me none the less, it was quite nice, but now I have you" Faith smiled.

"So how is Mister Sharky these days?" She asked.

"He's been doing well all things considered, if fact I think he's doing better then he was before as there was no police to tell him what to do" Rook answered.

"I see, I had a feeling Mister Boshaw was a bit of a delinquent" Faith said.

"Well I guess maybe a little, he's still a good guy, he's got his heart in the right place and helped me out in a big way a while ago, it's just he likes to have fun a little two much" Rook spoke.

"I'm going to take your word for it, I remember him having quite a penchant for fire, a little too much then one should" Faith pondered.

"Yeah I get what you mean, but if you think that's bad, you should see his love for disco" Rook joked.

"Disco?" Faith echoed back.

"Isn't disco dead or something?" she asked.

"Just about yeah, but there is still some good songs here and there, but he still loved it to death, hell he's more then willing to make more with me" Rook admitted.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked.

"Well you see" Rook said, rubbing the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed.

"I kind of told him that I was in this crappy garage band when I was in high school and now he created this idea that you, Sharky and me would just put aside our differences and form a band or something goofy like that" Rook said.

"To be honest, in another time, in another life I might just have been interested in forming a small band with you" Faith chuckled.

"Wait really?" Rook asked surprised, giving the woman a look.

"Yes, a very, very long time ago I was very much in love with music, I absolutely adored Lorde, do you know who she is? anyways I quite enjoyed singing, music was an escape for me for a time, so if things were different, then I wouldn't mind forming a little band, even if it was just for fun" Faith smiled.

"Wait really, you're not like, messing with me are you?" Rook asked, almost bewildered.

"No, I'm not messing with you, I mean it" Faith replied.

"Shit… that's pretty cool" Rook muttered as he placed his hands palms down onto the floorboards at either side of him, trying to get comfy and looked out into the setting sun and beauty of the town as he talked to Faith.

After a few moments of talking, he felt something warm touch his hand, he looked down to see what had come in contact with him to discover that it was Faith, she had placed her hand over his, it was clear it was intentional as when he looked up at her, he could see a small smile on her face accompanied by the smallest hint of a blush on her cheeks. Rook didn't really know how to approach the whole scenario, if he just pulled his hand away or asked her to move, it just felt rude, but it just felt so weird to be pseudo holding hands with the woman who choked the entire Henbane with her poison, but as much as he wanted to pull himself free, a part of him enjoyed it, he couldn't remember the last time he had received some sort of positive physical contact besides a occasional professional handshake, and it felt so nice to just sit down and talk to someone like a normal for a change, as much as he enjoyed his friends company, Faith was a refreshing change as she didn't want to talk about work and the cult and just wanted to talk like a normal adult, everyone back in the prison made her out to be some sort of maniacal brooding villain, but now that he was able to sit down and talk to her, she didn't seem to bad after all, she was pleasant, kind, interesting, maybe he could get her to see the light of reason as save her from Joseph's grip on her.


	19. Chapter 19

And then I said, But Sir, what about the ice?!" Rook said, finishing his story, earning a small giggle from Faith.

The two had sat up in the ranger's tower for about an hour, the sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon and darkness slowly crept in. Rook didn't mean for so much time to slip by, he just found that Faith was so easy to talk to, no matter what they talked about Faith seemed interested in it and returned with intelligent responses. She was not much older then him so communication came easy to them, talking and telling goofy stories, trading dumb jokes they had heard, it felt so refreshing, it was nice not to have to worry about ammo or dying or fighting, for a time and just enjoy the evening like a couple of normal adults, Rook hadn't felt this normal since he arrived in the County, it was like some semblance of normalcy had returned to the chaos that was his life.

"Now was quite ridiculous" she smiled.

"Yeah, no kidding, now of course he didn't find it so funny, but we managed to smooth it all over" Rook said.

"Despite your apparent mild-mannered personality, trouble always seems to find its way to you" Faith supposed.

"You can say that again" Rook replied.

"So, did he give you a punishment for your cracking wise?" Faith asked.

"Naah… well yes, me and Hurley did kind of break the rules, so we had to do his paperwork, but other then that, no" Rook explained.

"Your wise cracks are going to get you in real trouble one day" Faith replied.

"Yeah I know, but it helps me process stuff, you know what I mean?" Rook asked.

"I can't say I have" Faith said, shaking her head slowly.

"It's fine, but I be-" Rook began but their conversation was interrupted by the crackling from Rook's walkie talkie.

"Hey uh… if Nick Rye or Benjamin Rook can hear this… please come on over to Rye and Sons as soon as possible… there's no problems or anything… well not yet but I need someone get her now" Kim's voice came, her voice carried this uncomfortable tone.

Not only that but her cryptic message had piqued Rook's curiosity and concern as she could have meant anything by what she said, wanting to know more information, he reached for his walkie and tried to call her back.

"Hey Kim, I hear you, is everything ok?" he asked.

But Rook was given no response, leaving both him and Faith in silence.

"Aw shit" Rook muttered.

"Is everything ok?" Faith asked concerned, breaking the silence.

"I don't know" Rook replied.

"Is she important to you?" Faith asked again.

"She's the wife of a really good friend of mine, she is also pregnant" Rook explained.

"A pregnant woman" Faith gasped.

"I know that our methods are not always gentle, but why is she still here, everyone with children left when we bought up all the land" Faith questioned.

"Because this is their home, they have nowhere else to go" Rook explained.

"So, what are you going to do?" Faith asked once more.

Rook slowly began to stand up from his spot with a sigh.

"Faith, listen but I'm sorry but I need to go, I need to help her, even if nothing is wrong I need to make sure she is ok, listen I'm sorry to hear that so many bad things happened to you and I appreciate your willingness to meet me out here to talk to me like a person and not an enemy, but I need to go right now" Rook said.

Faith also stood up and looked at the nervous Deputy.

"I understand Ben, I respect your willingness to help your friend, but please think about what I said, everything, and well if it's alright with you, I would like to see you again, being able to speak to you face to face is much more enjoyable then over the phone" Faith nodded.

"Uh, sure I guess, I don't see why not" Rook nodded nervously.

"Then good luck Ben and please, try not to kill those in my flock" Faith asked.

"I'll try but it's really up to them" Rook replied as turned to the rickety staircase and hurried down it, and down the hill towards his truck.

* * *

Faith watched the Junior Deputy hurry down the side of the mountain, towards his truck in the distance, she found the whole thing admirable, no matter how displaced his courage was, rushing to aid a friend on the other side of County with no hesitation, no fear or worry about what may be between him and his goal, the Father was right about him.

She smiled at his dedication to his duties, as she rose to her feet, and made her way to the old staircase that led back down to the ground, she lifted the hem of her dress ever so slightly as she descended the stairs, not wanting it to catch on a stray splinter or protruding nail, and began down the same trail Rook had gone down and followed it down the hill to a small split in the road, the path ahead of her lead down to where Rook had run off too, but another path broke off to the right, leading across the mountain, instead of falling Rook further, she turned as followed the right path and walked along the side of the mountain before it dipped back down to the base the mountain again and into a small forest.

As Faith reached the bottom of the hill, a single truck's engine clicked on and slowly rolled out of the woods and pulled up to Faith, the trucked was heavily plated, covering every window and anything they could be considered structurally weak, a set of thick bars ran across windshield and rear windows. Faith opened the heavy metal door before climbed onto the back seat and closed the door behind her, she clipped on her seatbelt and looked up at the driver who had been waiting for her patiently.

"I think tonight has been quite a success" Faith smiled.

"I felt like I broke a lot of ground with Ben tonight, let's go home, Amanda" she said to the driver.

The high priestess in the driver's seat adjusted the rear-view mirror to get a look at Faith briefly before adjusting it again to she behind her.

"This whole venture is extremely dangerous, are you sure this is necessary?" Amanda asked.

"Of course, it is, tonight has proven that the Father was right about everything he has said about Ben, but Ben is still only a man, he can't keep going forever without change, when he finally breaks I'll be there for him, no matter what" Faith explained.

"I understand that, but are we really just going to let him go, he's killed so many of us, destroyed so much, if not kill him now, why not just grab him and take him to the Father?" The High Priestess asked.

"No Amanda, your not listening to me, Benjamin will come to us on his own in due time, at this rate, he will see that his fight is fruitless and the Father's light, when everything falls apart then I will be there to welcome my friend in with open arms" Faith answered.

"But who knows what else he will destroy until then; everyone will stay quiet for so long before they start talking again" Amanda retorted.

"Then we will deal with it when we get there, until then I would like to focus on making Ben feel safe and welcomed around me" Faith said.

"I trust in your judgement ma'am" Amanda nodded before starting up the heavily plated vehicle and slowly creeped back onto the path.

* * *

The roads on the Henbane seemed emptier than usual, a part of him couldn't help but think perhaps Faith had something to do with it, but whether she actually did or not was a question for if and when they were to meet again, he needed to focus on getting to Rye and Sons as soon as possible, whatever Kim needed seemed serious but for some reason she seem rather distant about the problem, she also sounded like Nick wasn't there, where he could be was beyond Rook, but again he needed to focus on getting to his destination, despite the Henbane roads being seemingly empty, the Valley was a whole another story, god knows what John could have done in his absence, Rook readied himself as a bridge that linked the Henbane and the Valley was coming up in a quarter mile ahead of him, all that separated him from the bridge was a long slight curve that he cleared easily due to his speed, as the bridge came into view, he brought the truck to a stop and stared at the other side of the bridge.

"Aw son of a bitch" Rook muttered as he sat in his seat and sighed.

On the other end of the long bridge was a few trucks parked in a line across the bridge and acted as a barricade to prevent anyone from crossing, a few peggies meandered around the barricade, making sure no one still tried to cross.

Rook sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out how to get past them, he could leave and find another bridge to the Valley and hope it won't be as bad, he could also just ram the barricade, it was only three trucks across.

But then again all of those could go horrible wrong, Rook pulled his hands off the wheel and crossed his arms and thought over his options before making a hum of inspiration before he unclipped his seat belt and stretched an arm behind him and began patting the backseats for something to help him, he felt the thick fabric of the Kevlar vest Hurk and given him in the morning, the bow and quiver Jess had made him, he continued to feel around more before feeling the cool dented metal of the barrel of the grenade launcher.

"There you are" Rook muttered as he grabbed it and pulled it to the front and popped open the grenade slot.

The barrel dropped forward, revealing the content of the grenade slot, thankfully a single grenade round was still inside, but a small part of him scolded himself over the dangers of leaving a loaded explosive device in his truck at all times.

"OK, time to make Hurk proud" Rook said to himself before lowering the driver side window down all the way, he gripped the grenade launcher in his left hand and hung his arm out the window.

With a few steady breaths to bolster himself, Rook steadily stepped on the gas pedal and accelerated across the bridge, a few peggies easily noticed the there was a truck barreling down the bridge, it was quite evident the driver wasn't going to stop, and he had a gun sticking out the window, a few moved to a safer location away from the barricade and began firing while a few fled the bridge all together and ran for the hills to give better supporting fire.

As bullets began peppering Rook's truck, he knew he was close enough for the grenade to hit its mark and raised the launcher to the center truck and squeezed the trigger, a dull thwump emitted from the launcher as the grenade was ejected from the barrel and sailed through the air, right before it slammed into the side of the truck a few peggies shouted in fear. The center of the truck exploded, the glass shattered and metal twisted as the grenade destroyed the truck, the trucks at either end of the decimated truck were pushed forward a few feet as the intense heat scorched their paint jobs, the peggies were either knocked to the ground injured or had run to a safe distance as a lone pickup truck came barreling down the bridge.

With the center truck broken a disheveled and either trucks pushed away, it created two gaps in between all the trucks, and was exactly what Rook hoped for. He pulled his arm back into the cabin and tossed the gun back into the backseats and gripped the wheel again and slightly adjusted his trajectory to the right slightly so the hood of the truck was pointed in between one of the gaps hoped that his truck had enough momentum to push through the two trucks as the gap was not big enough for the truck to pass by harmlessly.

Rook leaned back in his seat and tried to be as relaxed as possible right before the truck collided so he wouldn't hurt himself, but as the truck jerked as it hit, causing Rook to also jerk forward, causing him to cough the air out of his lungs as the seat belt cut into him for a few seconds as the horsepower pushed through and pushed the vehicles out of the way before Rook's truck shot forward again, making it through.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit" Rook thought as he pressed down on the gas pedal further as speed up further, he could still hear the peggies shooting at him as he took off into the distance. He was amazed that he actually pulled off such a stunt and was expecting to come away from the whole thing with at least one shot out tire even with his victory.

Rook quickly glanced in his rear view to see if anyone gave chase, but thankfully no one had was brave or quick enough to climb into the only untouched truck and pursued him, not wanting to give them a chance, he didn't take his foot off the gas and flew down the road.

"Everything is coming up Benjamin" Rook thought as he momentarily slowed down and prepared to turn at the upcoming four way intersection, once he turned the corner he felt a lot better as he would break line of eyesight, then he wouldn't have to worry about leading anyone to Nick's home.

* * *

As Rook rolled up Nick's gravel driveway he gently applied the brakes and slid to a stop, even though the truck was stationary, Rook did not exit as expected peggies or some other threat that would cause Kim to sound so distressed, but nothing was there, from careful observation nothing seemed fishy, somewhat satisfied with the environment around his, he slowly opened the door and carefully climbed out of the truck and approached the house with a hand on his sidearm, he slowly approached the house, still half expecting some peggies to jump out from somewhere and open fire, but nothing in his immediate environment suggested it. Nothing was out of the ordinary, the gravel driveway didn't seem disturbed and no sign of recent tire tracks, and the house itself appeared fine, nothing to suggest a forced entry or foul play, ready for anything, Rook walked up towards the house and slowly climbed the few steps attached to porch and slowly pushed open the unlocked door, and looked around the homes interior quickly, again nothing looked out of the norm, just a average home.

"Kim, you home?" Rook called out.

"In here!" Kim cried, her voice carried the same weight and anguish as it did when he briefly spoke to her over the walkie.

Rook could easily tell the voice was coming from the living room on his immediate left.

"Is everything ok?" Rook asked as he slammed the door behind him shut and hurried into the living room, tightening his grip on his gun, ready to find some carefully laid trap, but instead he found  
Kim all by herself almost slumped over on the couch, panting, hands on her stomach and looked very distressed, she was shaking slightly as the collar of her shirt stained with sweat.

She looked up and made eye contact with the concerned and confused Junior Deputy.

"The baby's coming" she whimpered.

"Oh crap" Rook muttered, growing wide eyed in fear, as he ran his hands through his hair in quick succession.

"Where the fuck is Nick?" She groaned as she jerked forward slightly as the pain of childbirth was slowly sinking in.

"I have no idea, I haven't been in the valley for like, a week or something!" Rook cried, unsure of what else to do.

"Whoa, what the hell is going on Kim?"

And as if by magic, Nick's voice came from behind Rook, he turned around to see his friend standing in the front door, mouth agape with a bewildered stare for a few seconds before he practically ran to his distressing wife and kneeled before her.

"Where the fuck have you been? Gimme your hand!" she said with ragged breaths as she grabbed one of Nick's hands and clenched it tightly and rested her other on her swollen stomach.

"Our little girl has decided it's time" she gasped.

"Oh shit" Rook gasp, running his hands through his hair, he had next to no medical experience, and that was just in general experience, he could barely treat a gunshot wound let alone a woman in labor.

"No, no, no, no, Nick Junior is not due for another we- oww, ow Kim, Kim, you're hurting my hand, you're squeezing to hard" Nick gritted and squirmed as the aspect childbirth had given Kim the adrenaline to crush his hand.

"We gotta get to the car" Kim finally said, through labored breathes before flailing her arms towards Rook and Nick, hoping they would take hold and help her up.

"Oh, thank god" Rook muttered as quickly grabbed hold of her and he and Nick pulled, helping the soon to be mother up.

The two men carefully helped Kim waddled through the living room, through the front door and onto the porch where the truck sat waiting ten feet away.

"C'mon, c'mon, owwww, you're so strong" Nick muttered as he could still feel Kim's iron grip on his hand, as the pain momentarily subsided he turned to his very nervous friend.

"Dep, I need you to drive" he said through clenched teeth and handed him the keys with his free hand.

"Wait what?!" Rook squeaked, he had no idea where to go, or who to go too, Falls End was almost half an hour way, not only that but his prolonged time in the Henbane had made his mental map of the Valley a little hazy.

"LET'S GO! Oh god" Kim yelled as she pulled her arms free from the two men's grip and carefully descended the porch step, applying her newfound iron grip on the railing on either side of her.

Nick looked over at his wife for a second before turning back to Rook, with both his hands free now, he grabbed one of Rook's hand and shoved the truck keys into his open palm before returning to his wife and helped her to the truck.

"Ow, ow… get the door, hurry up… oh god, gimme a hand" she moaned, waving a limp hand to the door.

"Come on Ben, I need you dude!" Nick cried as he could still see Rook standing on the porch.

"Yes" Rook said to himself as he nodded before being jumped off the porch and ran to the truck and pulled open the driver side door and climbed in as Nick helped Kim into the back before climbing in himself.

"Fucking DRIVE!" Kim yelled the second Nick closed the door.

"Oh god my hand" Nick groaned in pain as Kim began squeezing again.

Rook slammed the key into the ignition and started the engine and pressed the gas and taking off down the long gravel driveway.

"I don't know where to go!" Rook practically yelled.

"Hang a left right outta the driveway!" Nick yelled back.

"You got it" Rook replied as he pressed the gas slowly to build up speed but not too much to whip around the corner.

"You're going to be ok, the Deputy knows how to drive" Nick said, trying to reassure his wife.

"Just. Drive" Kim huffed in response as Rook pulled around the corner before really speeding up on the straight away, thankfully no one was out at night, it allowed him to put the pedal to the metal.

"Casey taught me some stress reducing breathing techniques'' Nick began.

"Where am I going!" Rook yelled over the couple's banter as a three-way intersection was coming up fast.

"Next right!" Nick yelled in response.

Rook silently acknowledged Nick's directions and began to slow down the truck to safely make the turn, the road he was on was asphalt, but the road he would be turning onto was dirt, dirt has less grip then asphalt so as much as he didn't want, he had to slow down a bit to maintain control. As the turn came up, he slowly applied the brakes and turned, Rook took a quick look in the rear view to make sure Nick and Kim were wearing their seatbelts; Kim was but Nick was not, a part of him wanted to do a sick drift to save time and speed and probably get some brownie point from Nick as he would thing it would be cool, but unfortunately Rook didn't know how to properly drift nor would he want to incur Kim's wrath.

"How far apart are your contractions?" Nick asked as Rook evened out of the turn and began to speed up again.

"Nick, we're past the point where that matter" Kim replied, looking around the truck, hoping to find something to focus on.

"Sorry, I dunno how all your tubin' works" Nick moaned as Kim had reasserted her grip on his hand.

"OK, just go straight of a while, there'll be a bend up ahead, but we wanna go this way for a while" Nick explained.

"You got it" Rook responded, giving Nick a nod.

As Rook stormed down the empty straightaway, keeping a watchful eye out for anything that moved, afraid that an animal or on coming traffic would pose some sort of danger, or worst of all, peggies, Rook was terrified that he would drive them right into a group of peggies, the last thing they needed was to get into a highspeed gunfight and since there was no lights on the road aside from the high beams of the truck, a sneak attack would be easy. Rook's eagle-eyed watch was interrupted as the bend Nick spoke of slowly came into view, due to the forests and other vegetation that grew on either side of the road, it was impossible to see what was around the corner, unable to stow the fear of peggies around the corner, Rook slowed the vehicle a little and took the corner at a moderate speed.

"Hold on, slight bend coming up" Rook called out

"We're only at the bend?!" Kim cried in disbelief.

"We're not going to make it in time, oh fuck me!" she cried in despair as leaned her head back onto the seat.

"Well, uh, if a little comedy will make you feel any better, that's what got us into this situation" Nick said, trying to take the edge off.

Upon hearing what Nick considered funny, she sat up in here seat again and stared him down with a much mid-pregnancy anger she could.

"Nicholas Rye, I swear to Christ I will throw you out of this truck" she threatened as she tightened her grip on his hand, causing his to squirm and whined.

"Ok, ok, ok sorry, owowowow, stop, stop" He begged, trying to free his poor hand from his wife's grasp.

"Rook would have found the whole spectacle if not for the situation at hand was so dire.

As they rounded the bend and the high beams illuminated the path ahead of them, the light revealed dozens of hay bales were littered along the road like some idiot was trying to make an obstacle course.

"What the hell?" Rook said to himself as he closed the distance and begun weaved through scattered hay bales.

"Who the hell would do this?" Nick asked as he looked out all the windows, looking at the hay bales

"Who cares, just get us there" Kim moaned as she clutched her stomach, moaning in pain once again.

"Ok, so what's my next direction!" Rook asked loudly.

"Just hang a left at the bridge, then it's just a straightway from there" Nick explained quickly.

"Oh, thank god" Rook sighed to himself as victory was so close, whatever they were driving to was so near.

"So where are we going exactly?" Rook asked over Kim's moans of pain.

"Were going to this midwife's place, she has everything we need to make sure the baby is born all healthy and everything" Nick explained.

"Wait really, there is a midwife just out here in the middle of nowhere?" Rook asked.

But before Nick could answer, a high low pitch noise could be hear, and most concerning of all, it was getting louder, it also wasn't coming from inside the truck, whatever the noise was it came from outside.

"The hell is that?" Nick asked.

"I have no idea?" Rook replied, looking around at everything in and around the car.

"Who cares!" Kim groan in pain.

As long as the noise or whatever produced it wasn't a threat to them, then she was right, Rook wanted to ignore it, he was about to shut the noise out all together, then from above a dim orange light shone down on them from above, surprised and confused, he leaned forward in his seat to see what could possibly be above them.

"Oh my god" Rook said in awe as he looked up to see a flaming helicopter fall out of the sky, it spiraled in its descent, clearly pilot was either dead of not in control in any way.

"Whatdiya, see partner?" Nick asked as he somehow detached from Kim and leaned in through the gap between the two seats in the front of the truck and looked up at the falling helicopter.

"What is that?!" Kim asked, not being able to see the source of the light.

"That's a helicopter, Kim" Nick said as he and Rook watched the helicopter fall out of the sky and slammed into the ground with a fiery boom, fire and bits of metal flew outwards.

the explosion rattled the ground and shook the truck and everything around it slightly, the noise echoing off the empty horizon, causing Kim to yell in fear.

"Kim, are you ok?" Nick asked, turning to his wife, concerned that all commotion was making her condition worse.

"NO, NO I AM NOT OK, NONE OF THIS IS OK!" she screamed.

"Hold on, gotta go around it" Rook said, the wreckage of the helicopter blocked a large portion of the road, Rook felt like he had enough of helicopter for one day.

"The fuck is going on tonight?!" Nick cried as he watched the downed helicopter.

As the truck approached the wreck, Rook slowed down and pulled off the road and went around the mess, flames slowly left the downed aircraft and spread to the nearby field, the intense flames illuminated the inside of the truck as they passed.

"Alright partner, it's just up ahead, there's a shortcut through the woods, there" Nick said pointing at the incoming woods on their right as the truck got back onto the road and regained speed.

Rook could see where he was pointing, it was a small off beaten dirt road path, it didn't look like vehicles were meant to use it but did look like it would save time.

"No shortcut, go right then left, stay on the main road!" Kim ordered.

"Take the shortcut" Nick said tapping Rook on the shoulder.

"Stay on the road!" Kim yelled over her husband.

"Shortcut!" Nick yelled again.

"MAKE A CHOICE!" Kim screamed in pain.

The turn off for the short cut was coming closer and closer at an alarming speed, Rook wasn't sure which one to take, Nick never steered him wrong, but he couldn't help but feel like Kim knew better, for some reason it made Rook very nervous as the decision could very well be the deciding factor on making it on time or not.

"Dude, come on!" Nick cried, jostling his shoulder.

"OK!" Rook cried as he pulled the wheel to the right, pulling them off the road and onto the dirt path.

The transition from asphalt to dirt was accompanied by a big bump, causing everyone to bounce in their seat slightly, the lack of grip on the road caused the truck to fishtail a little before shooting off down the road.

"Is everyone ok?" Rook asked as he took a quick look in the rear view.

"Yeah we're fine, partner" Nick said, and only more noises of pain came from Kim.

"Ok, so now I think we're in the clear, I think we're close" Rook said.

Suddenly a herd of deer leapt out from the left side of the forest, spooking everyone in the truck.

"LOOK OUT, DEER!" Kim screamed, pointing at the large beasts that ran across the road.

"Aw, shit I forgot 'bout deer!" Nick cried.

"This was a mistake!" Rook cried as he veered, swerved and braked around the fleeing deer, causing Nick to be jostled around the back of the truck.

"No, we're golden, look!" Nick cried as he leaned in through the gap between the front seats to point at a single house in the distance, a few hundred feet away, the house was small and all the lights where on, it was their destination.

"GUN IT!" Kim screamed, her voice was shriller than her usual screaming, the baby was going to be hear in a matter of minutes.

In response, Rook slammed on the gas pedal and the truck shot forward, as the truck steamed down the road, Rook prayed to any god that would listen that no animal, person or vehicle would just jump in front of their way.

"See I knew we were going to make it!" Nick cheered as they approached the clinic at an increasing speed.

Whatever Kim was going to say was lost due to her moaning and crying in pain.

"Hey man slow down, don't slam into the place" Nick said.

"Ok, sure" Rook said as he gently applied the brakes, bringing the truck to a slow halt, merely a few meters away from the tiny parking lot, the second it came to a full stop, both Rook and Nick piled out of the vehicle and ran to Kim's side and wrench open the door. Kim struggled to get out as the pain of childbirth had made it to difficult for her to get out.

"Your gonna have to carry me" she said through pained breaths.

Both men silently agreed, and each man grabbed one of her arms and practically carried her up a small stone path that led up from the tiny parking lot, with a small flower garden decorating the sides of the path and towards the front door, Kim, moaned with pain all the way, with their hands full, Nick kicked the door open and the three limped into a hallway with two rooms branching off it.

"Hello! Hey midwife are you home?!" Nick yelled.

"Hello?" a feminine voice came from another room

"Please we need help, my baby is a about to be born!" Nick begged.

"Mister Rye?!" the voice came again, before a young woman came out from one of the rooms.

"What's happening, the baby isn't due for another month?" she asked.

"I don't know, but she's coming now!" Nick replied.

"Ok, come, bring her in here!" the midwife said quickly, gesturing to one of the branching rooms.

Both men said nothing and obeyed the midwife and carried the moaning woman into the room, it was a small clinical room line with countertops, two medical tables, movable tarps and charts.

"Place her on the table" the midwife ordered as she pointed to one of empty medical table on the other side of the room.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Kim cried as she writhed and shook in Rook and Nick's grasps as they tried they're best to cross the room and to the side of the table.

"Ok ready Partner?" Nick asked worriedly as he looked at the height of the table.

"We should do it in one quick movement" Rook offered, just as worried.

"Just fucking do it!" Kim cried and groaned.

"OK here we go honey, hold on" Nick said as he and Rook began lifting the pregnant woman onto the table, causing her to groan in pain as she eased herself into the table and tried to get as comfy as a woman in labor could get.

But instead she just writhed on the table, Nick took his place at her side, clutching her hand with both of his, telling her gently promises of everything will be ok.

The midwife quickly washed her hands and prepared several items for the child's birth, as she finished hastily dressed herself in medical scrubs, Rook approached her.

"Wait what, can I do?" Rook asked nervously.

"You got any medical training?" the midwife asked quickly.

"None at all" Rook replied.

"Then out, out, out" the midwife returned and begun pushing Rook out of the room.

"Are you sure?" rook asked again as he tried to keep himself out of the room.

"Yes, yes, yes, husband only, please leave us sir" She cried as she kept pushing Rook out of the room.

"Ok, ok, you win" Rook said as he began backpedaling out of the door and as soon as he felt the midwife's hand off him, he immediately turned around and hurried out the front door, closing it behind him not wanting to be a distraction.

He couldn't hear Kim or anything that was happening inside from the front doorstep and could only hope everything was going ok, he really wanted to stick around to make sure the childbirth went right, but he knew these things could take hours, he needed something to do without leaving, but as much as he wanted to do something, now that he finally stopped moving with nothing going on, he couldn't help but feel exhausted. Wanting nothing more then to rest, he walked down the small walkway and back to Nick's truck, wanting to give it a quick inspection to make sure he didn't damage it in anyway on the way over here, but as he walked past the flower garden, he noticed a standard wooden bench on the other side of the garden, with everything that happened in the last few hours, he needed to sit down and take a breather. Instead of giving the truck a look over, he decided to take a quick break and sauntered over to the small bench and with a tired groan, Rook plopped himself down on the bench, today had been a long one.

Trying to get comfy on the wooden bench, he stretched his arms along the length of the backboard and leaning his head back in an attempt to get some actual rest. From the angle his head rested at, he was getting a good look at the stars, from where he sat they were so bright so shiny, unlike how they were in the city where light pollution blocked them out, it was always nice to stop and enjoy the little things. His mind however, trained from the constant fighting and planning, did not rest with him, it kept on turning, producing a recap of his day; the shit show that was the stint with Hurk and Sharky, hunting with Jess, doing the movie director a favour, helping Hurk, Sharky and their aunt, meeting faith, the baby thing, it amazed him that he did all that in just one day despite his boss told him to take it easy today. Staring up at the stars, Rook chuckled to himself, he was in awe, he was so small compared to the thousands and thousands of stars above him yet here he was, slowly knock the cult down a peg after peg, maybe everything wasn't as bleak as he imagined, maybe hope really did shine in the distance just like the stars above him.

With his body finally at rest, his eyelids felt heavy, even on his day off he was constantly moving with minimal food, water and sleep, or anything really, he couldn't begin to image how he smelt, but then again on the bright side he was most likely building some serious muscle, but another part of him didn't care, he, Nick Kim, and the baby made it to the place alive and that was all that mattered.

Rook let out a tired sigh as he sank into the bench, the night air was warm the silence of that night was rather refreshing compared to all the gunfire and angry death threats that he receives on a daily basis, everything felt a lot slower, with his mission complete, he had nothing else to do besides sitting and waiting to make sure both mother and daughter came out of childbirth healthy. So, he just sat there, getting comfy in his seat and eventually he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Hey, wanna come meet your goddaughter?" he heard Nick's voice floated through Rook's mind.

"Huh wha?" Rook slurred as he jerked his head up, groggy and disoriented from resting on the precipice of sleep.

He looked around his surroundings briefly until he saw Nick pushing a wheelchair bound Kim, holding a little bundle of pink blanket towards him, both were smiling,

Kim looked a lot better, despite being caked in sweat, this was arguably the best day of her life.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Rook asked.

"Oh my god" Rook muttered as he stood up from the bench briefly to take a knee to get a better look at the little bundle of joy in Kim's arms.

"She's so beautiful.. well look's like I'm going to have to change the name of my business after all, huh?" Nick smiled, proud to be a father.

Kim looked up at Rook before silently extending a hand to him, Rook unsure or what she wanted, took hold of her hand.

"You probably don't hear this enough but… thank you Benjamin, for everything you've done, for the County and for my family, whatever you need, we'll be there for you" Kim said softly, slightly squeezing his hand.

"Hey, it's was no big deal, I just wanted to help" Rook shrugged.

"Partner, you're also waging a friggin' war on a country wide cult, you took the time to pump the brakes on that to come help us, that means so much to me" Nick said, resting a hand if Kim's shoulder.

"Well yeah I guess but, what was I supposed to do, just say no and walk away" Rook shrugged.

"Regardless of what you did Ben, you have no idea how much this means to us, I couldn't imagine what would have happened if you were here" Kim said, placing her hand over tops Nick's.

"Ow, shit" Nick muttered as he recoiled and pulled his hand out from his wife's grip, most likely still sore from all the pressure it endured all night.

"C'mon, let's get you home" Nick said as he began wheeling Kim to their truck.

"Hey, do you need help with that?" Rook asked as he watched nick open the back door of their vehicle.

"Actually, yes please, I know you've already did so much for us, but I promise we'll try not be a bother for a little while" Kim

"Nonsense, I'm always down to help friends in need" Rook replied as he stepped up to the truck next to the family.

"Then here, hold your goddaughter while Nick helps me in" Kim said as she slowly raised her arms to hold the newborn to Rook.

Rook bent down slightly and oh so carefully picked up the sleeping infant and tucked her in his arms, holding her close to his chest, Rook looked down at the baby in his arms, she was so small and just as adorable, despite being asleep and not even being an hour old, she still somehow just looked like the sweetest little thing in the world, looking down at her, Rook hoped he could put Joseph behind bars long before she is old enough to remember this horrible war, being born in it was bad enough as is.

"So, what's this little angel's name?" Rook asked gently.

Nick, who had finished helping Kim into the back seat and got her settled in turned to him.

"You Sir are holding Carmina Kimiko Rye" Nick said proudly.

"You named her after your plane?" Rook asked.

"Well yeah, I love flying more then anything in the world… well besides Kim 'an my daughter, so it makes sense to name her after the thing that lets me do the thing I love most, Kim liked the idea" Nick smiled.

"And you want me, to be the godfather?" Rook asked, still in disbelief.

"You know bud, you can even quote Marlon Brando at all her birthday parties" Nick joked.

"You got it dude" Rook replied, suppressing a laugh as he did not want to wake Carmina.

Nick took a step towards Rook and held out his arms, silently asking for his daughter back, Rook understood and returned Carmina to her father who in turn handed her off to Kim in the back seat, when Nick felt that both mother and daughter were comfy, he closed the back seat door

"Oh hey, you need a right back to our place, I saw your truck out front when I got home, y'know your grill got some dings right?" Nick asked, looking back at Rook.

"Oh, uh yeah, I would really appreciate that, yes please" Rook replied.

"Then come on Partner" Nick said gesturing to the passenger seat.

Rook nodded before walking around the side of Nick's truck and climbed into the passenger, as he sat down he felt himself grow more and more tired as the seat was much more comfier then his seats, not long after Nick climbed into the driver's seat and started up the engine.

"Alright family let's go home" he smiled as backed up out of the parking lot.

* * *

"Hey Ben, we're here man" Nick said gently shaking Rook's shoulder.

"huh what?" Rook slurred as he jumped up, slightly startled by Nick.

"Sorry about that dude, you fell asleep on the drive back, thought you deserved some more Z's, so I got Kim and Carmina all settled in before waking you up" Nick explained.

"Oh really?" Rook replied, still waking up, he looked around to take in his surroundings, and sure enough it was just as Nick said, they were outside his house, Kim and the baby were gone and Nick was standing on his right, truck door open and hand still on his shoulder.

"Yeah man, were home" Nick said.

"Alrighty, I'll get out of your hair and head home then" Rook said as he shifted in his seat, trying to get out.

"You sure man?" Nick said, taking his hand off Rook's shoulder.

"You can always stay the night, anytime" Nick offered.

"Thank you but no thank you, I wanna see if Falls End is just the way I left it" Rook replied.

"Dude it's totally fine man, but if you wanna go, I won't stop you" Nick spoke as he stepped to the side to let Rook out.

Rook stepped out of the truck and stretched slightly before slowly approaching his truck.

"G'night Partner" Nick said.

"Good night dude, see you tomorrow or something" Rook yawned as he climbed into his truck before pulling his truck key out of his pocket and fumbled it into the ignition and started it up, before he had a chance to put the truck in reverse, Nick walked right up to Rook's truck ad gently tapped on the driver side window, in response Rook down the window to find out what he needed.

"What's up dude?" he asked.

"Hey, swing on by here tomorrow night, our first dinner should have all our family members there y'know? And well I wanna give you something" Nick said.

"Wait really?" Rook asked surprised, it still didn't fully hit him that he was named the godfather.

"Yeah man, your family now, so come by tomorrow night, it would mean a lot to us" Nick replied.

"Sure dude, I'll drop by around five thirty" Rook offered.

"Sounds good, see you then… and uh, thanks again partner" Nick nodded before turning around and hurried into his house, most likely to tend to his wife and child.

Rook watched his friend get inside his house before rolling up is window and rolled out of the driveway. He wasn't sure to go at this time of night, there was no way he was going back to the prison, not at this time of night anyways, maybe the Spread-eagle bar was still open, it felt like an eternity since he was there, since he last saw Mary or Jerome, he hoped one of them was still up, he just didn't want to get in to the bar and just crash in the small backroom Mary had lent him a long time ago, he was hoping to catch up with them, to find out just what he had missed in his absence.

But on the bright side, due to the time of night, not even peggies were on the road, making the drive back to Falls End a breeze, Rook made it about halfway there when he came to a stop at a four-way intersection and looked both ways before accelerating, since there was no lights out, the roads were pitch black and could not see if there was anything down either road. As his truck slowly accelerated through the intersection, his truck cabin was flooded with light, it streamed in through the right-side windows, blinding him party, before he could raise a hand to shield his eyes or slow down his truck to avoid any possible collisions, he could hear the revving on an engine, followed by the screeching of tires. The next thing Rook knew there was an incredible force slammed into the right side of the truck, shattering all the windows on that side. His truck upturned and rolled over on to its roof, swaying side to side slightly like an upturned turtle, the sudden impact caused Rook to bang his head on the driver's side window, cracking the glass before the overturn shattered it as well.

"What the heck?" Rook mumbled as he hung limply upside down, too disoriented to know which way was up.

But what he did know was that he could feel a small trail of warm liquid drip down the side of his face, in a way, it felt annoying and comforting at the same time. After what felt like an eternity, Rook slowly tried to bring his hands up to unclip the seat belt and escape, but he found he just doesn't have the strength to do it, unable to save himself, he just hung there, upside down in his truck, unsure of happening.

"Today is my day off" Rook thought as he faded into unconsciousness.

* * *

The heavy floodlights clicked off, and the box van that they were bolted too was placed in park, the passenger door slowly creaked open and a single peggie climbed out and slowly, apprehensively approached the upturned truck, rifle in hand, ready for the Junior Deputy to strike back as he pointed the gun at the upturned truck as inched over to truck.

As he stood mere inches from the truck, the sinner still remained silent unmoving, unsure if this was a part of his plan or just unconscious, the peggie tentatively kicked the side of the truck a few times, hoping to yield a response from the Junior Deputy.

"Ey! You still alive in there?" He asked anxiously, silently hoping he would get no response.

The hum of the box car suddenly died down and the peggie could hear the sound of one of the van's door open then shut it a few seconds later, the sounds of approaching footsteps followed soon after.

"D-Did we get him?" A woman's voice came, it belonged to the driver who did the deed.

Hr gun also raised at the flipped truck, ready to assist her friend when the Junior Deputy attacked.

"Hol' on a sec'n, I'll find out" the man said nervously as he knelt and poked the barrel of his gun in before he put his face in to look inside the trucks cabin to see the state of the Junior Deputy.

Much to his surprise and relief, he could see the Junior Deputy was unconscious, strapped to his seat and a thin stream of blood leaking from the side of his head and occasionally dripped onto the roof.

"Holy shit, Emily, ya got 'im!" The man cried in surprise as he stood back up.

"Course I did, if I didn't, we'd all be dead by now" Emily retorted confidently.

"Holy shit, I can't believe we ac'ually did somethin, like hell ya man" the man cheered, feeling some merit to his existence.

"Franklin, focus, get him out of there, John's gonna wanna see this" Emily ordered.

"I can't believe we got 'em... Well I mean, yeah I knew comms jus' lit up when someone jus' busted through th' roadblocks an' was told to be on guard but god damn, I didn't expect to run inta 'im, but to actually grab 'im!" Franklin monologued.

"Stop talking and help me get him in the back, we need to get back to John, he'll know what to do" Emily ordered again.

"What you mean 'sides putin' a bullet in th' Deputy's head?" Franklin asked.

"Unfortunately, yes, for some reason we have to take him alive if the opportunity allows it" Emily explained.

"Bu' why though, this sum bitch, killed so many of us, like hundreds or somethin" Franklin spoke.

"Because the Father wills it, he gave a mission to John and he relayed it to us, and we just fulfilled it so let's get him to John before the chance slips through our fingers" Emily explained.

"Fine, whatev'r" Franklin muttered, disappointed before placing hit gun on top of the truck and began wrenching the crumpled and smashed door open.

* * *

"_Oh John... Oh John Keep us safe, he's gonna march us right through Eden's Gate, Oh Lord... he's gonna march us right through Eden's Gate_" the radio sang, it was John's favorite song, so that's why he let it play on loop as he did his sessions with his bound captive.

"So, as I was saying Miss Hudson, this will be the best thing that will ever happen to you" John explained to the woman tied to the chair in front of him as he casual played with a tattoo gun in his hands.

But all he received in response was muffled crying as he had taped her mouth shut a long time ago.

"The Father well, he understands and respects loyalty" John continued as he placed the tattoo gun on a table next to her and step a few steps closer to her, so he towered over her.

"How loyal will you be" he purred as he stared into her weeping eyes.

He continued to stare at her for a few seconds before the harsh buzz of the intercom sounded.

John scoffed in annoyance as he broke off from Hudson and clicked off the radio, filling the room with silence besides the sound of her muffled weeping, then approached the intercom next to the door and pressed the talk button.

"What, what is it?" John called, clearly annoyed with the interruption.

"S-sir, I apologize fer interrupting you, but, but, two of ours came back from patrol, and well, they got him" a woman's voice came.

"Caught who?" John growled, hoping the person he was speaking to would stop beating around the bush.

"The Outsider, The Junior Deputy" she said.

"The Jun-" John tried to reply but was bewildered, he stood at the intercom in silence to think on what was just told to him in silence for a few moments.

The silence allowed him to hear the Deputy he did have enter a fresh round of sniveling and crying as she too hear the news of her friend and co-worker being captured.

John didn't understand, the Junior Deputy was supposed to be up in the Henbane River, Faith promised she would deal with him, so why was he back in the valley, and how the hell did two no future loser catch him?

"Where is he right now?" John demanded.

"He's in the vehicle bay, they locked him in the back of a box truck" she said.

"Bring him directly to me right now, do not stop for anything and you better make sure he does not wake up until I have him where I want him!" John ordered.

"Yes sir" the woman said before clicking off the intercom.

"Well" John turning back to the bound deputy.

"Isn't this just a surprise, it sounds we are going to have another guest join us" John said as he brought his hands together.

Hudson didn't reply due to the duct tape and had nothing to say.

"So why don't we get ready for him?" John said as he broke off from Hudson and approached a workbench off to the side of the room and pulled the chair positioned next to it back and positioned it ten feet away from Hudson, facing her.

Satisfied with his work, John sat down in the chair and brought one leg up and rested it on his knee.

"Did you know that your little friend has caused me quite a bit of trouble?" John asked.

"The morning after you all came to arrest Joseph, he walked right into Falls End while my guys were taking it for all the resources it had, it was quite the surprise to hear that whole thing went south and everyone who was still alive had was forced to run away, to be honest I had written off the whole thing as a fluke, how could one man just stop dozens of armed people, but oh how I was wrong" John continued, as he brought his fingertips together.

"He just created problem after problem for me, do you have any idea how much work was put into this" John said, staring to sound angrier.

"And when we finally caught him and baptized him I thought that was it, the worst of it was over, I would break him and he would fall in line just like joseph wanted… but of course he just got away… again" John growled before he took a large step towards Hudson.

"I promise you, it will not happen again" John hissed as he pointed a finger in her face, causing her to flinch in fear.

Satisfied with her response, he retracted his hand and returned to the workbench and picked a small corded phone tucked into the corner of the table and dialed a number, the phone rang a few times before someone on the other end picked up.

"Yes John, is everything alright?" the person on the other end asked.

"Everything is more then fine Father; I was just informed that the Junior Deputy has been captured and just brought back to my bunker" John explained.

"Really?" Joseph asked.

"I trust that he is still in good shape?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't know, I was just told he is here" John admitted.

"What do you plan to do with him?" Joseph asked again.

"I will… do as you asked of me" John said, almost sighing.

"Good, I'd hate see the Gates of Eden close to you when the time comes, but thank you for letting me know, I now need to speak to Faith about her duties" Joseph said before hanging up.

John hung up the phone with another scoff, he hated how Joseph always hung up unexpectedly.

"Well it looks like your going to get a break real soon" John said looking back at Hudson.

* * *

Rook stirred and woke slowly, groaning as he came too, dizzy and disoriented, as he slowly came around the first thing he knew was that his head pounded like a hammer on a nail, he tried to bring a hand up to his head instinctively but found he could not, the idea that he could move an arm made him nervous, wanting to move his arm he tugged on hit harder but still bore no results, completely unable to move his arm, he tried to use his other arm to remove whatever restrained his arm but found both arms had been restrained, his breath now picking up, becoming more labored as he slowly realized something was very, very wrong, it didn't help that he could hear what sounded like muffled screaming and a high pitch whine that reverberated in his ears.

As Rook came to his senses, he could see just what lay before him, he was in a room nearly engulf in darkness, the only light that seeped into the room was dim eerie red lights that seems to shine through a grated wall, in front of him sat his co-worker; Joey Hudson, like himself, she was bound to a chair with her mouth duct taped shut, she squirmed and writhed in her seat, screaming in fear as loud as she could as if it would help her escape, her eyes as wide as saucers and full of tears as she tried to call out for Rook to save her from what was to come, it was clear that was riddled with fear, and had been for some time as her eyes and cheeks were red and swollen for excessive crying, she was helpless and vulnerable, all this put a deep fear into Rook as if he could not escape then he would join her in her fate.

He needed to get them out.

Rook tried his best to swallow his fear and looked around for something that would aid him in his escape, but mere seconds of investigating made his heart skip a beat, for off to his right was a man clad in very high quality blue and black clothes, he had back to the deputies as he dug around in some toolbox on a workbench, whistling some ungodly tune, Rook didn't need to see his face to know that he was looking at John Seed.

"Holy Christ" Rook muttered in fear.

The second the words left his lips he immediately regretted it as John stopped whistling and turned around to examine the Junior Deputy.

"Ah, good morning, Deputy" John said, leaning back against the workbench behind him, crossing his arm as he wore a shit eating grin.

"Now, I do believe the last time we spoke you said something along the lines of asking me to come deal with you myself, and well here I am, you remember that don't you? by the look on your face I'd say your answer is…" he continued, spreading his arms apart.

"Yes" he said, bringing his hands together with a clap.

"So, why don't we get started then?" John said as he placed a hand on the workbench and lean on it with a happy grin.

Upon saying that, Hudson seemed to scream and flail more, she knew what was going to happen, and by her erratic reaction, the worse was yet to come.

"Now where to begin? where to begin?" John nearly whispered as his finger tapped on the workbench, listening to the woman, scream and yell, absolutely terrified.

"Why not open with the speech I open with for all the newbies" John thought aloud before refocusing on the wide-eyed Junior Deputy.

"My parents were the first ones to teach me about the power of yes" John began.

"One night, they took me into the kitchen, any they threw me on the ground" he continued, as he did, he turned around and picked up a staple gun with one hand, and something Rook couldn't identify in the other and began stapling the thing to the backboard of the workbench, with every press of the stapler, Hudson flinched in fear.

"And I experienced pain after pain after pain after pain—" John said as he turned to look at Rook, pointing the staple gun at him before suddenly slamming the gun onto the workbench, so hard that the toolbox and everything else on it vibrated ever so slightly, the sudden impact made Hudson yelp in fear before falling silent, not wanting to incur John's anger or attention.

"And when I didn't think I could take anymore, I did" he said as he picked something off the workbench and approached Rook, he walked right up to him and turned on a little lamp that sat on a small table that was unknowing placed next to Rook, the sudden light burned his eyes and made his head hurt a little bit more, he quietly hissed as he jerked his head away from the light but John grabbed his head and forced him to look at him.

"Something broke free inside, I wasn't scared, I was.. well, clear" John continued as he picked a thin cord a plugged it into the thing in his other hand, with that small lamp turned on and John so close to Rook, he could see just what John was preparing; a tattoo gun.

"I looked up at them and I started to laugh, all I could say was… yes" John said as he held up the ready tattoo gun to the scared Junior Deputy and clicked the gun on.

The gun vibrated with softly in his hand, John looked down at it, satisfied with it before clicking it off and placing it down on the small table next to the Junior Deputy.

"I spent my entire life, looking for more things to say yes to" John continued as he took a step towards Rook and grabbed hold of his flannel shirt, causing Rook to emit a scared gasp.

Before Rook could say anything, John pulled at the flannel shirt until the long column of buttons sewn on popped off and fell to the floor with small quiet, pings as the plastic hit the metal floor, exposing Rook's bare chest, satisfied with his work, John looked up at Rook.

"I opened up every hole in my body and when those were filled, I created more, but it was Joseph who showed me just how selfish I was being, always receiving, always taking…" John said as he reached up to the small table and into a small metal bowl and removed a water soaked sponge and then pressed it against Rook's chest and began scrubbing. The cold water splashed onto Rook's chest and dripped down to his stomach, the ice-cold water made him flinch, and John's rough scrubbing was making the whole experience far from pleasant.

"The best gift isn't the one you get, it's the one you, it's the one you give, and giving takes courage, the courage to etch your sin into your flesh and carry it's burden and when you have endured, when you truly begin to atone, to cut out like a cancer and display it for all to see" he said as be plopped the sponge back into the bowl then made his way back to the workbench, monologue all the while.

"And my god, that's courage" John said, nearly letting out a single laugh.

In one eager motion, John grabbed a large screwdriver and faced Rook with great anticipation on his face before he started to pace back and forth quickly in front of Rook.

"I, am going to teach YOU, courage, teach you how to say YES, so you can confront your weaknesses, CONFRONT your sins, YOU WILL SWIM ACROSS AN OCEAN OF PAIN AND EMERGE!..." John said, getting louder and louder as he went on before it turned into full blown angry screaming then suddenly pausing and looking over at Rook.

"Free" he finally said, his voice leveling out but still full of venom, and pointing the screwdriver at Rook to punctuate his sentence.

"Only then can you truly begin to atone" John said coldly as he slowly approached Rook, still pointing the screwdriver at him, and closed the distance and pushed the screwdriver deep into Rook's left shoulder, causing him to wince in pain and begin to writhe slightly as John continued to hold it in his shoulder for a little bit longer before removing it and sauntering back to the to the workbench and leaned against it just like he did when Rook awoke.

"So, who wants to go first, hm?" he asked with a cruel smile as he held up the screwdriver.

Rook stared at John with ice cold awareness, whatever he was planning was going to be brutal, whatever it was, it was enough to turn Hudson into a sniveling mess, Rook remembered her as a proud, strong woman who, had so much confidence in herself and was always patient with Rook on his few first weeks as a Junior Deputy, to now see her in this sorry state was truly scary to him, Rook continued to stare at John as he stared back at him with eager anticipation to hear Rook's answer, but with the lamp next to him on and his eyes adjusted to the light, Rook could now see the room more clearly and the things that John had stapled to the backboard of the workbench.

It was a half dozen flayed patches of bloody human skin, with one of the seven deadly sins tattooed onto them.

What was about to happen hit Rook like a punch to the mouth as it finally clicked in his head; John wanted Rook to decide whether Hudson or himself should be tattooed with a sin, then have it flayed off their bodies, his scared eyes drifted over to his bound co-worker who sat across from him, Hudson sat there, quietly sniveling and shaking in fear, staring back at him with wide, petrified eyes, eager for him to say something, anything at all.

"This is lesson number one" John said loudly and just as sternly.

The sudden shout made Hudson squeak in fear again and Rook emit a gasp of horror as his head snapped back to their capture who was staring down Rook with a menacing gaze.

"John, listen" Rook finally spoke through trembling breaths

"The only listening I am doing is for your answer" John said disinterested, shaking his head.

"This isn't going to change anyt-" Rook tried to plea but was cut off as John yelled again.

"Someone's got to choose" he demanded a little louder, getting visible frustrated with Rook's indecisiveness.

"John, take a step back and look at what your doing! Do you think God really would want any of this?" Rook yelled in fear, hoping he could reason with John somehow in some way even if there was almost no chase, it was his only option.

"Deputy" John groused through clenched teeth.

"Groveling is very unbecoming of you, Joseph made you out to be so much better than this" he scowled.

"No, th-" Rook argued back, but before he could finish his sentence, John seemed to twitch in front of him, he bit his lower lip as one of his eyelids spasmed and his head snapped to the side ever so slightly before the rest of his body trembled slightly.

Then he exploded, he threw the screwdriver on the floor and spun around grabbed the underside of the workbench and used all his strength to flip it over, the metal workbench slamming onto the metal floor, creating a thunderous crash, tools and other various items flew from the bench and scattered all along the floor, the whole act caused Hudson to begin another fit of terrified screams.

"For fucks sake, we'll just start with you!" John screamed as he angrily stomped over to Rook and grabbed two handfuls of Rooks shirt and yanked him forward, earning another horrified gasp from the scared Junior Deputy, in turn causing his chair to slid forward and the two were face to face, mere inches apart.

John's face seethed with anger at Rook not following the rules but after few seconds of staring the terrified Junior Deputy down, the unadulterated anger on John's face just seemed to melt away into a small smile and made a small hum of acknowledgment.

"You won't regret this, I promise" John said softly, as he released him and stood up and walked back over to Hudson, causing her to whimper and cowering even more as he walked behind her and grabbed a hold of the back rest of her chair.

"Now, before we begin, I think it's only proper that Deputy Hudson goes back to here room, confessions are supposed to be private after all" john said as he pushed her chair and moved her forward, her chair had wheels on its feet and glided flawlessly towards Rook as the ground was smooth steel, John pushed her until her knees where inches away from Rooks causing her to yelp occasionally.

"Shh, shh, I am not here to take your life, I'm here to give it to you" he whispered into Hudson's ear, causing her to fall silent aside from a few whimpers.

He then rose back up and leaned in on Rook.

"I'm going to open you and pour your worst fears inside and as you joke; your sins will reveal themselves, only then will he you truly understand the power of yes" John said with a smug smile.

"I'll be right back" he said nonchalantly as he begun to drag Hudson out of the room


	20. Chapter 20

"I'll be right back" John said nonchalantly as he begun to drag Hudson out of the room.

As he pushed Hudson past Rook and somewhere behind him she emitted another scared yelp, as she passed Rook, he tried to turn his head to see where John was dragging Hudson off to only to get a glimpse of the two of them on the other side of a door frame; Hudson still tied to her chair and John closing the large metal door behind him, the door slammed shut with a boom causing Rook to flinch before a dozen small clicks followed soon after.

Now that John was gone, it allowed Rook to properly digest everything that happened since he awoke. John's tirade was a flip flop of a sermon and a tirade that kept Rook in the moment and unable to question what was going on, he wasn't sure how he ended up in what looked like a serial killers basement, the last thing he remembered was driving from the Rye's place to the Spread-Eagle Bar, what happened next was a black spot in his memory, and now he is in John's clutches with a killer headache, and a sore body, but what he did know was Hudson was thankfully alive and in relatively good physical health at the very least, but more importantly, he needed to come up with a escape plan.

"Ok, ok, ok, think, think, think, there's a way out of this" Rook forced himself to think repeatedly as he desperately began scanning the room's every detail, looking for something that would provide some sort of glimmer of hope to his escape.

To his left was the small dinky table with a lamp, bowl of cold water accompanied by a sponge and an Eden's Gate bible, to his right was the overturned workbench with tools, radio and telephone that was scattered all over the floor when John flipped the bench in his anger, and in front of him was the space John and Hudson had existed, a chandelier made from multiple deer antlers hung from above. The tools on the floor offered some possibility but was quickly dismissed as even if he was able to get over to them it would be pointless as his hands were bound to the arms of the plastic chair, butt nothing stood out to him, with nothing else to believe in, he turned back to the small table to his left. The bowl of water and sponge was immediately crossed off the list as there was no way either would cut rope, the book was also useless unless John was the type to hide weapons within them, but why would he hide weapons in his weird torture chamber dungeon, that only left the lamp.

The lamp had a long arm that allowed easily positioning, the lamp's base was cylindrical, from what he could see, the edges where at ninth degrees, maybe if he was careful he could somehow get his hands on it and use the edge to whittle away at the rope, but would he even have the time, John could return at any minute and continue his sick version of some sort of confession. But he couldn't let that invisible timer get to him, even if the whole venture was useless and only made sense in his head to cope with that was going on, he had to move.

Despite the table being only two feet to his eleven O'clock, Rook started rocking back and forth in his seat, leaning as far back as he could before jerking forward, trying to build moment and hoping the chair would scrape forward if he did it enough, after a few more rocks Rook felt that he had built sufficient momentum, he threw all his weight towards the table causing the chair smoothly slide forward slightly, bringing him closer to the table.

The movement surprised Rook and made him momentarily take a break from he rocking to investigate what just happened and did his best to look over the sides and discovered two things.

Since he was tied to the chair by the hands, its was quite easy for him to lean forward and looked at the chair's legs and saw instead of the standard four legs it was a single column that extended from the bottom of the chair and branched out in four legs with wheels on the head. Not only that but since the chair he was bound too had a set of wheels instead of normal legs, John couldn't restrain his legs to the chairs, to compensate for this he just used a rope to tie his legs together, aside from that, his legs were free. With his feet firmly on the seamless metal floor, he could push himself around the room if he tried.

"Oh my god" Rook said to himself in awe as possibilities opened up before him as he realized he was trapped in the same kind of chair John rolled Hudson out on.

Rook looked back up at the room and re-examined it, looking for anything to help him in his now mobile escape, the door John left through was most likely locked and not and option and in the room still didn't stand out to him, the tools and table still looked just as near useless, nothing seemed like it could offer the slightest chance oh hope.

"This can't be it" Rook nervously thought to himself as his eyes darted around the corner, he could feel his chest tighten up as the fear and a ring of sweat build on the collar of his shirt.

He could feel his breath grow more labored as he stared at the large dried blood stains that matted the floor in front of him, he knew his blood would also be on the floor if he didn't do something, but he began to think there was nothing to do. Rook wasn't sure if it was the building fear or the gaudy red lighting that was worsening the pulsating headache he had been nursing.

As he felt the dread and terror set in, it finally clicked in his mind that the entire wall to his right, that the workbench would have rested against if it was pushed back, was in fact not a wall and just double reinforced bars with the dim red light that seeped through the other side, Rook the bars stretched to the far end of the room, except for a small opening where the fence joined the wall, forming a perfect doorway that led somewhere, sure peggies could be over there, but it was better then what John was planning.

"OK here we go" Rook said to himself with an unease breath, a ray of hope had shone through the oppressive red light.

Rook took in a deep breath to rebuild confidence and used his legs to push himself sideways gently causing the chair to spin around one hundred and eighty degrees before pushing himself backwards and wheeled himself deeper into the dimly lit room. As he wheeled himself back, his eyes were glued the door John had used, he was terrified the door would make the clicking noises again and would creak open and John would step back into the room again, shit eating smile on his face and itching to use his tattoo gun.

Not wanting to see that frightening image, Rook increased the strength of his pushes and slid across the room and readjusted himself ninety degrees and pushed himself through the doorframe. The second the chair passed through; Rook spun back around to observe his new environment; to his right was a concrete wall, with a few pieces of junk lay in one corner, to his right, a metal staircase lay before him, it had to be around twenty something steps that lead downstairs, which confused him.

From John's decor choices and mood lighting, it was more then clear he was in a basement or some underground room, but the stairs in front of him extend down one story.

So where the hell could he have been taken?

As much as Rook wanted to sit and try to remember how he got here or at the very least where he could be, more pressing issues were at hand, he need to free himself.

First things first was to make sure no peggies were at the bottom of the stairs Rook carefully pushed himself to the edge and peered down, the bottom of the stairs was pitch black darkness aside from a small blue light that ebbed away at the dark from the left and no peggies could be seen.

Unsatisfied with his finding he steeled himself as he opened his mouth with baited breath.

"Hello?" Rook called out, terrified of receiving a response, he sat there, breath caught in his throat and prepared himself for a response that never came.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Rook finally exhaled in great relief as there was no immediate danger below him, with the short term problem solved, that only left the long term.

Rook continued to stare into the darkness, his mind churning desperately to concocted something, his ears listening for the slightest noise to suggest someone was opening the door in the previous room, unsure of what to do, Rook pulled his eyes off the darkness and back the way he came, hoping to spot something of use momentarily before giving up and looking back down the staircase.

The stairs were twenty something in total and made of metal just like everything else around him, somehow getting to the bottom would increase his chances of living but getting down there in his current state could very well kill him. It wasn't like he could just walk down; the only way down was... If he threw himself down the stairs.

Rook swallowed the lump in his throat as he weighed his options, the fall could break the chair he was tied to, it was made of plastic after all, his weight and the chairs weight would build considerable momentum, hitting the ground would shatter it if he landed just right but then again it could kill him, but then again it could save him, but then again it could kill him.

Rook shook his head quickly, hoping to shake the vicious cycle of doubt from his mind, he could sit there and let it run all he wanted, it wasn't going to solve anything, it wouldn't change his predicament, his only real options was either go back into the room he came from to find some miracle item or… throw himself down the stairs, and pray the fall breaks the chair.

Again, Rook looked back into the previous room a few moments before looking back down the staircase and cringed and groaned as his only chance of escape involved going down these stairs, it was most certainly not the smartest thing he had ever done, but his reasoning was if it worked then it worked. With a few deep breaths he begrudgingly agreed to his dangerous plan. Not wanting to go face first down the stairs, he reoriented himself so his back was to staircase and slowly pushed himself backwards and waited for gravity to kick in, as he ever so slowly backed up, the air in his throat hitched as the fear of what was about to happen, it didn't help that it felt the first step would never come.

But right as he was about to stop due to fear overtaking him, the chair suddenly tipped back and the next thing he knew was a spinning blur, every impact shot pain through his body alongside a loud creak from the chair as he rolled down from one step to another before the chair and Junior Deputy slammed into the ground with a loud bang followed by the scattering of broken chair parts, causing Rook to moan in pain as he writhed on the ground, dizzy and disoriented from the fall, until the spell passed, he didn't move and continued to lay on the ground and thought about how easily that could have killed him, how easily John could have killed him, how he will kill him if he is caught, as Rook felt his senses return to him, he slowly moved his limbs to see if they were alright, and by some miracle he was fine, not only that but he was no longer bound to a chair.

"Holy shit… I'm the luckiest guy in the world" Rook mumbled to himself as he instinctively brought a hand up to his head, the fall had made his headache throb even more then it did before.

After holding his hand against his head for a few seconds, he realized that he was actually holding his head, the fall had broken the chair, as much as he wanted to lie on the floor feeling sore for himself he needed to get up, with another sign, he slowly rose into a sitting position with a pained groan, and took in his new surroundings, it took him a few seconds to take note of the fact he was sitting in the center of a scattered pile of chair pieces, and to his right was a snaking mass of tubing and pipe works.

Ready to move again, Rook tries to move his legs in an attempt to stand up but felt a resistance in his legs, preventing him from standing up, he looked down at his immobile legs to find that his legs were still bound together with rope that John secured tightly to them, he reached down to remove it with his left arm but stopped short as a sudden, sharp pain shot through his forearm.

"Owww, god, what the hell?" Rook whined as he cradled his left arm, something was wrong with the forearm, it pulsated in pain and it stung to the bone and had no sign of letting up.

After a few more moments of cradling the wounded forearm, he let it go and tried stretching and moving the injured limb to discover that a dull pain traveled up and down the forearm as he moved it around, even opening and closing his palm shot rivets of pain through his forearm. Rook let out a dejected sigh, the pain in his arm wasn't going to leave him any time soon, his best course of action was to just carry on and be protective of the arm.

This time he reached down to his legs with his right arm and tugged at the knots had for a few moments until the rope came loose and his legs came free, John was many things, decent at rope knots he was not. With his legs now free, he was completely free from John's relative clutches, all that remained was getting to and freeing Hudson and getting out of wherever they were being held and if there was any luck left in his bones then the two of them could corner and arrest John.

With another pained sigh, Rook slowly rose to his feet and approached the complicated maze of pipes that lay before him and deep within the maze of pipes, a blue light peeked through. Despite it being a plumber's nightmare, several pipes were spaced just enough that he could see through the crossing pipes and could see the source of the blue light, curious to what it was, Rook crouched down and leaned in slightly to get a better look; it was a blue bulb, attached to the side of the far wall, it shone intensely over what looked like a four foot by four foot tube with thick bolts that dotted the perimeter of the tubes mouth, a thick, cylindrical, disc with a valve on one side of it was attached to it by a single hinge on the side, most likely cover to the tube, the cover was slightly ajar meaning if he really wanted to he could get in there.

Rook stood back up again and looked back the way he came at the broken chair, it reminded him again that he had nowhere else to go but forward, with no other options, Rook stepped closer to the pipes and deeply exhaled to make his torso as small as possible before attempting to squeeze through the pipes, as he did he could feel a heat radiate from a few of the pipes, not enough to burn him but enough to make the transition uncomfortable as it made is body sweat even more before Rook popped out of the other side with a wince of pain as he banged his left arm off a pipe as he came out the other side.

He tried to shake the pain out of his arm as he walked away from the pipes but felt that the pain would linger a lot longer then he'd prefer, but he tried to push it to the back of his mind to focus on the task at hand; the tube in front of him, since the lid was slightly open it was quite to push open the cover a little more despite the pain in his arm, and once the cover was moved far enough to enter, Rook poked his head to investigate; the tube had to be thirty feet long and ribbed, it remained a constant size the entire way across and led to a well lit room, no noise could be heard from the other side, deeming it safe, Rook ducked down and entered the tube and quietly followed the tube to its end and ever so slowly poked his head out and looked around to make double sure it was safe, and sure enough it was, not only that but the room didn't look like a room, the "room" was a small cylindrical tube that had several blue pipes that traveled vertically, Rook followed to tubes upward to see the room he was in stretched upwards a few stories, while looking upwards Rook could feel a steady cool breeze blow upward from beneath him, confused Rook looked down to see the floor he stood on was a grated metal sheet, through the grated floor Rook could see another grated sheet six feet below him, not only that but almost half the floor was just missing, a section on the far side of the cylindrical room was missing and a small ladder was bolted to the wall, giving access to the floor below.

Rook took in his knew surroundings and tried to process it to figure out just where he was, he did not have a strong understanding of where he was, but it looked like he was in some sort of ventilation or maintenance shaft.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore" he muttered to himself.

* * *

Faith diligently read through the pile of papers before her, paper after paper, making sure everything was going according to plan, but after half and hour of reading her patience was wearing thin, she was never one for intensive reading, at a point she thought she deserved a break and call Ben to see what he was up too, he always had this weird was of making her day just a little bit better, it was always nice to talk to someone about anything that didn't revolve around the Father's project from time to time, but before she could ponder it any further the phone on her desk rang, she looked up at the caller ID and lit up as she recognized it and quickly picked up the phone

"Hello Father, is there anything I can do for you?" Faith beamed.

"Hello Faith, I was just curious as to how your progress with Benjamin is going" Joseph asked, his voice as neutral as it always was.

"Oh, I believe at it's currently going very well, he may not even need bliss to see your light, he is sympathetic and very kind to everyone around him regardless to who they align themselves with and shows remorse to killing our flocks, but he is showing some psychological trauma from everything that is going on in his environment, I think the stress is starting to get to him, so many people depend on him for many things and when he can't uphold his end the relationship it will eat away at him, if not that then people may turn against him as he would be unreliable at that point" Faith explained.

"I see, have you made contact with him since his first encounter with the bliss?" Joseph asked.

"Yes I have been able to speak to him a handful of times since then" Faith said

"And what do you talk about?" Joseph asked again.

"The usual pleasantries of life, and just getting to properly know each other, I do believe he truly considers me as a friend" Faith responded.

"I don't think I need to remind you to not grow to attached to Benjamin" Joseph said.

"Oh of course not, I know better then to be biased with my compassion for our potential joiners" Faith agreed, trying to reassure him.

"I'm glad to hear you still understand the rules and doing so well with dealing with our Deputy, but it appears you have a small problem" Joseph replied.

"A problem?" Faith echoed nervously, she wasn't sure what he meant, if it was within the mountain of paperwork then why didn't her high priestess brooch the situation in the first place.

"I received a call from John, he has just informed me that a few of his flock members had found and capture Benjamin and brought have successfully brought him back to John's gate" Joseph surmised.

"What?!" Faith said, trying to stifle a gasp, she knew he was running off to some help some friends but she didn't know where they were, but regardless Ben was capable of taking care of himself so how could he just get captured, something had to have happened, not only that but John had made his disdain for the man painfully clear.

"Is he ok?" Faith asked, trying not to let her voice betray her emotion.

"I am unaware of his condition, but it appears that he is well enough for John to pull a confession from him.

"A confession?! Now Father I would never question your judgment, but do you think a confession is to much?" Faith asked.

"What do you mean?" Joseph asked.

"Well-well as I said, I am making quite a lot of progress with him and well, John's confessions can be quite… intensive and that may impede on my progress with him" Faith explained.

She wanted to save Rook from John's ire, she knew exactly what a confession was and the atonement that followed after, Rook had told her about how all the death and bloodshed was offsetting him, what John had in store for him would most certainly expedite his condition and knowing John he would have some extra "sessions" with him as payback for all the grief Ben had caused John, Faith knew this would be a more then a few nails in Ben's metaphorical coffin.

"I'm sorry Faith if we were under different circumstances I'd be inclined to agree with you, but he left the Henbane River and is no longer your concern, John has him now, if he is to do his duties right then this will the beginning of the end of our short term problems" Joseph replied.

"Yes, I see… I understand Father" Faith nodded.

"I'm glad to hear you understand, thank you, now please, keep up your hard work and do your best and complete everything I have asked of you" Joseph said.

"Yes Father, of course Father" Faith nodded again.

And with that, Joseph hung up, Faith sat there for a few seconds listening to the soft beeping of the disconnected line before hanging up.

Faith crossed her arms and held herself, she would truly believe what the Father said and did was for the good of the survival of mankind but something about just leaving Ben to his fate just didn't sit right with her, he had opened to her, the enemy and told her how he truly felt about everything was going on around him, John's methods could be considered quite sadistic and was more than enough to kick Ben down a slopes that was the same hill she fell down years a long time ago, and for some reason that left a cold pit in her stomach, she didn't want to let her friend, regardless who they were be subjected to such horrors, but she knew she couldn't help him.

And yet again, she felt powerless to do anything.

* * *

Rook carefully lowered himself down the small ladder and down to the grated floor below and pushed open the metal cover that was slightly ajar like the one above. As he climbed in he could see a light at the other side, not like the lights he saw before to assist in maintenance, it was the pale yellow light that emits from fluorescent bulbs, it leaked in through something covering the mouth of the tube, Rook wasn't to sure what it was as it wasn't like the metal cover like before but seemed to be made out of rectangles with the light that dripped through in between the rectangles. As he arrived at the other side of the tube he could properly see what blocked the mouth of the tube, it was two cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other, very carefully, Rook reached out and pushed it slightly to test its weight, to his surprise and relief, there was a weight to it but not enough to block is way and very apprehensively pushed the boxes forward just enough to poke out to get a look of the room in front of him.

The room was filled with what looked like ammo crates and filing cabinets, but was most unnerving was the large shrine to Joseph in the center of the room, it was large painted portrait of the man in question propped up on a table with a Eden's Gate banner pinned up behind it, a myriad of gifts were place along the table like gifts to a god, flowers, hand drawing on paper and wooden carvings, the whole thing was capped off with a single man at the foot of the shrine, on his knees and hands clasped together and muttering under his breath in prayer, not wanting to disrupt the man, Rook began pushing the boxes millimeter by millimeter, silently hoping that no noise would be made.

Once the boxes were push out to his liking, Rook carefully got down on all four and slowly crawled out of the tube and into the open and kept a close eye on the man as he rose to his feet, now that he had a better view of the man he could see a pistol firmly strapped to his hip, if he didn't subdue the man almost instantly, he could very well die.

Now on his feet, Rook crouched down and silently approached the man just like Jess had taught him weeks ago, as Rook oh so slowly creeped right up behind the man, he analysed his target, he wasn't sure how to subdue the man, he wanted to wrap his arm around his neck in a sleeper hold but that appeared to be difficult as he was kneeling, and Rook was practically standing, he tried positioning his good arm at various angles, trying to find right way to get the man, his mind eventually settled on just trying to put him in the hold then fall backwards and pull him down with him, the surprise should be enough to keep the man pinned long enough to be properly subdue him. Rook took in a few easy breaths to mentally prepare himself for the task before taking a step forward and leaned in to subdue the man, as he could hear the mans prayer, he muttered under his breath, something about how Joseph is the one true light, just more nonsense to Rook.

He ignored the insane sounding prayer and wrapped his good arm around the man's neck and pulled him back, the kneeling man was clearly scared and confused as Rook pulled him back, he tried to cry for help but couldn't as an arm was wrapped around his neck. As Rook pulled him back, he also leaned back so both men fell to the floor with a thump, the air was almost knocked out of Rook as the other man landed on him, but fought through it as the man squirmed in Rook's grasp and threatened to break out and almost rolled off the Junior Deputy, but Rook was barely able to hold kept him in place.

"Just relax I'm not going to kill you" Rook grunted, hoping that would somehow help, keeping his grip on the man as his left forearm burned and panged in pain due to the man thrashing in his arms, desperate to break free before he ran out of oxygen, but it was clear to both men that he was losing air and fast.

But the man did not seem to care, he continued to kick and flail in an attempt to break free from the Junior Deputy's clutches, gasping and choking for the smallest amount of air, the intense struggle the man put up caused a fierce burn to grow within Rook forearm, he blinked away the tears in his eyes as he tighten his grip on the mans throat, causing his silent tantrum to finally lose steam and his movements began to slow, deliberate swiping punches became slow docile swatting before falling still. Rook loosened his grip to allow air back into the man's lungs, he could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest signifying that life still lingered within him.

Relieved that the whole thing went off as well as it did, Rook heaved the man off him with a huff and pushed him to the side, he didn't stand up immediately, he lay there to catch his breath, to stall for time until the burning in his arm dissipated. He expected the whole thing sideways, he knew eventually he would try that on someone stronger on him and he would break free and kick his ass.

Rook finally stood back up before bending down to remove the handgun strapped to the man's hip and ejected the clip, and as he expected it was full, twelve shots, he reloaded the gun and tucked it in the back of his waistband, now armed with a weapon he felt somewhat confident that he could save Hudson. He got back down into his usually crouch and moved to the far end of the room, he could see a row of basic metal bunk beds lined the back wall, not wanting a repeat of Eden's Covenant; he carefully approached the beds to make sure no one was sleeping in any of the bunks, as he got closer he could see that all of the bottom bunks were empty and perfectly made, satisfied with the lack of enemies he slowly rose back to his normal height to peek in on to rows only to find they were the same as below, now knowing there was no one else was in the room Rook sighed in relief as he was relatively safe, he looked around the room for an exit and found in the corner of the room at the end of the row of beds was a door, the door was slightly ajar, but the door didn't look like a door, it was not made of wood and had a brass handle, it was the large metal rectangle with rounded edges, a large valve stuck out of the center of the door.

"What the hell?" he muttered to himself in disbelief, it was slowly dawning on him that he was somewhere serious.

The wheels on his mind spun, struggling to figure out where he was, he knew John and Hudson were also in the quote unquote building with him, thick metal door next to the rows of bunk beds denoted safety for sleeping, the ventilation shaft he scampered through meant the location was quite large and needed air to be distributed into what felt like lower levels, the size and layout made no scene, it was much to massive to match the usual structure of the buildings he had seen in that past few weeks, he had to be in actual enemy territory.

He looked back at the unconscious man, a part of him regretted knocking him out as he would have had useful information

he slowly pushed open the door enough to poke his head out and get an idea of where he was, and what he saw confused and scared him.

The ground was made solely from grated metal, the walls were made from a similar metal painted light green and slowly curved in on itself as the wall went up and curved over to the adjacent wall forming a rounded roof, dim fluorescent lights hung from to ceiling. A lone sign labeled _SILO A_ _EXIT_ with an arrow pointing to the right hung on the wall next to several large towers made from blue crates labeled _Drinking Water_ were stacked against the far wall a few black and silver cases with the Eden's Gate logo littered the area, a few voiced echoed in the distance down the hall.

After taking in this foreign environment Rook was fully convinced he was deep within enemy territory, he immediately regretted stowing his gun and quickly pulled it back out and held it close to his chest, peggies could very well just jump out at him for anywhere at anytime or even an alarm could suddenly sound, Rook could feel his knees begin to shake ever so slightly as everything could very well come crashing down on him at a moments notice, he needed a plan, as his breath grew uneasy he scanned the hallway looking for what ever could help him live for more then ten minutes, a few shelves and crates sporadically lined the sides of the walls, inspiration sparking in his mind, he summoned all the tactical know-how he picked up throughout his life and quickly ran to the closest black and silver box, and did his best to make himself as small as possible and hide behind it as he listened for any sign of danger, once he decided it was clear he popped up from the cover, gun drawn and pointed forward ready to defend himself, but his hearing already confirmed no one was around and upon acknowledging it, he moved as fast as he could in a crouch to the next piece of cover he deemed usable a few feet ahead and repeated the whole thing again and slowly moved his way up the hall and towards the voices , it sounded like there was only two people, a man and a woman.

As he worked his way down the empty hallway it eventually came to an end and curved to the left were the voices became more distinct and clearer, by the sounds of things he was catching a conversation between to peggies. He paused right before the beginning of the curve to listen in for anything of use.

"I'm tellin' ya Em, we should ask fer some kinda reward for what we did" the male voice said.

"We do not need compensation, we already have everything we need here, in John's Gate, we are safe here even after the collapse" the female voice replied.

Upon hearing the woman's voice he gasp before bringing a hand to his mouth to silence himself, everything just clicked together, John's appearance, the odd interior, Hudson, he was in John's bunker thing, he knew Faith had one or something similar, but regardless, if he was in John's bunker then that meant his chances of getting out will increase as he ascends the floors.

From the sounds of the conversation the two peggies did not hear his gasp, thankful for that he gave a silent thank you to whatever god watched over him,

"I know but still, we did wha' no one else did, that's pretty impressive" the man said.

"It may be, but we still have a job to do, we can't let our pride blind us" the woman replied.

"You're killin' me here Em, we should get promoted ta' like th' chosen or somthin" the man spoke.

"Franklin" the woman snapped.

"Your pride is a sin, do not get pulled into another confession, stay focused to the task at hand, we need to prepare for the end, if you really want to be reward, then get back to work" she scolded the man.

Rook could hear the man sigh before started mumbling something, then the woman ordered him to get moving again, then he could hear the sounds of footfalls on metal, not only that but it faded as it went on, it sounded like the two were leaving, as the footfalls disappeared, Rook finally poked out from around the curved to examine his surroundings and sure enough the two peggies where gone, just more hallway with branching paths, but also there was no shelves or boxes to hide behind, this prospect made Rook even more nervous as if anything were to happen, he'd have to deal with it head on.

With no cover to use he jogged to the first intersecting hallway to weigh his options, in front of him was a hallway that seemed to stretch forward before splitting of into more hallways, to his left was a descending staircase, he could only assume that's where the peggies went, and to this right was another hallway that led to a larger door, obviously he didn't want to go deeper into the facility again or wander down multiplying hallways, he jogged down the hallway to his right, as he reached the end of it the room opened up slightly, to his left was another small open doorway but was quickly disregarded as in front of him was a large bulkhead door, it was much bigger and important looking then the other sealed doors he had come across and could only assume something just as important and warily approached it, ready for anything, the bulkhead had a small wire integrated window and a large valve sticking out the center of the door acting as the doorknob, hoping it led outside Rook peered through the small window hoping to see anything that could help him, as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room he could see John and Hudson, causing Rook to gasp once more they were in the middle of the room, John was leaning over Hudson, still bound to her chair, he was most likely adjusting her restraints, John was unaware that he was being watched, from Rook's perspective it appeared John did not have any weapons or firearms on his person, meaning if he was to open the door he would have the element of surprise and weapon advantage over John, Rook could only imagine the look on John's face when he realized he was finally cornered and faced with being captured which would eventually lead into the start of life in prison, if not the death penalty.

Just the idea of apprehension John made Rook nervous with anxiety as if he were to get away, it would be a long time until another chance would come about, Rook inhaled and exhaled repeatedly a few times to build confidence before firmly grabbing hold of the valve protruding from the bulkheads face and with a grunt, he tried to turn it as hard as he could but to no avail, the valve refused to turn.

"Come on" Rook grunted as he used all his strength to move the valve even by a few millimeters, even if his left forearm burned in disagreement.

But still the valve refused to budge, with a frustrated sigh, Rook released his grip on the valve and cradled his arm again as he peered through the small window, watching John manhandle his co-worker, as he finished doing whatever he was doing to Hudson and looked up and saw Rook in the window and locked eyes with the Junior Deputy, causing his to stand up and quickly approach the thick glass window in between the two, all the while pointing at Rook with a warm smile as if they were friends who haven't see each other in years, for some reason it made Rook more uncomfortable as he expected John to be furious with his escape.

John stood at the window, staring at Rook for a few seconds before a soft static emitted from the door.

"I know your sin" John's voice came, his voice was calm and showed no signs of anger that Rook had escaped and was running free in the bunker, but slightly distorted by the static of the intercom.

"I don't care what you think, John" Rook retorted.

"But you can think about it all you want after I put you behind bars" Rook warily challenged, puffing up his chest slightly to look intimidating.

"Sorry Deputy" John replied, cutting Rook off.

"This intercom is one way, so you're just going to have to listen, so where was I… oh yes, your sin… it drives you, every thought, every action, I am willing to put money on what you just said lends credence to what I'm saying, your sin is Wrath" John explained.

"And so, I'll indulge you; become your Wrath, let it fill your body and consume your soul" John continued as he placed an open palm on his chest.

"Because in the end, you'll still be empty… and I'll be waiting right here for you" John said before taking a quick glance at Hudson behind him before looking back at Rook.

"We both will" John finished as he began walking backwards towards Hudson as he dug around in his back pocket and pulled out something that looked like a walkie talkie.

John held it up and pressed a button on it before pocketing it again while using his free hand to grab Hudson and pulled her back into an adjacent room.

The second John hit the button, Rook could hear hissing noises all around him, Rook turned to the sources of the noise and see vents on either side of the large bulkhead begin to spew a light green vapour that threatened to fill the room, Rook didn't need to inhale it to know the stuff was bliss.

"Son of a bitch!" Rook exclaimed as he began to look around the room desperately for an escape, if he was to succumb to the bliss, then it would truly be over for him, he knew he couldn't go back the way he came as that just took him into the bowels of the bunker, but a small open door frame to his right he ignored began to look somewhat promising. With no other options, Rook begrudgingly ran for the door, a part of him hating himself for leaving Hudson behind.

* * *

As Rook ran through the doorway and up a small slight of stairs the crackling of static could be heard again, this time it was not the soft static that emitted from the door but instead it sounded harsher and came from above, most likely a bunker wide intercom.

"The wrathful Junior Deputy is here in our bunker! Give him all the wrath he can handle, brothers and sisters! Say yes and I will give my life in the name of the Father!" John preached dramatically over the intercom before the static was heard once more and John's voice vanished.

"Oh, come on" Rook huffed as he climbed the set of stairs, desperately trying not to inhale to much as the bliss was filling the room behind him and slowly leaked up the stairs behind him.

As he came to top, the room opened into an expansive holding bay with dozens upon dozens of boxes and other goods piled up on skids and pallets, on the far side of the room was a two sets of stairs, ten feet apart that went upward a dozen steps before flattening out onto a platform that connected the two stairs and another much longer staircase stretched up into the ceiling, Rook could only assume that up equaled the exit. Rook thought about maybe grabbing one or two things if he saw something worth taking as he ran to the staircase but as John finished his little sermon about his wrath a handful of peggies began pouring out a small hallway on his left, not only that put bliss began slowly filling the room.

Rook swore loudly in fear as he saw everything piling up against him, the peggie all carried baseball bats and handguns, and hurried into the room as bliss filled the room, as the first few peggies spotted Rook, he raised his gun and fired twice at the closest peggie with a gun while doing his best to keep track of how many shots he had left, now he had ten the first shot missed but the second hit the peggie in the shoulder causing him to drop, the gunshots grabbed the attention of everyone else in the room and they all focused on the scared terrified Junior Deputy and began shouting their curses and hate at the man, seeing the now aware peggies and bliss that closed in, he knew going on defensive was his only option to survive, as the peggies raised their guns to fire upon him, he just dove forward and hoped for the best, the small piles of boxes would act as decent cover but whatever was inside would make the deciding factor over just how well it would protect him, he his the metal ground with a dull thump, the impact shot another wire of pain through his left arm.

The second he hit the ground the gunshots rang out over him followed by more angry yelling coupled with coughing as even the peggies were being affected by the bliss, the gunshots caused Rook to erratically push himself up against his cover, trying to protect himself the best he could, gun in hand ready to fire while doing his best not to inhale deeply as the stress was getting to him and did not want to inhale the bliss that was engulfing the room, once it sounded like the peggies were distracted by the bliss Rook did everything in his power to try to push himself forward and scampered along the ground on all fours to clear some distance before shooting back up and sprinting again, the time he spent on the floor allowed bliss to enter his lungs, causing him to cause and wheeze.

As he ran for the stairs on the other side of the room, he coughed and wheezed more as all the running and being terrified of dying was making him breath heavily allowing the flooding bliss to enter his system.

He felt as if he was slowing down, he wasn't sure if it was the bliss or just him running out of steam, to compensate he lifted his bad arm up and rotated his gun arm up and positioned the gun in between his in the new space in between torso and bad arm and fired the gun a few times hoping it would deter the peggies from harming him for a few more seconds, his gunshots earned him more angry yelling and coughing before a few errant gunshots rang out causing him to flinch.

As he stormed up the small staircase and onto the platform that connected to another staircase to his right and practically threw himself towards the stairs and scampered up the first few steps on all fours before rising up and sprinted for the stairs as he did his best to cough all the bliss out of his lungs, his vision was getting blurry at little sparkles floated around in his peripherals, he needed to clear his system, he needed fresh air for some reason he believed it would save him, as he reached the top of the stairs the ground leveled out before the platform wrapped around and another staircase began, as he got lightheaded he looked straight up the stair well to ballpark how much further he needed to go and saw staircase spiraled upwards at least several floors.

"Awww sheit" he slurred as he looked back down the way he came only to see a thick light green fog slowly roll up behind him.

Rook kept a vice grip on the staircase railing as he felt if he let go he would fall, he held onto it as he stomped up the several flights of stairs for what felt like forever until as he climbed up the umpteenth stair, the platform ahead didn't wrap around, instead it went forward until it hit a dead end, on the far left was a large rectangular doorway, light shone inwards, despite being somewhat high, Rook could tell that was not artificial light, it was sunlight.

"Aw thank god" he breathed as he ran to the opening, as he was about to round the corner and properly leave the next thing he knew he was on the ground, gun knocked from his hand and skittered across the ground, his jaw aching in pain

"What?" Rook muttered as pushed away the pain and looked up what happened.

Standing before the Junior Deputy was a single man, staring down at Rook angrily with a knife in hand.

"I'm going to split you down the middle like a trout" the man spat before lunging at Rook with the knife.

Rook gasped loudly before instinctively rolling away, barely dodging the attack, he knew he lost the gun when the man presumably punched him, if he were able to get it then he would be able to win.

"Sit still Sinner" the man ordered as he pulled back to try to strike Rook again.

Rook, in turn stumbled to his feet and he backpedaled away from the man, trying to identify any weakness, his arms raised ready to defend himself before his eyes became glued to the knife in his hand.

"I said stop moving!" the man yelled again as he took a large step towards Rook while swiping and slashing at Rook who narrowly avoided the cuts.

But Rook remained silent and continued juking around the man hoping for an opportunity to strike while keeping his out for his gun, but to his dismay, he was too focused on the gun and the man was finally able to get a hit in, the knife blade ran across Rook's side, in between the ribs and hip, the cut was long and moderately deep, more then enough to kill Rook with blood loss if left untreated, as the peggie pulled the knife away blood splattered onto the floor, the cut made Rook cry and shutter in pain as he stumbled backwards as he brought a hand to his wound in some attempt to protect his newest wound.

"I got you now Sinner, your going to die down here" the peggie growled with smirk.

Rook looked up at the peggie before him with fear in his eyes, a part of him scanned the peggie for some sort of weakness, the area around them to get some sort tactical advantage, another part of him agreed with his attacker, after weeks of fighting his luck as finally run out.

"See, told you I'd get you" the man smirked before his hand shot out and grabbed the Rook by his throat and squeezed.

The sudden pressure made Rook cough and gag as the man laughed at his suffering before throwing the Junior Deputy to the side.

Rook hit the ground coughing and retching he tired to get off the ground but found that he couldn't get up, he was in to much pain, from the knife wound, the choking, his head and arm, and the bliss still in him, and now he found a new pain, as he hot the ground it felt like he landed on something.

The man stood over him, laughing that he would be the one to kill the Junior Deputy, watching him suffer on the ground, Rook agreed with him, if he was going to die he at least wanted some level of comfort and stretched an arm underneath him to pull out whatever was causing him pain the second he touched the item knew exactly what it was, it was his gun, the man threw him on his gun.

the discovery caused him to gasp, and by the looks of things the man didn't seem to care, instead he took a step towards Rook, most likely ready to kill him, as the man reached down to pick Rook up, he fumbled the gun as he pulled out, as the man grabbed a handful of his shirt Rook brought the gun up and pointed it in the man's face, he didn't have a chance to even gasp before Rook pulled the trigger, the gun blast echoed in the small room before reverberating out the open blast door and the man fell over.

Rook lay there a few moments, panting heavily as he tried to calm down, the pain in his side didn't let up and continued to leak blood, but as bliss slowly rose up into the room he knew he had to go, and with long and pained groans he pushed himself over onto his uninjured side and wiped away the pained tears in his eyes before he slowly stood up, the pain in his side shot through his body, it was the worse thing he had ever felt as a fresh wave of tear flooded his eyes, he placed the gun back in his waistband before placing a hand on his wound hoping to slow the bleeding but, just shot more pain through his body causing him to retch in pain, the wound was bleeding profusely, it wasn't until now he realized just how sweaty he was, everything he had been through gave him a thin layer of sweat over his whole body and staining his shirt, with more ragged breaths, Rook pushed himself out the open door and did his best to run away but all he could muster was a limp jog. The second he stepped out he was bathed in sunlight, it had to be at least nine in the morning, he did his best to limp down what looked a parking lot with gasping breaths and towards the forest on the other side hoping he could lose himself within the tree line. All he could do was think about how many times he almost died while down there and how he just left Hudson down there with John.

* * *

The bulkhead door slowly swung open and John sauntered out and casually walked up the small staircase into the main room where his flock had gathered to fight the Junior Deputy and saw what the Deputy had done; a dozen bodies lay motionless on the ground, blood leaking out of a few, other catatonic from the bliss, John scoffed, he scoffed because as much as he enjoyed being correct it was almost like a curse, a blind man could see that the deputy has drowning in wrath, how he gunned down so many people with out mercy or hesitation, since he showed up with his cohorts, ever since Joseph had deemed the night the police show up at their front door was the night the holy seal things have been going down hill, John had rarely spoke to Faith besides from preparing for the collapse, and when they did she would always find a way to bring the conversation back to the Junior Deputy, how he would spare her flock when he could, how he would avoid violence when he could, it was painfully clear that she was falling for the deputy's tricks, he was snake in the grass, a wolf in sheep's skin and was flying right under her radar. It annoyed John how quick Joseph was to replace every Faith they had, the Faith before Rachael would have caught on to what the deputy was doing, but she just had to get caught getting a little to close to some low level member of her flock and the next day she was just gone, a few weeks later a new woman took her place. It bugged John how Joseph just does things with any really thought asides from saying him rambling on about how god wills it and how he hears the word of god, when Joseph found him, he was sleeping with a different woman almost every other night and occasionally dabbled in the use of cocaine, Joseph knew just what he was into but yet he kept him around, why not replace him like he does with their "sister" aside of his skills as a successful lawyer, vast fortune and blood relation, he had nothing over the dead end woman Joseph brought in, insisted was their sister named Faith.

"S-sir?" a scared male voice came from behind him.

John turned around to address the man calling for him, a single man was crouched down on the small staircase, nervous to poke his head out; just a lackey scares for his safety, as the two men made eye contact, the man on the stairs winced slightly, John knew more then a few people were wary of him but he didn't know he had such an effect on people, but the thought was wiped from his mind as he could feel his teeth be subconsciously ground together, he could only assume a scowl accompanied the action.

"What do you want?" John asked bluntly, trying to relax the muscles in his face and stretched his jaw.

"Did we get 'em?" he asked timidly.

"No" John snapped.

"He got away... Again" John rumbled, turning back to the room full of bodies behind him.

"Well uh, sir, if ya want, me an' a friend, Emily, we uh, jus' sat around in the dark an' saw a truck go by an' we jus' rammed it, so if ya want we could do it again?" the man offered.

"No, no… no" John sighed, disinterested in what the man was saying.

"This" John began, bringing a hand up and extending his index finger to drive home his point.

"This changes thing, this… Junior Deputy has come here, into our home and defiled it's sanctity" he continued, spreading his arms to gesture to the corpse filled room before turning back to the man on the stairs.

"He came into our home and killed how many of us? one dozen, two dozen, we won't know until we look over room and hall, he came her unconscious and tied down to a chair, so how did he just get out and let his wrath engulf him… what's your name?" John finished, staring down that man.

"Franklin, sir" Franklin stammered.

"Gather some people together and clean up the bodies here, do it fast, a lot of work needs to be done around here now" John replied, giving Franklin a wave of his hand to dismiss him as he descended the stairs.

"Y-you got it boss" Franklin said before scurrying away,

John skulked through the halls of his bunker towards his office, as he went he passed by many of his flock members slowly congregating to the upper levels to see what was going on but when they took one look at John and their curiosity would be replaced with fear as it was obvious John was going to have to break the news to Joseph, something no one wanted to do, so everyone just shied away from him, hoping not to do anything to draw his ire and just focused on making sure the Gate was still in one piece and everything was still where it was left.

John eventually stomped over to his office door and pushed the door open and shuffled over to his desk and picked up the phone and apprehensively punched in a phone number before holding the phone to his ear as it gently rang, it rang a few times before someone one the other end picked up.

"Hello John, is everything well?" Joseph's voice came, sounding as calm as usual.

John didn't respond, he just growled internally, he hated having to break the news to Joseph went something went wrong.

"That's why I'm calling you… you see it seems that the Junior Deputy was able to break free from his holding cell and killed a handful of my flock before escaping my gate" John explained bluntly.

Joseph remained silent for a few seconds before responding.

"Did you draw a confession out of him?" Joseph asked.

John was slightly apprehensive to answer and sucked in a little air before answering.

"No, he managed to escape in the time it took me to return his co-worker back to her room" John replied.

Again, Joseph was slightly briefly before responding.

"Why were they in the same room together? confessions should be one on one" Joseph questioned.

"I did that because, well I felt that w-" John stammered.

"John I need you to listen to me" Joseph said cutting him off.

"I understand that you have certain… proclivities, but I need to focus on the task at hand, the collapse is fast approaching and I need everything to be in place when it does, and that is with all our gates filled with supplies and people, and when the storm passes you, Jacob, Faith and the Deputy will be at my sides and we will build our New Eden" Joseph instructed, his voice remaining it's cool, collected tone as per usual.

"Yes Father" John replied quickly, not wanting to be scolded any further.

"Now, onto more pressing matters, how did Benjamin escape and do what he did?" Joseph asked.

"I'm not to sure, I left him restrained in his room when I removed his co-worker; what's-her-name, I was gone not even ten minutes and when I returned he was gone" John explained.

"Could someone have walked in and let him out, again, no one should have been in there besides him and yourself, so I highly doubt you placed a guard or two in there with him" Joseph questioned.

"No, that's impossible no one would dare do something so egregious" John said almost mockingly, he was confident with the chain of command he had built, there was no way someone would do something so ludicrous.

"How can you be so sure, almost two weeks ago, Faith had reported to me that some defected from her ranks and ran into the waiting arms of the Hope County Resistance, who's to say he's not the only one, you said it yourself, the Deputy fled your gate, how could he open it from the inside if the only way were to open it is knowing the door code or have the key around your neck" Joseph theorized.

John didn't want to admit that he opened the door to vent the bliss out so it didn't get sucked into the air vents and float throughout the bunker, it was the last thing he wanted to tell Joseph as he would just go on about how he could very well be denied "Eden"

"Maybe your right, with the Deputy just escaping, I plan to step up security of the Valley and with your blessing I will keep a closer eye on my flock and remove those I deem a liability to the cause" John asked.

"Very well, just move forward with absolute discretion, do I make myself clear John?" Joseph said.

"Yes Father" John replied confidently.

"Good to hear, and please, do not make this whole problem a recurring theme" Joseph asked.

"Yes Father" John said again, trying to hide his sigh.

Joseph didn't respond, instead he just hung up, John let out an angry growl as he hated how he always did that, wanting to just move past it and get down to business, he hung up the phone picked it back up and dialed a new number before holding the receiver to his ear, the phone rang a few times before someone picked up.

"Yes sir?" a women's voice came.

"Get the planes in the air" he seethed.


	21. Chapter 21

Jess slowly walked up the hill towards the prison, she had spent the bulk of her night hunting roaming groups of peggies looking for a way to reclaim what was lost to them, it was the only thing that would calm her down anymore, she hunted late into the night until she decided to call it a night around two in the morning and hunkered down in some abandoned shacks and as the sun came up she awoke and made her way back to the prison, by her estimate she had made it back around six thirty.

As she slowly approached the apex of the hill, the guards on the wall came into view, most of them were sitting on the edge, their legs hanging off the side of the wall, clearly tired from being up so early.

"Who goes there?!" one of them finally yelled, snapping the rest of the guards into action, causing them all to stand up as Jess approached.

"Jess Black!" she hollered up as she got closer to the front gate, she was annoyed that she had to do this whole song and dance every time she returns.

"Deputy Rook's girlfriend?" a man called down.

"The fuck you call me!?" Jess yelled back, shocked and angered she was more properly known as someone's girlfriend regardless if it was true or not.

"Wait you two ain't a thing?" the man called down nervously.

"Fuck no, I'd never date a fucking cop, specially some boy scout like him" Jess retorted angrily as she looked up at the man who had the audacity to suggest such a thing.

"Ok, ok, sorry my bad, everyone just sees you two together all the time so we all just assume you two are a thing" the man tried to explain.

"Well assume something else, jackass" Jess huffed as she pushed through the front door and entered the courtyard.

As she stomped through the courtyard, the few people who was awake at this hour that wandered the courtyard seemed to shy away from her as they most likely heard the entire exchange. But she didn't care she just bee lined for the door to the prison proper.

A part of her expected the Boy Scout to be curled up on a chair or bench by the front door, fast asleep and waiting for her return like some kind of forlorned lover. And at the point she would have to wake him up as if he awoke while she was in the building and found out about it, he would most certainly throw a little fit about how worried he was about her just being gone all night and how dangerous it was, then he would ask if she has cooled off from the day before, then he would want to talk about what happened yesterday, about everything, and she would have to blow it off like it was nothing, as per usual.

But as she opened the door and peered down the hallway, and to her surprise the Boy Scout was nowhere to be seen, he was not patiently waiting for her return.

"Why would he be here, he's not some dog" she thought as she trudged down the hallway and deeper into the prison.

She felt stupid thinking he would just be waiting for her, he wouldn't waste his time waiting for her, he made it clear that saving the county was far more important then her, if anything he was in the command room being told what to do by the Sheriff.

As she trudged through the halls towards the command center, she fidgeted with her hood relentlessly as it could not find a comfortable position on her head, eventually she gave up on the whole endeavor and let it rest where it was, with her attention off her hood and back onto her surroundings, she could see a few of the Hope County Cougars giving her odd looks, Jess couldn't help but think she looked weird stomping through the halls while she meticulously fidgeted around with her hood, regardless she didn't give a shit.

"hey should mind their own damn business" She thought as she reached the end of the hall and pushed open the doors to the command room.

The command room, from her perspective, flowed the same as usual, the Sheriff and a few others dug around through piles of paper and discussing something, a few people in the back fiddled with large radios, a handful of people marched around with guns in hand, but what she didn't see Rook at the sheriff's heels, looking for something to do, she was somewhat surprised that the Boy Scout wasn't around and looking for something to do.

"Maybe he's just sleeping?" she thought as she looked up to the few rows of walkways that lined the cells above her, there was a chance he was in their cell, it made sense, if he really was still here, he would be sleeping, it was pretty early by normal people's standards.

As she crossed the room she could see Tracey leaving the room through a different set of doors, they made eye contact for only a few seconds, it was more then enough to glare menacingly at each other before Tracey left the room, she couldn't help but feel accomplished with herself as she silently crossed the room and climbed up the first few steps of the stairs to the cells above.

As she ascended the stairs she couldn't help but think about the last time they spoke, how grumpy she was when he didn't go after the retreating peggies, the peggies would most certainly chase after them and shoot them in the back if the situation was flipped, so why should any mercy be shown to them?

The Boy Scout was a mystery to her sometimes, even when she thought she had him all figured out he goes and does something to keep her guessing, some days she could get along with him just fine and other days she just wanted to strangle him. It was like he was two different people sometimes.

As she stepped foot on the walkway their cell rested on, she could see their cell door was shut, she wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not as the door was just bars and had no ability to keep the noise out. Regardless she still approached the cell to see if Rook was inside or not and quickly popped open the cell door and poked her head into their commutative cell and looked at the bunk-bed, and to her surprise he wasn't there, just a neatly made bed, confused to where he was she quickly looked up into her bunk to make sure he wasn't up there for some reason, but unsurprisingly he wasn't among the disheveled sheets, aside from the two posters she had taped to the wall, it was completely empty.

"What the fuck?" she muttered; this was not like him. It was quite early in the morning so why wouldn't he be in bed sleeping off the day before.

Confused, she exited the cells and leaned against the adjacent railing and peered down at the command room below her, it was still the same as when she entered, dudes with guns, people at the radios, the sheriff digging through papers… the Sheriff.

Jess's mind stopped on the Sheriff, if anyone knew where Boy Scout would be it would be him, but she let out annoyed sigh as to find out where Boy Scout was, she would have to talk to the Sheriff.

As she slowly descended the stairs she mentally prepared herself to talk to the Sheriff, knowing him, he would most likely make some subtle comments about how she's just slowly his deputy down or some bullshit, she really didn't want to put up with it, she just wanted to find the Boy Scout then get on with their day and get back to killing peggies.

As she touched down on the ground floor a few people around the table the sheriff usually floated around had quickly departed, several papers and drawings held close in their grasps, most likely to spread news of what ever the hell they were planning, in a way it relieved Jess as when she went to speak with Whitehorse there would now be less eyes and ears on her, not wanting to lose the opportunity she picked up her pace and closed in on the Sheriff.

As she approached, she could her him mutter to himself as he organized the dozens of papers and manila envelopes, something about the Henbane River as a whole.

"Hey Sheriff Mustache" Jess called to get his attention.

Whitehorse placed the handful of papers back onto the table and turned to Jess with an unamused look on his face.

"I assume your referring to me?" he asked.

"Yeah, where's our Boy Scout, I can't find him, where is he?" Jess asked.

"He's not with you?" Whitehorse asked, sounding a little concern.

"Naah, we split up right before the sun set yesterday" Jess shrugged.

Whitehorse looked at Jess wide eyed for a few seconds before taking of his Stetson hat and dropped it on the table with a soft thump then ran a hand through what little hair he had left on his head.

"What do you mean you split up?" he asked again, sounding more worried and looked at her as if he did not believe her.

"Yeah well, I guess me and him just had a few to many disagreements and he just got on my nerves, so I bailed on him as we were coming back here" Jess surmised quickly, not wanting to spend to much time talking to the man.

"Are you being serious with me!" Whitehorse barked; his apparent disbelief had quickly melted into anger.

"what the hell is your problem?!" Jess challenged, she was not expecting him to get angry with her, but regardless of the reason, she was not just going to take it, especially if it was an officer.

"My problem is you" Whitehorse growled, taking a step towards her and sticking an accusing finger in her face.

"Ever since you showed up here, you've been nothing but trouble, always picking fights with Tracey, always giving lip to anyone who disagrees with you, and worst of all it seems that somehow you got Benjamin dancing to your tune, and will just do whatever you want and you two just run off doing god knows what, in case you have forgotten the county has been in lock down, we are at war with seemingly endless cult members, people are dying around us, we are running out of food, water, ammo, we need all hands on deck, that includes my Junior Deputy, who might I add is severely under trained for something like this and in general and before you even think of cutting me off yes I know that he is making a difference out there, I know he's been fighting back the peggies in the Valley and now here, but you know what, we all could have used someone like him here, but as I said, he's to busy running around with you, who knows how better off we would have been if he just stuck around and followed the chain of command!" Whitehorse explained loudly as he continuously reasserted the finger at Jess's general direction, Jess didn't need to look around to know people were staring, the command room was always relatively quiet as it helped the thinkers think and let the people above in the cells sleep, so his yelling was pulling everyone's attention.

"Well excuse me" Jess spat indigently, swatting the finger out of her face,

"I'm oh so sorry that I'm such a burden to you and to bestow the gift of free will to your lapdog, who gives a fuck if he's not always here doing what you tell him, when he's not running around following your orders to the tee like a fucking peggie, he is out in the county with me, and we actually do things, we are fucking up the cult with a capital fuck you, the Boy Scout might as well be fighting the fight for you so the least you while you just sit around reading your papers and coloring your pictures or whatever is to get off his back while we do our job!" Jess retorted loudly, taking a defiant step towards the sheriff with her hands on her hips.

Whitehorse dipped his head slightly and growled in frustration before exhaling out his nose trying to calm down before rising back up to stare down the unruly woman before him, the people milling about the room were most likely staring, he needed to handle this professionally yet make an example out her as she was the first person to really step out of line.

"Miss Black listen to me" he said through clenched teeth.

"I don't give a damn that you if you are actually contributing to stopping the problem, but I need you to listen to me very carefully so you don't misconstrued my grievances, my issue with you that has pushed me over the edge is that you left my Deputy, your so called friend alone in a environment running rampant with killers and psychopaths" Whitehorse hissed.

"So, what who gives a shit, he's a big boy and can handle himself, if you actually get out of here and into the shit you would see he's a fucking war machine, me and him took out a whole outpost worth of dudes then killed then killed like twenty more with a helicopter, you know he's never flown one before then" Jess countered, crossing her arms.

"He hasn't been here since yesterday!" Whitehorse yelled

"What?" Jess blinked, feeling herself lose some wind in her sails.

"Yes! In case you weren't listening, that's what I've been trying to tell you, he's not here, he hasn't been since you two ran off to god knows where and hasn't called in since then, it's the reason why I'm so wound up!" Whitehorse cried.

"We are in an active war zone, why in god's green earth would you run off alone is such a dangerous place, why would you leave him alone in a dangerous place, I'm not sure if you noticed but Benjamin hasn't been himself lately, this war zone we're living in is getting to him and again you just left him alone out there and god knows what happened to him!" he loudly finished.

Jess blew a stream of air out of her mouth, she wasn't buying what the Sheriff was selling, the fact that the Boy Scout didn't return home when he said he would did concern her to a degree, but there had to be a logical explanation, he was a real killer after all, he was seemingly invincible.

"OK, so what if he didn't show up, it's the Boy Scout we're talking about, I'm sure he just saw someone who was lost need or a cat stuck in a tree or something and he just got distracted all night and crashed at a outpost or somewhere else safe, here I'll prove it, call him" Jess said confidently, pointing to the walkie talkie that lay on the table next to them, hidden among the paperwork.

The Sheriff quickly grabbed the walkie talkie and brought it to his mouth.

"Benjamin, pick up right now!" he commanded sternly.

Whitehorse then let go of the talk button and eagerly awaited a response, the two stood there in an intense silence.

"Rook come in!" Whitehorse repeated, and again the two waited for a response that would never come.

Whitehorse huffed heavily out his nose before looking back at the woman.

"I'm sure he's fine, the walkies probably dead or something, hell I'm sure he'll be back before noon apologizing for being getting so distracted, stammering and stuttering like usual" Jess stated.

Despite her belief in her words, a part of her panged in reluctance, he could very well be in some sort of danger, sure he was a wrecking ball, but he was an awkward one at that.

"No!" Whitehorse barked as he slammed the walkie onto the table with a loud bang.

"You don't know that, for all we know he's dead in a ditch somewhere, he could have been picked up by the peggies and is being tortured for information as we speak, how could you just leave him alone like that, I thought he was your friend, why did you abandon him!" Whitehorse yelled.

"I didn't abandon him; I just went my way and he went his" Jess retorted.

"YES you did, you had an argument with him, you said it yourself, something happened that you didn't agree with and he just got on your nerves then you just walked away from him, you've been acting like this ever since you got here, the volatile attitude you first came in here with, threatening Benjamin with violence, it has pushed anyone away willing to work with you and anyone still dumb enough to not be pushed away is either physically hurt or you just leave them when their vulnerable" Whitehorse argued.

"What?!" Jess chirped; her voice cracked as what he said struck a nerve with her.

"Miss Armstrong and a group of ours were killed and injured because you felt it necessary to drag Benjamin along with you to get a hold of a dozen or so guns, and now most likely the one person in this county who trusted you whole heartedly might very well be dead because you left them alone" Whitehorse argued.

"Hey, come on we d-" Jess began to say, her voice had softened considerable, the Sheriff's tirade had struck a nerve and trudged up something from the back of her mind, it left her with this cold hole in her chest.

"Jessica" Whitehorse said, cutting her off, clearly tired of her.

"Just get out, go somewhere else, go and don't come back unless you got Ben with you" he ordered.

"Sure, whatever, fuck you old man" she growled as she began relentlessly fidgeting with her hood before turning and practically ran out of the room.

She didn't care what the Sheriff said, she couldn't give less of a shit but for some reason she still listened to his order, she didn't even want to be in the stupid prison anyways, so she stomped through the prison's halls and head straight for the front exit and kicked open the door. The morning sun just about blinded her as the door swung open, making a loud bang as the door hit the wall, a few people on guard duty heard the loud bang, the noise caused them to jump as it sounded like a gunshot, when they turned to investigate, Jess felt their eyes on her and yelled out them to mind their own damn business, the guards on the wall yelled something back at Jess, something about making to much noise but Jess but she didn't care, Jess carried on unbothered and stomped across the courtyard and pushed the heavy metal doors and left the prison.

Jess continued down the road and down the hill, she was unsure of where to go or what to do now besides kill more peggies, for some reason everything didn't sit right with her,.

What the Sheriff said stung, it brought back memories she tried to forget, but no matter how hard she tried, they wormed they're way to the forefront of her mind, it made this cold dark thing appear in her chest and it just grew and grew into an almost suffocating feeling at squeezed larynx and made her chest feel like stone, coupled with what may or may not have happened to the Boy Scout just made the feeling worse, maybe the Sheriff was right; it was her fault, maybe she really did abandon him when he needed her, he did say he was feeling off from all the killing, yet again that it made the cold dark thing in her chest grow even more as it seemed to pull out the memories even more, it twisted her heart as the memories pushed into her consciousness and replayed in her mind.

* * *

It was two days since she had escaped the Cook's compound and somehow made it to her uncle Dutch's bunker home as she had nowhere else to go, she arrived banging and yelling on the front door, begging to be let in and thankfully he never left his hideout and quickly let her in and offered her safety.

Now she sat on a medical cot in Dutch's makeshift infirmary, her parents never let her in the bunker, but Dutch has always described it as more versatile then the average bunker, she never really knew what that meant until she could finally see it, the bunker was equip with everything one would need to survive Armageddon, it was equipped an infirmary, a commutative sleeping room, armory, and dry food storage and room dedicated to long term planning and surveillance, it was quite impressive by her Granny's standards.

Jess poked at the fresh medical gauze that was taped to her face, a peggie had slashed her up good during her escape, he got two good cuts in, one on across her right cheek and another across the bridge of her nose, it depressed her to know it would scar over and stay like that for the rest of her life, more over now she would be easily identifiable now.

Beside her on her immediate left on the adjacent cot was occupied by the crying mess that was her younger brother, Scott, despite being two years younger then her, he had become a whimpering, sniveling shell of his former self, he would flinch at the slightest touch be it her or their uncle and yelp in fear at the sound of a loud noise, just getting him back to Dutch's bunker home was a trial in it of itself.

She didn't know how to deal with him, she was besides herself on the matter, she couldn't blame him for the way he acted and felt but she couldn't help but berate him for it, she made it through the same things as him and then some and she wasn't some emotional mess, sometimes she just wanted to grab him by the collar and yell at him for being such a coward, while he was curled up in a ball begging for it all to stop, she engineered their escape from the Cook's compound, she preyed upon the lust of a more lascivious member of the cult and as he opened the door to get his hands on her, before he could do anything she stabbed him with his own knife, of course he used it on her face before she could dispatch the man, even then Scott was to afraid to do anything, he was still to afraid to move so she had to practically drag him out of the cage, and even now that he was in their uncle's bunker, he would either cry and snivel, sleep, or silently stare ahead with this thousand yard stare at whatever was in front of him.

Jess's thought were interrupted as their uncle entered the room.

"How you doing kiddos?" Dutch asked.

"I'm fine" Jess replied bluntly, looking away from her uncle.

Scott didn't respond, he continued to weep as the last few days haunted him.

"So, listen you two" Dutch said, leaning up against door frame and crossed his arms.

"I care about you two I really do, but I'm not… equipped to take care of you, I just don't have what I need to make sure you guys do good in school and all that" Dutch explained.

"What does that mean?" Scott whined as he sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"It means he's kicking us out" Jess growled, dipping her head.

"I'm not kicking you out" Dutch said, raising a hand to Jess to try to quiet her.

"You guys can stay here for as long as you want, but I think we should look into finding a place that can properly take care of you that doesn't involve you living like me, now I know I didn't really see eye to eye with your father every now and again, but I'm sure he'd want you to get back in school so I'll respect his wishes" he said.

"So, you are kicking us out and trying to ship us off!" Jess seethed as she climbed off the medical cot a took a step towards him.

"Kid, I'm trying to help you and respect your parents wishes" Dutch retorted, he took a step away from the door frame and stood up straight.

Fuck that! I told you what they did to us, to mom and dad, your brother, your talking like what happened was just an accident like a car crash or something! They were fucking murdered; we were almost murdered!" Jess yelled angrily.

"Then what do you want me to do?" Dutch asked.

"Let's get some guns, some bows and arrows and let's go hunt down these sick motherfuckers and fucking kill them, for fuck's sake, granny would be out there right now ganking all those sick motherfuckers out there!" Jess retorted angrily.

"Kid listen, if I was a decade or two younger then I'd be more inclined to listen you but things are different now, these peggie guys have been in the county for a while now, and they get more recruits every day, there's hundreds if not thousands of them by now hell, I'm involved in a court case because I need a permit to collect rain water… What I'm trying to say is, no matter how broken and clown shoes the government is, finding their killer might take months, years even, I highly doubt the peggies while just give up their own" Dutch said, trying to reason with her.

"Who gives a shit, let's just kill them all, I bet they're all guilty of some horrible shit, we'd be doing the world a favor!" Jess shouted.

"Jessica stop" Dutch ordered.

"Listen to yourself, your talking about killing hundreds to thousands of people who may or may not have done anything, yes I agree with you I think that Eden's Gate is just another front for another man to con a bunch of money and who knows what else, but dammit kid your only twenty-four you shouldn't be trying to become some serial killer, how far do you think you'd even get, five kills? Ten? How longer before you are arrest or killed? At that point you wouldn't be any better than them… listen, your cousin, my son Robbie, he and his family live in North Dakota, we can get in contact with them and see if we can get you two set up somewhere close to them, if not with them" Dutch said sternly, trying to dissuade her.

"I don't give a shit! I'm going to find the guy with the flamethrower and I'm going to kill him!" Jess yelled again.

Dutch mentally sighed, he had seen this behavior many times over in his time in the military, it was all the same there, friends losing friends and swearing vengeance on their killer and sometimes spending the rest of their waking hours trying to get that retribution. He didn't want to see his niece go down that same path, despite being twenty-four Jess was still a kid in his eyes, she shouldn't be hell bent on revenge, there was hundreds if not thousands of peggies these days, so how would she even find one man within all those numbers, just because she could shoot a bow and her grandmother taught her a thing or two didn't mean she was capable of murder, Dutch saw so much regret in the eyes of his fellow solders, it didn't matter if they were fighting for their freedom or beliefs or resources, murder was murder, a cardinal sin and would follow her for the rest of her life. But the looming problem in the distance was her brother Scott, sure he was an emotional mess now but who knows how he'll act once it passes, he could even be worse the Jess, he was never as aggressive as her, but then again trauma and abuse can do so much to the mind.

Dutch was about to open his mouth to paraphrase how he felt, but before he could open his mouth, Scott spoke up again.

"Jess, I think we should listen to him" Scott said quietly.

"Wait?" Jess guffawed as she looked at her brother in disbelief.

"I think we should do what Uncle Dutch says" Scott said.

"And why the _fuck _should we do that?" Jess fumed as she fully turned around and took one threatening step towards him.

"Jess, I… it's…. fuck Jess, I want to get out of here, I want to leave and never look back, I'm so scared that someone will just come back and drag us back, Christ look what they did to your face, every time I close my eyes, I see mom and dad on the… It's fucking sick what happened, we should just leave and let the police handle it, I don't want to fight, I just want to feel something other then fear again, I want to feel normal again, we should have just packed up and left like your boyfriend did when the Seed's or whoever started buying up lands" Scott explained timidly, his voice quavered as he spoke as he tried to hold the tears in.

Jess didn't reply, instead she walked right up to the side of his cot and shove him, she shoved him so hard he fell out of the cot, causing him to bark in pain as he hit the cement floor with a hard thud.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING COWARD JUST LIKE STEVE!" She screamed.

"Hey!" Dutch barked as he quickly stormed up behind Jess and restrained her to keep her from getting physical.

"THEY STARVED US FOR THREE DAYS, MADE US DRINK OUR OWN PISS, KILLED OUR PARENTS AND YOU JUST WANT TO RUN AWAY?!" Jess screamed again.

"Fuck you! We're supposed to rely on each other! I thought we were fucking family!" she continued as she squirmed in Dutch's grasp.

"Jessica, stop it now! That's an order!" Dutch boomed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Scott whimpered repeatedly as he curled up into a ball instinctively.

Jess continued to scream at her brother as she writhed in her uncle's grip as he yelled at her to stop but she carried on as if she couldn't hear him.

Tired of Jess's shit, Dutch decided that he needed to stop her before she grew even more out of control and quickly kicked her legs out from underneath her causing her to drop to the ground, Dutch quickly used the few seconds of bought time to push her onto her stomach and forcefully manipulated one of her arms and harshly pinned it behind her back.

"Jessica, cut this shit out right now!" he barked again.

"Let me go, you crazy old man!" Jess yelled as she tried to break free from Dutch's grasp.

"Look at him" Dutch scolded, as he gestured to Scott who was still curled up in a ball, quietly begging for forgiveness.

"He's in no condition to do anything, he needs a therapist for Christ sake, you can't just force him to go out with you and commit wholesale slaughter" Dutch cried.

"Whatever" Jess huffed as she squirmed on the floor, despite all her rage, she didn't know what to say to Dutch to convince him without repeating herself.

With nothing to say, she just menacingly stared at her brother, disgusted at his cowardice. Dutch took her silence as unwilling acceptance and cautiously released her before approaching Scott, Jess lay on the floor a few seconds before rising and scuttling to the wall a few feet away and leaned against the wall before sitting back down on the ground, watching Dutch and Scott.

"Hey kid, its alright now, no one is gonna hurt you" Dutch said gently as he softy and crouched down and patted Scott's shoulder.

"I wanna get outta here" Scott pouted.

"You will, we can get you in North Dakota in a few days" Dutch said trying to calm him down.

"No!" Scott said loudly, to Dutch's surprise.

"I want to get out of here now, I need to go now, now, before they get me again!" he begged desperately, ready to begin crying again.

"Hey, hey, calm down kiddo, everything is ok no one will get you; I won't let them, we got all the protection we will ever need" Dutch said softly.

Scott made some sort of noise of acknowledgment to Dutch's claims.

We got that big ol' front door keeping us safe, it's designed to stop a nuclear blast so there's no way anyone is getting in here without being let in and besides, this whole island is wired up with security cameras so we'll see them coming if they do come" Dutch said, trying to build courage in his nephew.

"There is?" Scott asked, looking up at Dutch.

"Yeah… you wanna learn how the surveillance system works?" Dutch offered gently, hoping to take his mind off everything that happened long enough to get the trip to North Dakota.

"Ok them come on, up ya get" Dutch said as he gently helped Scott to his feet, before ushering him out of the infirmary.

"Yeah ok" Scott mumbled as he followed Dutch out of the room

As Dutch and Scott crossed the room, Dutch looked down at Jess to make sure she wouldn't try something again, Jess looked up at the two and angrily glowered at them as they left the room leaving her along on the infirmary room floor.

Jess couldn't help it, she was just so angry, after all the horrible things they were subjected to Scott just wanted to pack up and run away, didn't he care about what the peggie with the flamethrower did to their family, and then he had to go and bring up her coward boyfriend Steve who packed up with his family and bolted at the first sign of trouble, he always made himself out to be so tough and brave but yet he turned tail and ran without even saying goodbye. Steve, Scott, Dutch, they were all abandoning her when she needed them, and it infuriated her to no end.

She curled up into a ball next to the wall, she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs, despite being furious at the people who she felt were abandoning her, she didn't know how to feel about herself, she never had time to fall apart like her brother or succumb to her fear, she had to be the one to pay attention to every detail of every second to look for a source of weakness to exploit just like her grandmother had taught her to survive, even when her face got cut up she pushed it aside and just about dragged Scott halfway across the County and her grandmother would have been so proud of how she handled everything, how strong she had become, but at the same time she felt so powerless, everyone she cared about was gone or leaving and there was nothing she could do about it, she couldn't save her parents, she couldn't stop her family from being taken in the night, she was just some angry problem child screaming at people around her.

But now that she was safe in the confines of her uncle's bunker all alone, everything truly sank into her mind, everything she was forced to see, do and experience, and at that point, she felt could no longer hold in the tears any longer.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity of silent sobbing, Jess finally pulled herself together, as much as she adamantly refused to believe it, she did feel a little better to some minuscule way. She tried her hardest not to sniffle as it would only shoot webs of pain through her newly stitched nose, instead she opted to wiping her nose on her sleeve, she felt so disgusted in herself, how the second she was alone she was reduced to a crying infant on the floor, abandoned and alone, she couldn't imagine what Dutch or Scott would say if they were to come back, she needed to show them she was still strong, still tough, but she didn't know what to do, she didn't need to look in the mirror to know she was a mess, Jess dried her tears her sleeve before slowly rising to her feet and examined her surroundings for something to hide her appearance, she was in the infirmary after all, if Dutch squirreled away anything that could hide or pretty up something it would be here.

She approached the small medical counter and bent down to open the small cabinet underneath, the doors revealed dozens of different vials, tubes, chemicals and pill bottles, she pushed around the contents looking for anything that could help, she would even settle for makeup or something to camouflage her red puffy eyes. But before she reached the back of the cabinet she let out a defeated sigh then closed the cabinet door, who was she kidding, even if she found makeup, she didn't know apply it, she never wore the stuff, if anything she would make herself look worse then before.

"Just fuck off" Jess whispered as she limply punched the cabinet door before standing up again.

Feeling hopeless, she was unsure what else to do, maybe if she was lucky, she could make a break for it and run back to her newly assigned bunked without either family member seeing her and she could sleep it off, but that was her last resort, unless there was no other way, she'd run, Jess carefully examined the room one more time, before she was about to resign herself to running through the halls, her eyes fell upon a coat rack that was bolted to the wall in the corner near the door, on it hung a single green jacket, it looked to small to belong to Dutch, but it made no sense as Dutch had never let anyone in his home except for his immediate family, would Dutch notice if she took, apprehensively reached out and pulled the jacket off the hook and properly examined it, the dark green jacket felt like it was made from a strong sturdy material, a hood was attached to the collar, it was wide and looked more then enough to cover her face if pulled down enough, she exhaled deeply before she slid the jacket over her body.

The jacket was a nice fit as it clung to her frame, but the sleeves were much to long for her as the cuffs ended her knuckles, to make it more comfortable she rolled up the sleeves a few inches from the elbow, satisfied with how it wrapped around her body, she pulled the hood over her head and adjusted the the hood a few times before it felt comfortable on her head as it cover the majority of her face, now that she felt some what protected she turned to the door and anxiously approached it.

The door was ajar as Dutch's main focus was on Scott, she could hear Dutch's voice from the other side, the bunker was usually quiet, so his voice carried, but more importantly he sounded distracted, it was she needed to sneak back to her bunk. She pushed open the door and tip toed out into the hall, Dutch's voice sounded much clearer now and could hear what he was saying.

"Not only that but the whole island is wired up, I can see everything that goes on here" Dutch said.

"But what if they do something to the cameras?" Scott asked then sniffled before looking up at his uncle

"I set it up so if there is ever any disruption in the footage, but the power is still on the system will automatically reboot itself at midnight" Dutch explained.

"So, you just watched the camera's like all day?" Scott asked.

"Well… sometimes" Dutch admitted.

Jess followed the small metal hallway to the nearest door frame, it was the room the last of her family was in, she poked her head in to make sure they wouldn't notice her crossing the door frame and saw both Dutch and Scott were leaning over some old CRT TV's, unaware they were being watched, satisfied with their distraction, Jess tip toes down the remaining hallway and into the first door on her left, the room was small room packed with various items one would have in their living room, it was full of bookcase of books, vinyl records, board games and other items, a single desk set in the center of the room with four bunk beds lined the far wall, the second Jess entered the room she ran straight for the nearest bunked and jumped into the bottom bunk, she squirmed and fidgeted in the bed trying to get comfy for a few seconds before she found a comfy position on her side with her back to the door, the bed was so soft, it felt like she was going to melt into the bed and sleep forever, the blankets were so warm and inviting, it was like everything was a bad dream, Jess could help but feel her eyes get heavier and heavier.

But her peace was interrupted as she could hear the scuffling of feet draw closer and closer to her.

"Hey kid" Dutch said quietly.

Jess didn't respond, she didn't want to, she was still furious at his inaction, instead she kept laying in the bed motionless.

"I know your awake but that's fine I just need you to listen… I need you to stay away from your brother for a bit, I'm not saying avoid him, I'm saying cut him some slack, he's clearly messed up six ways from Sunday and the last thing he needs is you breathing down his neck about killing god knows how many people, so I got him distracted for now, I'm teaching him all about the surveillance system and how to work it, if you wanna learn to then come on over just… go easy on your brother ok?" Dutch asked.

Again, Jess didn't say anything, she lay in the bed and waited for Dutch to finally leave

And eventually he did leave and his footsteps got quieter and quieter, leaving Jess alone in the little world that was her bed, surrounded by the light hum of bunker's electronics, the soft mothball aroma that emitted from the pillow, the warm embrace of the old jacket she hid herself in, it made her feel truly safe for once and it all gently lulled her to sleep.

Jess awoke to the feeling of hands on her body, lightly pushing down on her, she didn't need to be fully awake let alone be conscious to know what was happening, the Cook had come back for her. With a terrified yelp she practically jumped out the bed throwing as many punches as she could at the man that was now standing over her.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! It's just me kid, your uncle!" Dutch cried as he brought arms up to defend himself.

But Jess did not hear him over her terrified gasps, she was trapped, half awake in her own terrified world.

"Jessica! Jessica! It's me Uncle Dutch" cried as he grabbed her wrists to keep her from punching.

Upon identifying himself once more, he could feel her arms go slack in his grip before she pulled her arms back, Dutch let go of her feeling she was aware of her surroundings again.

"Dutch?" She hiccuped through ragged breath as she wrapped her arms around her body, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Yeah, it's just me" Dutch replied softly.

"W-what's happening?" Jess asked.

"You just had a had a bad dream kiddo, everything is ok now" Dutch replied.

"Did, did something happen?" Jess almost whispered.

"No, no, I was just coming to let you know that dinner is ready, just come into the surveillance room when your ready" Dutch said gently.

"Ok" was all Jess could mutter.

"Alright, see you there" Dutch replied before turning to leave her alone and leave the room.

The second Dutch left the room, Jess brought her hands up and covered her eyes in frustration, she hated the feeling that lurked within her, how vulnerable and weak she must have looked to Dutch, flailing and punching everything around her like that, she was supposed to be the one to kill her parents killer when she acted like that when being woken up, but how could she when she was just so angry with herself for being so weak.

With an angry growl she lifted herself out of the bed and stood up, she reached up and pulled the hood over her head to cover her eyes then stomped out of the room towards her dinner.

As Jess she entered the room she could see that Dutch had set up a small card table with two fold-able chairs on either side, Scott sat on one end while the chair on the other side was empty, what looked like M.R.E.'s sat on the table, Dutch must have prepared them as he needed to prepare food quickly while keeping an eye on Scott. Scott meekly poked at his food with a fork before his eyes drifted up to his sister, there must have still been anger in her eyes as the second their eyes met Scott's eyes shot back down to his food and shrank in on himself, to afraid to confront his sister again.

Jess approached the table and sat down with a huff and scooped up the fork and began eating, she didn't feel hungry but she knew she had to eat, out of the corner of her eye she could see Scott was not eating, he still just pushed the food around with the fork, again, she could feel the embers of anger relight again as Scott show even more inaction over not taking care of himself.

After a few minutes of eating, Dutch entered the room and approached the table, he looked greatly concerned as he anxiously rubbed his chin.

"So listen kids, I uh, there is something I gotta tell you" Dutch said as he eyed the two.

In response to their Uncle, they both put their utensils and looked at Dutch, but when they did it was like he shifted in place as if he was uncomfortable.

"So while you two watched the surveillance cameras or slept, I was trying to find a way to get you to your cousin's and well to make a long story short I think it might take a week or two until I get you two out of here" Dutch sighed as he turned away from them slightly.

"What!?" Scott practically screamed as he shot out of his seat, his eyes brimming with tears.

"I know, I know kid it sucks but we gotta play the hands we're dealt and just ride it out" Dutch replied, patting the air, hoping to calm him down.

"W-What happened!?" Scott sniveled, a few tears tracking down his face.

"Well it turns out that well, in recent history I've had a few… disagreements with Robbie about… political views and well… he has made it harder to reach out to him then I expected, but I do have a few leads to get in contact with him, but like I said it might take a week or two" Dutch nervously explained.

"Nooo!" Scott cried as he slumped into himself and raked his hands threw his hair and breathing heavily.

"Hey buddy, it's going to ok, like I said, your safe in here with me" Dutch said quickly as he hurriedly crossed the room to Scott and began rubbing his back as he helped him back into his seat.

Jess remained silent as she watched her brother fall apart in front of her as Scott sat down he shoved the M.R.E. forward into the center of the table so he could lean forward and press his forehead onto the table and covered his head with his hands and began to borderline hyperventilate.

"Y'know I'm sure you'll feel safer if we get out there and kill those motherfuckers, it'll make a real statement and let them know to stay away from us" Jess said emotionlessly.

"Jessica!" Dutch growled as he looked up at her, before going back to rubbing Scott's back in hopes of calming him down.

"Don't listen to her kiddo, you don't have do anything, just spend the week or two to hang out with your Uncle" Dutch said, trying to reassure him.

But Scott didn't respond, instead he began to rock slightly in the chair as he continued to breath heavily.

"Hey kiddo, go easy on the breathing, do go passing out on me" Dutch offered as he placed a hand on Scott's shoulder.

Again, Scott didn't reply for a few seconds.

"We need to leave now! We need to leave now! We need to leave now! We need to leave now!" Scott chanted loudly in terror as he shook and rocked in place.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy now kid, don't do this to yourself" Dutch said alarmed, as he placed both hands on Scott's shoulders trying to get him to stop.

But to Dutch's and Jess surprise as Dutch placed his hand's on Scott's shoulders, he jumped out of his seat again and grabbed handfuls of Dutch's shirt.

"Please, please get me out of here, please, please, please, I need out!" he wailed as he began a fresh wave of wailing and crying.

"I will, I will, just give me time ok?" Dutch said as he took hold of his nephew.

But his answer fell on deaf ears as Scott wailed and cries over the response, his legs folding up underneath him, Scott fell to the floor and balled himself up with his uncle trying to get him to stand up again.

Jess watching the whole thing got angrier and angrier as it happened, she was so sick of him whining and cry while doing nothing while she did everything, while she was going to do everything, a long time ago her father made her and Scott to always look out for each other, but it was clear he had no intention of holding up his end of the deal, be it getting revenge or even stopping to make sure she was ok.

"Enough already!" Jess finally yelled as she stood up from her seat and stomped over to him.

The shout caused Scott to fall silent almost immediately aside from a few sniffles and whimpers as he looked up at his sister tower over him.

"Just fucking stop already your fucking embarrassing!" Jess yelled.

"Jessica!" Dutch growled again to scold her.

"No he needs to hear this!" She hissed before turning back to Scott.

"What the fuck happened to you, I once saw you beat up three dudes by yourself, now look at you, your on the floor crying like a god damn baby, I could have used that brother I thought I knew when I got us out of there, y'know in case you didn't notice but I got us out by myself, I fucking stabbed a dude, to death! You know right before I offered to suck the guard's dick to get you some fucking water, you think I enjoyed punching him in the dick as he whipped it out then fought him for his knife!" Jess yelled.

"You see these!" She yelled as she pointed to the medical gauze on her face.

"I got all kinds of fucked up getting us out of there and you did fuck all, if anyone saw us on the way to Dutch's the probably avoided us with acting like this because they thought you belong on the short bus!" Jess screamed.

"Jessica stop!" Dutch barked again.

But Jess didn't listen, she continued on in her verbal rampage.

"I thought I could count on, you were the few people I could actually trust, but no yet again you have found a spectacular new way of fucking me over when I needed you the most, if you really can't handle being here, if you truly can't deal with what has been done to us, the front door is right there, so start walking to North Dakota and let the adults work!" Jess yelled as she pointed in the general direction of the door to outside.

"For fucks sake Jessica stop!" Dutch cried as he took one menacing step toward Jess and grabbed a handful of the jacket.

"As long as you are under my roof you will abide by my rules, so when I order you to stop that means you stop, do I make myself clear?" Dutch commanded.

"Yeah whatever old man" Jess hissed as she shook herself free of his grip and stepped over the mess that was once her brother and left the room, she stomped down the hall and back to the room with all the bunk beds and climbed back into her bunk.

She hoped Dutch wouldn't follow her into the room to chew her out more as she just wanted to be alone, but thankfully she did not hear the sounds of approaching footsteps, meaning he started behind to clean up the mess that was Scott, she meant ever word she said to him, Scott was one of the few people she trusted left and he didn't do anything to help her, he was more concerned about himself, not only that but she was just so sick of having to baby him at every step due to his inaction, it was like he'd rather die then walk ten feet unaided and it made her so angry, but it didn't matter anymore, not at the moment as she had vented how she felt and it relieved her of some hate for the world, it relieved her of her anger for her brothers inaction, Dutch's unwillingness to help it was like just telling at Scott had pulled out the exhaustion in her, if felt like her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier, the bed was still warm and comfy, she wasn't just tired of hating everything around her, she was still just tired in general, after everything that happened her body just needed to stop for a few extra hours, and as much as Jess protested sleep she knew she needed it, with nothing else to do, Jess closed her eyes and thought of better times as she tried to fall back asleep.

* * *

As Jess awoke, she woke gently, with no one looming over her to think she was in danger, feeling some aspect of safety, she stretches her arms before getting out of bed, as she rose from the bed she looked around to see if Scott was curled up in one of the beds, despite how angry he made her, he was still her brother and needed to be looked after, she wanted to confirm he was at some degree of calm But it didn't surprise her to see he wasn't, he was most likely in the infirmary or watching the cameras or something. She looked up at a small clock that hug on the wall, it read eight thirty two, by her guess she slept through the night, she sighed knowing she slept in for longer then she wanted, she pulled her hood over head and promptly left the room and poked her head into the infirmary just down the hall, but saw that Scott was not there either, unsure of where he was, she called out for her guardian for answers.

"Hey Dutch, where's Scott?'" she groused.

"He's not in bed?" Dutch replied from the other room.

"No, he's not in the infirmary either" Jess said as she followed his voice into the surveillance room.

Jess entered the surveillance room to see Dutch sitting in a chair, presumably looking over some monitors before being disturbed, he looked at Jess nervously as neither knew where Scott was.

"Scott?!" Dutch yelled, hoping his voice to carry throughout the bunker, Jess remained silent and awaited Scott's response, but nothing came.

Nervous as to what could possibly be keeping him quiet, Dutch, rose from his seat and approached the open door frame and stood next to his niece.

"Scott?!" Dutch cried a little louder, but no response came

"Son of a bitch" Dutch mumbled in disbelief as he ran a hand over his scalp, he wore a face of great concern that did not go unnoticed by Jess.

"What, you sound like you know something?" Jess asked, looking at her Uncle.

"Hold on a second" Dutch said quietly.

Before Jess could protest, Dutch began going room from room, giving them all a quick but through search, as Dutch walked through the hall in between the room's he looked more and more concerned, after coming out of the final room he approached Jess again.

"Well... I don't think he can hear us" he grimaced.

"What the shit do you mean?" Jess asked, crossing her arms, her patience wearing thin, she didn't know what he meant by what he said but it didn't sit right with her, something was up.

"I think he might have actually left the bunker" Dutch said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Why the fuck would he do that? He's to terrified to do anything" Jess argued, refusing to believe the possibility.

"Well I can think of a few reasons why he might" he said somberly as he looked up at Jess.

"Come on, no fucking way he left this place, he's to busy crying and whining to actually leave" Jess protested angrily, placing her hands on her hips.

As much as he wanted to believe her, with all things considered, Dutch found Scott leaving was much more probable then hiding under a bed and falling asleep or something like that.

"Why don't we check the tapes then? I have the whole island wired remember" Dutch offered.

"Sure, fine, whatever" Jess practically barked, worried for her brother's safety and stomped towards the stacks of CRT TVs in the corner of the room with Dutch close behind her.

As the two drew near the old TV's Dutch grabbed the small rolling chair and sat down and began fiddling away at the knobs and buttons, Jess leaned over Dutch's shoulder to see what he was doing, he tapped on a tiny keyboard and one of the monitors turned to static before clearing the screen cleared to relieve a clear shot of the bunkers front door from the outside, a few tree branches and bushes could also be seen in the shot at the top right of the screen was a timestamp of the date and time, currently it read eight forty seven in the morning, Dutch pressed a few more buttons on a keyboard and the footage began to rewind, trees gently swaying in the breeze shook quicker, a few squirrels ran backwards across the cameras view, the sun streaked across the sky and descended into the darkness of night, the timestamp in the corner moved back with the footage, the hour digit rolled back, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and yet nothing changed, the door remained firmly closed.

Just as the timestamp read midnight, the footage hard cut to static.

"What the shit is that!?" Jess said, pointing at the monitor.

"I don't know, hold on" Dutch said gruffly as he tapped the keyboard again and twisted a few knobs, trying to figure out what was happening.

The monitor cleared again, showing a shot of the bunker door from the outside just like before, the time stamp read eleven thirty-eight and ticking forward, again nothing happened, Jess and Dutch watched the footage intently waiting for the slightest movement, as the timestamp ticked over to the next minute the footage cut to hard static once again for a few seconds before the footage clicked back on, the timestamp reading one second past midnight before the second hand ticking forward again.

"What the fuck?!" Jess cried again, pointing a hand at the monitor.

"What's going on?!" she cried.

"The footage has been manipulated" Dutch finally said.

"What the fuck does that mean?!" Jess cried.

"It means someone did something to the cameras, and the reboot system kicked in and brought it back online" Dutch replied.

"Wait, are you saying there is someone else on the island!?" Jess gasped, trying not to let her fears and anxiety get to her.

Dutch was silent for a few moments before responding.

"I think... Scott may have done this" he muttered in disbelief.

What?! Come on, no fucking way, it's Scott we're talking about, even if he did, where the fuck would he go?!" Jess snorted, not believing Dutch.

"Ok then you tell me where is he, I didn't find him in any of the rooms, he's not there" Dutch quietly retorted.

"He's-" Jess started but stopped as she struggled to think where Scott could possibly be but nothing added up.

The angry front Jess wore began to slip, her anger for her brother slowly disappeared and was replaced with fear as her little brother vanished with out a trace.

"I don't know" Jess finally said, her voice cracked.

Dutch didn't say anything for a few moments, instead he buried his face in his hands.

"I should have paid more attention to him, I should have waited for him to fall asleep before I did" he muttered.

"So, what he just left and headed where?" Jess asked as she repeatedly adjusted the hood on her head.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he is headed for North Dakota, hell I'm sure he'd settle for just being out of the county" Dutch quietly replied.

"How far out do you think he is?" Jess croaked.

"I don't know... Who knows where he is, he left around eleven thirty at night and it's half past eight in the morning now then who knows how far he got, he could be out of the county right about now, maybe cops picked him up, maybe even the peggies found him again" Dutch surmised sadly.

"Don't you dare fucking say that!" Jess barked, tears threatening to stream down her face.

"Jess... We have to be reasonable with what happened, he could be hours away from here, and we could never know, neither of us have a car" Dutch said softly.

"No fuck reasonability, we have to find him!" Jess yelled.

"He kept screaming about how we wanted to leave, repeatedly, and well he got what he wanted just like you told him... Jess... You told him if he wanted to leave so bad then he should just go" Dutch said softly.

Jess's heart skipped a beat, she did say that in her furious tirade, she didn't actually mean it, it was a heat of the moment thing, if she really wanted him gone then she wouldn't have dragged him across the county, in reality she cared about him, she always did. A cold dark feeling began to grow in her chest, it was this cold gnawing feeling that threatened to swallow her whole, it was like a dam within her broke open and freezing, painful water came pouring out and filled her whole body and it absolutely terrified her, it absolutely terrified her that she abandoned him and may have very well gotten her brother killed. she didn't know what to do, should she blame the peggies some more, should she blame Dutch for not keeping an eye on Scott, should she blame herself for being so cruel to her brother.

"We need to do something?" Jess said uncomfortably as she wiped a single tear from her eye.

"Believe me kid I want to find him just as much as you do but there are just so many variables at play here, right now the best we can do is contact the police and let them know he's gone missing" Dutch surmised.

"What?!" Jess shrieked, more tears descending from her face.

Are you being fucking serious!? She yelled as she slammed her fist onto the table, causing Dutch to jump.

"What the fuck happened to you, you were in the army and now you're a fucking coward!" Jess continued to yell.

"Hey, watch it Missy, just because Scott is missing doesn't mean I won't tolerate your back talk!" Dutch yelled as he jumped up from his seat and sticking a finger in her face.

"Then I guess I'm as good at watching my mouth as you are your nephew" Jess challenged.

"Jessica Black, I swear to god" Dutch growled as he took once step towards her.

"Or what?" Jess challenged as she swatted the finger out of her face.

"Your brother, his wife and kids are just kidnapped in the dead of night and starved for three days before their parents are burned alive, I had to drag my emotionally broken brother across the county and now he's missing and you STILL won't do anything besides call the police, why the fuck don't you want to do anything?!" She screeched as tears began streaming down her face as she limply punched Dutch a few times.

"Look at me Jessica!" Dutch yelled as he slapped away her weak punches.

"I'm just an old man, I'm an old man who has nothing but a bunker, and an impending court case, and you just want me to what? grab a bunch of guns and shoot some peggie clubhouses all because one of the thousands of members did something bad?" Dutch exasperated.

"You know full fucking well it was more then something bad, they starved me and my family, your brother and cooked him and my mom alive!" Jess shouted.

"Yes Jessica I know, you keep reminding me, I know, its horrible, if I could find the guy who did it I'd make him suffer beyond belief, but we need to do something other then going on a shooting spree or else we'll just be going around in circles" Dutch groaned as he ran his hands over his head.

Jess just couldn't take it, the immense pressure of her brother being missing, Dutch's inaction, just like Scott he was refusing to help when she needed him the most, it felt like Dutch kept shrugging her off, it was like he was abandoning her as retribution for abandoning Scott, was this feeling that built in her body what Scott felt when she repeatedly berated him, whatever she was feeling, it was one of the worst feeling she ever felt, she couldn't fight it anymore, everything was just to much for her and couldn't keep it in anymore and the dam of tears broke and couldn't help but silently weep.

"Your fucking useless!" Jess shouted before quickly turning away from her uncle, wiping more tears from her face and stomped out of the room.

"Jess, come on, we need to figure something out" Dutch called as he watched her leave the room.

Jess stormed down the hallway, she was angry and frustrated at her Uncle, if he wasn't going to do anything, then she was going to do something, she was going to make every peggie regret joining their little gang, it didn't matter if they were involved or not they were all scum of the earth no life's who are looking for a fresh start after doing horrible things or rather looking for a cover while they fulfill their sadistic urges. As she passed by the armory room, inspiration struck her, instead of storming down the hall, she stopped and turned to face the armory door and kicked open the door to the and quickly entered, the door banged against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Dutch called as he followed the source of the noise.

Jess didn't respond as she entered the room and looked around, the room was littered with different firearms and ammunition's, but she wasn't interested in any of that, what she wanted was the tools her grandmother had taught her to use.

As Jess continued to scan the room, she noticed in the corner of the room was blunt weapons such as fire axes and sledgehammers, next to the blunt weapons hung a lone bow and quiver full of arrow on a wall, she snatched up the bow and quiver and slung it over her shoulder and began to left the room as she reached the door frame, Dutch appeared, blocking her off from leaving.

"What are you doing?!" Dutch asked sternly, staring down his niece.

"I'm going to bring home Scott and kill all those peggie motherfuckers who dare try to do anything like what they did to my family!" she replied as she pushed Dutch out of the way and made her way to the bunkers exit.

"What no are you crazy, your going to get yourself killed!" she heard Dutch yell from behind her, and it sounded like he was chasing after her.

"Whatever old man, its better then doing nothing like you" Jess growled as she picked up speed.

"This isn't what your parents would want!" he cried.

"Like you would fucking know" Jess yelled as she wiped tears from her eyes and broke out into a run as she approached the bottom of the staircase up to the surface, if she ran up she knew she could out pace Dutch as he was old and a lot then her.

As Jess ran up the stairs she could hear Dutch call for her more, trying to persuade her into doing something else but Jess didn't listen, as she made it to the top of the stairs a large metal bulkhead stood in her way, a valve rested in the middle and acted as the doorknob, she grabbed a hold of it with both hands and turned the wheel as hard as she could, the wheel rotated a few times before the door creaked open, warm sunlight leaked in, slightly blinding Jess as she slipped through the opening in the door and broke into a sprint into the wilderness, she had a few ideas where to start her search, for her parents killer and Scott, as much as her fears screamed at her not too, she returned to the place where her parents died and searched the area for anything that could help her, but the place had been scrubbed clean, no evidence existed anywhere, frustrated, she began scouting all the exits to the county and found no sign of him, she even resorted to stalking any and all peggies she could and silently watched them from the distance for any sign of Scott or the flamethrower man, but this time not all was lost, she eventually found the flamethrower man's nickname; the Cook, despite the multiple warnings from Dutch, she didn't care if she would become a serial killer, she had already killed to escape the Cook, so she followed any clues about the Cook as she could find, even if it meant harming a few peggies every now and again. But as she got closer and closer to the Cook's whereabouts, she felt the chances of ever finding her brother got smaller and smaller, Dutch never reached out to her, she wrote it off as the police never followed up with Scott's disappearance, Jess wanted to believe he made it out of the county and even more so when the peggies began rolling up in their trucks and began killing and looting everything within the county, but as much as they burned and destroyed and ruined everything, she couldn't have been happier, the peggies she hated so much had practically come out and begged to be shot at, and Jess couldn't help but fulfill their wish and happily hunted and killed every peggie she found as she continued her hunt for the man that ruined her life.

* * *

Jess wiped the fresh tears from her eyes as she reached the bottom of the hill that led up to the prison, she hated how everything about the Boy Scout's disappearance was so similar to Scott's, yet again someone she actually trust just disappeared into the night and there was nothing she could do about it, she blamed everything and everyone including herself for Scott's disappearance, but she didn't know how to feel about Boy Scout's ghosting, maybe the Sheriff was right it was her fault, had it didn't matter anymore, all she could do now was carry on and try to fix things, for some reason just the idea of the Boy Scout actually being dead brought back that cold, clawing feeling in her chest and threatened to consume her. But now she had the years of experience under her belt, years of hunting and killing peggies had refined her into a proper tracking killing machine, perhaps this time things could be different, she thought maybe this time she could save the Boy Scout and somehow redeem herself, just the thought of saving him replaced the cold feeling in her body with a burning one, she hadn't felt this feeling since she had fully committed to killing the Cook, the determination that drove her to kill the Cook had returned, she couldn't save her brother but maybe she could save her friend.

Feeling a new sense of purpose, Jess tightened her quiver strap and broke out into a jog into the forest on the other side of the road, she new where some peggie were hanging out, perhaps after some "gentle" persuasions, she could get them to open up about any news involving a certain sinner.

"Just you wait Boy Scout, I'm coming" Jess muttered to herself as she adjusted the hood on her head and disappeared into the forest.

**Hey y'all thanks for reading, I apologize for the late upload, it's because I have just a little bit of bad news, the reason it was delayed was because I had a little workplace accident and threw out my back, it's nothing serious but it really sucks, that being said it doesn't feel to great to sit in a chair for long periods of time so that being said, the next chapter will have to be delayed to the following Monday as I cant churn out paragraph after paragraph, I apologize for the inconvenience and hope y'all have a good one.**


	22. Chapter 22

Rook practically threw himself against the tree, pain and exhaustion overtook his body and needed to rest if he wanted to move any more. He looked over his shoulder and could see the mouth of John's bunker on the other side of what looked like some sort of depot, a lone transport truck container sat on the concrete floor that made up the compound outside the mouth of the bunker, a few crates and barrels littered the area, Rook blinked in surprise as the mouth of the bunker and the tree he plastered himself against was two hundred feet apart.

Lord knows how he cleared the distance all in one go before succumbing to his injury, through labored, pained breaths he could still see that no one had emerged from the bunker to chase after him, but then again how could they when a wall of bliss floated around the entrance, but regardless he needed to get as far away from the bunker as possible. He inhaled sharply before clenching his teeth and held his breath before prying himself off the tree, the movement caused him to yip in pain as he staggered forward, as he disembarked he could see a noticeable amount of blood smeared on the bark, he knew he was bleeding profusely, he needed medical attention.

He lightly pressed a hand on his wound in hopes of at least slowing the bleeding, but the lightest of touches shot waves of pain through his body, causing him to cry in pain as he stumbled slightly before regaining balance. Breathing heavily and sweating profusely he limped forward a half dozen feet before the pain and exhaustion took over again causing him too practically collapsed onto a near by tree again, this time he could feel his legs tremor and almost give out from under him.

"Oh my god" Rook slurred as he rested his head against the side of the tree and closed his eyes.

At this very moment of time, Rook was thoroughly convinced this was the worst day of his life, everything sucked, he had no idea where he was, but from a quick look around he could determine he was on a hill, it made sense as the bunker needed to be underground, but not only that he had no way of calling for help, he was probably dying with the amount of blood he was losing and he was sure the handgun he had was just about useless as he was sure his accuracy had dropped considerable as his body trembled in anguish. If things carried on as it did, he was going to die out here.

He could feel the cold metal of the gun press against his lower back as it was holstered in his waistband, it was a small comfort from the heat his body was emitting to combat the injury. Rook opened his eyes and brought his good arm up to his face and wiped the building sweat from his brow then swallowed the lump in his throat, he knew he had to move again, it was only a matter of time before the peggies were on him again, with a few unconfident breath he shakily pushed himself off the tree with a cry of pain and staggered forward again.

As Rook forced himself forward, he could feel his legs shake and waver beneath him before the fear of the peggies lurking behind him and the possibility of being recaptured bolstered some little strength within him and allowed him to wobble forward, but the blood that oozed from his hip placed an entirely different fear in him, it was obvious he needed something to staunch the bleeding, but what could he possible use, there was nothing around him on the hill, it was all just trees and bushes, and even if there was something just laying on the ground that could help him, it would be a struggle to even touch it. Rook huffed in exhaustion as he moved forward the prospect of bleeding out wasn't his only long-term problem, the rising morning sunlight enveloped his already sweaty body, by the positioning of the sun it looked to be around eight or nine in the morning, with the rising temperature from the morning sun, Rook could feel his body producing more sweat, it would make the fabric of his flannel shirt stick to his back and making it comfortable to move around in, to combat this Rook would occasionally reach up and tug on the fabric on his back to loosen it up and making it easier to move around in.

After fidgeting with his shirt as he limped forward towards the dirt road in front of him and led down the hill, most likely connect to a asphalt road below, and if he was really lucky he could fine someone from the resistance driving around on patrol.

"But then what would happen?" Rook thought to himself, the majority of the resistance was just the citizens of the county and worked everyday jobs, and most likely had no first aid experience, if anything they'd just grab a handful of rags or their own shirt as a makeshift gauze and would most certainly hurt like hell.

But realization hit Rook like a truck, as he thought of the freaked out resistance member hastily applying the fabric to save his life made Rook's imagination kick in as he didn't need someone to treat his wound, he could do it himself, he had his own shirt after all. He looked down at his shirt for a brief examination of cleanliness as he didn't want to shove anything unsavory into the wound from the shirt. The flannel shirt he wore looked relatively in one piece besides the horrible slash wound on the side, a large oval on blood surrounded it, sweat soaked various places making it uncomfortable to wear. Objectively the shirt was almost useless as when John ripped it open to prepare his chest for tattooing most of the small plastic buttons that were sewn on popped off, making it impossible to properly cover his exposed chest. But with the amount of sweat he was producing, he didn't care if it was usable or not, he just wanted to take it off.

He carefully brought his good arm up and pulled the fabric away from his shoulders and carefully wiggled and pulled out of the shirt, taking extra care not to injure his left arm more as he pulled the limb out of its sleeve, as he pulled himself out of the shirt he could feel the wound protesting all the unnecessary movement, making him grind his teeth together to stifle and cries or moans of pain, once the shirt finally came free , Rook felt relieved in a way. The shirt was saturated with sweat making it feel heavier and with his body now exposed, the mid summer breeze felt nice on his sweating body, but the breeze did nothing. With the shirt in hand, Rook examined the condition of the garment again, despite the fluids coating the shirt, it appeared good enough to be used as a compress.

Rook balled the dingy shirt in his good hand the best he could before gingerly dabbed at the perimeter of the wound with baited breath in hopes to remove some of the blood, each dab send bolts deep into the wound, cashing him to flinch in pain, after dabbing the bleeding wound several times, Rook could now clearly see the wound before it was overtaken by the blood again; the wound was around five inches long and wrapped around is right side in between the hip and rib bone, the depth of the cut varied; from either end of the cut it was quite shallow but as the cut drew towards the center of his side it got deeper and deeper, the cause of all the blood loss. Despite that, it felt like it was one continuous clean cut, fresh crimson blood leaked out at a quick rate, the dried blood around the wound he couldn't dab away was a darker shade or red as it began to dry and harden to his skin. Rook wasn't sure what an infected wound looked like, but he prayed what he was looking at wasn't it.

With the wound look somewhat cleaner then before he felt it was time to press the shirt fully against the wound, Rook began to inhale larger breaths as heavier as he knew what was coming was going to suck.

"Ok, ok, I can do this" Rook panted as the balled-up shirt swayed inches from the wound.

He could feel a fresh wave of heat wash over his body as the air hitched in his throat, his nerves were getting better of him as the fear of pain caused him to waver. He repeatedly puffed air out of his mouth as he could feel his heart beat like a jackhammer, his arm began to shake as his body silently prepared itself for the impending pain, right before Rook applied the shirt, he weighed his options only to find he had nothing else, begrudgingly ready to staunch the bleeding Rook quickly inhaled and exhaled rapidly a few times before finally ripping off the metaphorical bandage and quickly pressed the shirt into the wound.

The pain was truly awful, as the pain shot through his whole being, his body shuddered in protest as the foreign object pressed itself against the newly formed orifice. His eyes wrench shut as his jaw locked shut, causing his teeth to grind together, a muffled pained howl pushed itself out of Rook's clenched teeth, tears tried to push themselves out of his closed eyes, his legs swayed and buckled beneath him, Rook fought himself to keep his arm locked in place to keep the pressure on and his legs firmly planted to keep himself from falling over.

The pain felt like it was never going to end, as it felt like it was ending, the slightest movement such as breathing would reignite the pain, as Rook shuttered and trembled through the pain he came to the conclusion that this was the worst pain he had ever felt. In his time before coming to Hope's County. Once in a blue moon he had heard a few stories around the water cooler in the office from his fellow officers about getting clipped by a bullet, they had always described it as something truly awful, Rook himself had never been shot let alone shot at so what they described was lost on him and could only take they're word for it, but now that he could experience a knife wound and how agonizing that was, he could only imagine what horrors that followed a gunshot wound.

Through heavy breaths, Rook rolled his head around trying to soldier through the pain, for some reason his mind drifted over to his friend Grace and how he and Jess found her on the outskirts of the geothermal park in the Henbane, they had found her hiding in the treeline, her arm grazed with a bullet and a improvised bandage applied to the wound, she was somehow able to fight through the pain but not only that but able to work her rifle as if nothing was wrong and gave hm covering fire, whatever the military had taught her it made her a proverbial giant, but one thing he did know now was to never piss her off.

"Aughh, owowowowow!" Rook cried and panted as he repeatedly stomped his foot on the ground as he needed something besides standing in place, compressing the wound.

After what felt like an agonizing eternity, the pain that burned his side slowly began to faded into a somewhat bearable feeling but the slightest movement reminded him it still burned horribly, Rook dared not move the bandage as it could kick start the pain again. Rook shook his head slightly to get the cobwebs out of his mind, he wasn't sure when it started but at some point, he started to feel lightheaded that was not a good sign as he was starting to feel nauseous as well, he had not eaten anything in what felt like the last eighteen hours, he had been running solely off of adrenaline, with everything that had happened to him recently, he was running on fumes.

The ground dipped down into a hill, further down the hill looked like a small gorge that formed on the hill, it looked like a road was established on top of the gorge as above him was a bridge that connected the two tips on the gap,

But what made that feeling in his stomach so much worse was the view on the other side of the gorge, it was a blanket of trees and little black lines of smoke trails in the distance, he could see almost the whole valley from where he was, the last time he had a view like this was when he and Jess had climbed up the side of the Valley wall and blew up the large obnoxious YES sign, that could only mean John's bunker was buried into the side on the valley wall, Rook could feel his legs buckle and shake even more as the walk down would take hours, after destroying the YES sign, it took at least an hour to reach the bottom, but now he had to do it with a hole in his side, and even if he made it to the bottom, but then what?

There was no truck or friends that awaited him at the bottom, most likely he'd have to keep walking until he found something that could help, or he drops dead.

Having no choice other than move forward regardless of his chances of survival, he staggered forward and began the decent down the steady decline of the hill, he found that walking downhill was much more difficult then he expected, he was doing his best to not fall forwards as he tried to move as fast as he could, the peggie threat still overshadowed him, it didn't take a genius to figure out John was preparing something to recapture him and in his anger was most likely gearing up a capture team to track down a armed and dangerous man, not a scared and wounded one. Rook grinded his teeth again trying to fight off the wringing pain that wrapped his side and kept moving, recapture meant certain death, and he was desperate to make sure this wouldn't be the last day on Earth, with another hoarse grunt he tried to force himself down the vast valley side.

* * *

A lone two story observation house was built out in a clearing in a forest within the Henbane River, it was used to observe the wildlife in the area, but years after it's construction peggies came in and killed it's occupants and took the location for their holy cause and used the building to keep an eye out for any lost sinners and used it's secluded location to grow a more then decent field of bliss flowers, but right now the house was going up in smoke, the second floor had mysteriously caught ablaze, the bliss field adjacent to it was burning equally fierce, a few dead peggies lay scattered along the area of the property, a single arrow protruding from their skulls or necks, a few lay in the open doorway with a similar cause of death. A single peggie crawled along the ground right next to the house, moaning and gasping in pain as he tried to escape the area, he had somehow, miraculously avoided meeting the same fate as his comrades as an arrow pierced his leg instead, stealing his ability to stand on the wounded appendage.

The crawling man had no idea where to go, a single truck was parked at the far side of the house, but even if he made it to the other side he didn't have the keys, they were inside if not on one of his fallen friends, his only real option was to drag himself into the forest and hope nobody saw him do so, but before he could even change his course to the treeline, a pair of hands wrapped around his ankles and pulled him back, he let out a shriek of pain and fear as he slid back along the dirt ground, his fingers digging into the ground hoping it would make it harder to be dragged along the ground, but all it did was leave ten grooved paths in the dirt, a hand grabbed him by the belt and pulled him up and the next thing he knew his back was slammed against the side of the house, suddenly the sensation of something cold and sharp being pressed into his throat manifested itself, the pressure on his throat stifled a yell or plea long enough for his eyes to adjust onto his attacker; it was a single woman, cloaked in a green jacket with covered in messy white graffiti, an archery bow hung from her shoulder, one of her arms extended forward and held him to the wall, the other extended to his neck, now obviously pressing a knife against his neck, despite the large hood she wore, she was close enough for him to see her face, it was one splashed with a few scars and was pulled back into a furious glower.

"Ok asshole I'm going to make this real easy for your tiny rat brain, I'm going to ask you a few questions and you'll answer me all quick like, or I'm going to cut your neck open like a fucking fish you got that?" Jess seethed.

The man didn't respond, he just stared at the woman, his eyes wide with fear and breathing heavily through clenched teeth.

"Where's the boysc- uh, Junior Deputy?" Jess ordered.

"Where's the Junior Deputy?" The man finally said, echoing back the question with the disability to produce anything better.

"He hasn't been home in a long time and no one can get a hold of him, so spill it I know you sick fucks have him somewhere" Jess growled, pressing the side of the knife deeper into the man's neck.

"The Junior Deputy?! How the hell would I know if we have him or not, I'm just a nobody, I'm an entry level grunt" the man gasped, the stinging pain in his neck jump starting the gears in his head.

But his response was met with a quick punch to the mouth from Jess as she quickly removed the knife from his neck to use the hand to clock him in the jaw. The man reeled and moaned in pain from the sudden unexpected impact to the jaw.

"I don- don't know ok, I-I don't know why he'd leave I don't know why he does anything!" The man stuttered and gasped as he felt Jess place the blade's edge against his neck again.

"Come on, you have to know something, otherwise I'll just kill you right now" Jess barked, pushing the blade into his neck, just enough to draw a drop of blood to run down the man's neck.

"Ok, ok, ok, ok, time out! time out!" The man spewed, feeling his heart skip a few beats as the blade stung his neck even more.

Upon hearing the man's pitiful excuse of what he called begging to save his worthless life, Jess pulled the knife away just enough to stop it from going deeper.

"I don't know how accurate this is but last night I was chatting up a friend in the Holland Valley, she got pulled away from the phone because some high value target was captured and being transferred to the super secure she was at" the man said as quickly as he could in hopes of saving his life.

"And where is this person being taken?" Jess asked, staring down the man.

"I have no idea, she called me, and I have never been stationed in the valley before, the target could be anywhere, I don't know anything else" the man said, scared to give up so much information.

"Y'know, as much as I hate you peggie sacks of shit, I believe you, I think your actually telling the truth" Jess sighed, unhappy she could have the opportunity to rough up the man.

"So, then you'll let me go right, I di-" the man nervously began, but before he could finish his sentence, Jess plunged the knife deep into the man's throat.

The sudden pain caused the man to jolt forward before succumbing to the spreading feeling in his throat and began limply flailing and scratching at the protrusion as he choked and gagged on the blood now pouring down his throat, the struggle ended as quick as it came and the man slowed before falling still. Satisfied with her work, Jess pulled the knife out of the man's throat then wiped both sides of the knife on the man's pant leg until the blade was clean, once she decided it was clean enough to prevent degradation she stood up and stored the knife in a small sheath that hung on her hip.

She walked away from the newly made corpse and the burning building with disappointment and resentment she walked until she was clear of the burning building, despite the man giving her information, it didn't shed any concrete light on the Junior Deputy's whereabouts, it didn't make sense, he had no reason to go to the Valley let alone leave the Henbane, but it had to be him, if he was captured in the Henbane why would he be transferred to the Valley, but who else could be deemed a high value target.

Nothing made sense, there was to many variables to get a decent lead, Jess needed someway to figure out if Rook really did leave the valley or not.

Jess racked her brain, trying to think of something that could help her, Grace was an immediate no as it would require her to return to the prison, she needed something more subtle like a security camera on a convenience store or a peggie outpost on the Valley's border, but as she thought about all the potential places to hit, an idea came to her, rather a person, her uncle Dutch, in the time since Scott disappeared he had expanded his range of security cameras, one of them had to have seen something as Dutch's island was in the center of the county and spiraled outward into the bordering regions, as much as she didn't want to call her uncle, she had too.

Jess pulled the walkie talkie off her waist and brought it to her mouth, the walkie rarely saw use, but she still remembered what channel Dutch left his CB radio on.

"Heya Dutch, don't suppose your still home" Jess asked awkwardly, she wasn't sure how he would respond, even if he was going to respond, after her brother disappeared she rarely spoke to her uncle, but when she did, it would always end with her getting angry and yelling at him.

After a few seconds the walkie emitted light static before being replaced by some sort of shuffling noise before Dutch's voice came through the speaker.

"Hey Kiddo, what's going on, are you ok?" Dutch asked, his voice carrying a hint of concern.

"Hey yeah I'm ok, but uh, the Boy Scout got grabbed last night I think, but it happened in the Valley, I have no idea why he'd be out there cuz well, he uh, told me he wouldn't just jump around the fuckin' county without saying something to me, so I uh, I was wondering if you could check your cameras for 'im, I know you kinda widened your camera range after well… you know" Jess said awkwardly, for some reason she wasn't sure how to properly structure her sentence.

"I take it this Boy Scout of your is the Junior Deputy; Rook?" Dutch asked.

"Yeah, Rook" Jess confirmed, using his actual name felt alien in her mouth, she wasn't sure if she actually used his name out loud before.

"Ok so back up a bit, what happened to him?" Dutch asked.

"I don't know" Jess breathed.

"He just stopped showing up at the prison… Sheriff really chewed me out, saying it was all my fault and what not" Jess continued, kicking at the dirt absentmindedly as she spoke.

"And was it your fault?" Dutch inquired, his voice as calm as usual.

"I don't know maybe, you know what the Boy Scout is like, sometimes he's death on two legs and other times he like a scared deer, you know what I mean?" Jess asked.

"But what exactly happened to him, how is it supposedly your fault?" Dutch asked, trying to get a hold of the big picture.

"Sheriff whatever kept going on about how I bailed on him and left him alone out in the middle of nowhere" Jess sighed, not wanting to fully go over what Whitehorse had said.

"And then what happened?" Dutch asked again.

"He never came home, Sheriff gave me crap for it being my fault, so I kicked the shit outta some peggies and got some info about some high value target got grabbed in the Valley so I thought that might be him, so I thought maybe you can check your cameras for him" Jess explained.

"Hm, I see, alright Kiddo, I'' see what I can do, but it's going to take a little bit to rewind all the tapes in the valley" Dutch explained.

"That's fine, it's not like I got anything better to do" Jess replied.

"Alright then, sit tight Kiddo, I'm rewinding them now" Dutch said before the radio emitted a series of clicks, Jess recognized the noises as her uncle fiddling with his devices to rewind the video tapes.

Dutch did say anything else as the tapes rewound, most likely he was focusing on his blurry CRT's looking for anything that would point to Rook's disappearance. Jess didn't say anything either, she didn't want to disturb her uncle, she was content with watching the house she had set fire burn.

"So why do you call him a Boy Scout?" Dutch asked after a few moments, breaking the silence.

Jess scoffed lightly into the walkie, if only he knew the Junior Deputy like she did.

"Have you ever talked to him, like actually talk to him?" Jess began.

"He's such a goodie-goodie, he follows the rules and stuff like his life depends on it, like he goes out of his way to help everyone he can, he even wears his seat belt and stops at all the stop signs and intersections, Christ, he uses his turn indicators, it's fucking agonizing" Jess practically moaned, venting her frustration.

"You know there's nothing wrong with that, having rules and boundaries are good for stability and staying alive out there" Dutch offered.

"Yeah sure but you should see how he acts towards the fucking peggies, he doesn't kill them if he has the chance to, its just like, fuck off just kill them all just like they did to everyone else" Jess retorted.

"There's nothing wrong with that, maybe he doesn't want to kill them all, so he doesn't fall to their level" Dutch surmised.

"He can't fall to their level, he's not cool with his buddies torching people or drugging them so bad they don't know which way is up" Jess growled.

"You know what I mean Kiddo" Dutch offered.

"Ugh, whatever, how's those tapes looking?" Jess groaned, hoping to change the subject.

"It's getting there, I just got to find all the footage from the Valley River border" Dutch replied.

"There's only like three bridges that connect the two regions, how hard can it be to find the footage" Jess asked.

"Hush kiddo let me do my job" Dutch quickly replied, waving off his niece's remark.

"You use tech from the eighties or whatever how hard can it be? I bet I could do it too" Jess scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm sure you can, so what should I look for, there's a lot of people in this county" Dutch muttered as the squeaking of his small chair could be heard through the walkie.

"We usually cruise around in a two thousand and twelve Kimberlite, black and grey, look for that I guess, we were in it right before we split" Jess offered.

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out for that" Dutch said over more clicking noises.

Jess waited expectantly for a few moments for anything that could aid her in saving her only friend, after a few more moments of waiting, Dutch finally made a noise, causing Jess to jump ever so slightly

"Wow" Dutch said, sounding a little surprise at whatever he was looking at.

"What's wrong?!" Jess cried quickly.

"Some Boy Scout he is, if I'm looking at him now, he's got the gas pedal on the floor, he's just shooting down the roads" Dutch explained.

"What why?" Jess asked, this behavior sounded completely foreign to her mental picture of the Junior Deputy.

"I don't know I can't see any cars chasing him, I don't think he's in any danger, hold on I'm going to speed it up" Dutch said before more clicking and tapping came from his end.

"Ok I followed he floored it all across the Valley and I think he pulled into Rye and Sons Aviation, I can't tell, I don't have cameras close to people's homes, all I know is someone got out and headed to the house" Dutch explained.

"Why the hell would he go there?" Jess asked.

"He has friends other than you; I believe he's been running with the owner of Rye and Sons, Nicholas Rye" Dutch replied.

"What really, like what do they do, does Rye drink or whatever and Boy Scout warn him of the dangers of drinking or whatever" Jess half joked.

She couldn't see Boy Scout hanging out with like Rye, she had heard of Rye and Sons from time to time, about how the owner was rather overconfident with his landing and take offs, it caused a few problems with some farmers who hired him to crop dust their fields.

"Why don't you ask him when we find him, but speaking of which, whatever happened at Rye and Sons, it happened fast, he was in there for about five minutes, then a different truck comes busting out going the same speed as before" Dutch said as he described what he saw.

"Well what the fuck is he doing then" Jess scowled, a part of her felt he was just fucking around with a few of his new found buddies which gave way to the idea that he was just sleeping off a hangover somewhere, if that truly was the case, she was going to make him wish he got grabbed by the peggies for everything she as gone through due to his disappearing act.

"I do believe the lady of that house is pregnant and is expecting quite soon, so there is a good chance Mister Rye called for help and our Deputy responded.

Jess scoffed and rolled her eyes so hard it felt like her optic nerves threatened to snap off her eyeballs, things started to click into place, a baby was being born and the father called for help, naturally the Boy Scout picks up and says he will help, he drives across the county at top speeds and assists in the delivery, once the baby is declared healthy, the father must have busted out some beers to celebrate, Boy Scout, being the scared deer that he is from time to time, doesn't know how to say no and drinks himself under the table and is most likely curled up around a toilet regretting everything.

"Oh, he's going to regret everything that's for fucking sure!" Jess thought angrily the longer she thought about the whole idea the more probable it had become.

"Alright let's fast forward again and see where he goes" Dutch muttered as more clicks and other noises could be heard over the crackling fire that was the house that Jess had set fire to prior to her attack.

"I swear to fuck if he's just smashed somewhere, I'm going to fuckin' smash him" Jess growled.

"I doubt that's the case but who knows, a lot of things people never expected has happened" Dutch offered.

"Alright I see them driving right up to a small clinic, peggies haven't taken it yet so I assume it has something to with the baby" Dutch continued before falling silent again.

"Oh, there he is, I see Rook, and by the looks of things I was right I see the Rye's with him, he and the husband are practically carrying the missus inside" Dutch finished.

"This is taking to long; he could be in danger for all we know can we speed this up?" Jess practically whined.

"Your right this is taking to long, I'm going to fast forward until I lose him completely" Dutch replied.

"Yeah sure whatever, if he goes to the bar in Falls End, I'm going to make him wish those fucking peggies actually grabbed that dickhead" Jess hissed

Dutch didn't respond for a time; he just did whatever created the clicking noises to fast forward the tapes.

"Uh oh" Dutch finally muttered.

"What you see where he went?" Jess asked, feeling this might be it, she was going to get the answers she needed, but by the way her uncle responded, it didn't sound good.

"Yeah but I think something bad really did happen to him, it's a good thing we fast forwarded, the baby took a long time to be born, but back to business, Rook and the family returned back to their home, after that the Deputy's truck rolls out of the drive way and appears to head back to the Henbane, but on the way back he just disappears, I can see his headlights through some trees, he's driving slow through a intersection then there's this massive light for a dozen or so seconds then they shut off, the large light and the Deputy's lights" Dutch explained.

"What the fuck does that mean, he get grabbed by fucking aliens or something?" Jess snarked.

"I'm not to sure, it's to dark to see anything clearly and the cameras don't have night vision or anything like that, hell they don't even have sound, that was probably the peggies scooping him up or something" Dutch described.

Jess let out a sigh, it was long and deep, it was the only thing she could do to combat that cold hollow feeling that was growing in her chest, the anger she felt for the Junior Deputy was quickly swept away and replaced with the feeling that his chances of still being alive was dropping by the minute.

"Shit sticks" she hissed in frustration as she ran a hand under her hood and racked a hand through her hair.

This was just like her brother all over again, he just disappears in the blink of an eye.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Jess snarled as she angrily kicked at the dirt and pebbles at her feet, she didn't know how else to find an outlet for her distress.

"Jess are you ok?" Dutch's voice came out of the walkie still clutched in her hand.

She wasn't sure if she remembered to take her finger off the talk button before her little tantrum, she could feel a little creep in under all the anger.

Jess lightly panted a few times before bring the walkie to her mouth.

"Yeah… I fine, I just want to find him" Jess growled.

"Really? you've made a point to avoid people, but you seem to care an awful lot about a cop, do you mind if I ask why this is a big deal to you?" Dutch inquired.

"It's whatever, he's real good at killing peggies, and his name has weight, so what's the rescue plan, you got any ideas?" Jess spat, hoping to change the subject again, she didn't realize she made herself sound so desperate.

Dutch didn't say any for a few seconds to think on what his niece had said and what she asked.

"Tell you what; you go to where I saw him last and see what you can scrounge up, put those tracking skills to use and find something and I'll start radioing around and let people in the valley know what's going on and maybe they could lend a hand" Dutch offered.

"Alright sounds good, you said it was by the Rye and Son place? I'll head there now, I'll let you know if I turn anything up" Jess replied, feeling some semblance of hope return to her.

"Ok, I'll keep an ear to the ground but hey, maybe once you make sure he's ok, maybe you could swing on by and we can just talk, yeah?" Dutch asked.

"Yeah sure, whatever I'll call you whenever" Jess quickly replied, waving off whatever he had offered as she clipped the walkie back on her belt.

She wasn't too interested in what he had to say at the moment, it didn't sound like it pertained to the mission at hand, therefor it could wait until the Boy Scout was found. Dutch had said that the Deputy was up by Rye and Sons, that was by the church Armstrong used to hang around before migrating to the Henbane, she had a good idea where to start, it was a good distance away, if she got a move on now she could get there within three hours if she didn't commander a vehicle, she just hoped the Boy Scout wouldn't die within that time.

Determined to save her friend, Jess adjusted her hood and adjusted the quiver on her back before breaking into a jog into the forest that surrounded her.

* * *

Rook barely made it five minutes down the hill before he had to jump off the trail and disappear just a little past the tree line so he could lean against a tree again to keep himself from falling over again, all the while keeping himself out of sight. His body shrieked and moaned for him to stop exerting himself and rest, he wasn't sure if it was the morning sun or something entirely different but he could feel his body get hotter and hotter, this would cause the Junior Deputy perspire accordingly, not only that but, he was starting to feel nauseous but his stomach was empty and had nothing to throw up besides bile, occasionally he would get lightheaded for just a few seconds, just enough to make it feel like he was in a dream.

This time Rook felt different, his legs felt weaker then before, his chest felt heavier, the tree he was nestled upon felt more comfortable. He couldn't help but bend his knees slightly and slide down the tree a little. Rook pushed his back against the bark of the tree to keep himself from sliding down any further, if he fell to the ground, he knew the pain would keep him there. He desperately tried to concoct some miracle scheme to get him out of the state he was in even if it was for a few moments but for some reason it felt harder to think then before, nothing came to mind.

"Is this what blood loss is like?" Rook thought to himself.

He never received such a severe injury before so the whole experience was new to him and It terrified him, he never thought something like this would happen to him, he knew when he joined the force there would be a degree of danger involved, but he would have and a partner or backup so lend a hand.

"Ugh, who am I kidding?" Rook thought as he breathed heavily.

He had backup and still almost died, he took a few gunshots to the torso a few days ago when he was with Hurk and Sharky during the Eden's Covenant thing, but thankfully he was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it still struck a silent fear in him, someone with the attempt to kill him got the jump on him and fired his gun upon him and landed a couple of hits, any of those bullets could have very well died then and there and his friends wouldn't be able to save him, and now here he was, pressed up against a tree, all alone, shirtless and scared, and all kinds of banged up with his side threatening to leak out of him.

Rook could help but reflect on everything that happened since he arrived in the county, meeting Mary May and the rest of the Falls End populous, meeting Nick and Grace, meeting Jess, re finding his boss, it still bewildered him that he was capable of doing what he did, how many people he had helped, he had to have killed at least one hundred armed people without sustaining an actual bullet wound, he had been extremely lucky, but with all the reflection Rook was doing, it brought a feeling to light, he could feel it in his bones, _if _he were to get out of the situation he was in, it was a sign that his luck running out fast.

The realization made Rook grimace as cold reality set in, he wasn't invincible, sooner or later someone was going to come along and punch his ticket if it hasn't been already, but has Rook tried his best to shrug off the heart clenching feeling that haunted him, he could hear a noise growing in the distance, he wasn't sure how long it had been there but it was clearly getting closer, it wasn't hard to mistake the noise, it was the sound of approaching vehicles.

Curious and scared of what was coming, Rook tried to adjust himself on the tree he rested upon to get a better look of the road while still being hidden by the tree's girth and waited as the vehicles engine grew louder and louder, as the vehicles got closer, Rook could feel his heart pick up more so as he feared being spotted, but before he could re adjust himself again, three pickup trucks came blasting up the hill as fast as they could and barreled up towards the bunker entrance, it was quite obvious that they had not shown up to help the wounded Junior Deputy, it was clear that they were peggies. But as quick as they came, the blew right past Rook and continued up the road, Rook could only watch them pass by from the treeline.

The second the trucks made it to the summit of the hill, the trucks came to a screeching halt causing Rook to jump in fear, he believed they had somehow spotted him and was about to turn around to get him. As Rook slowly brought his free arm behind him to grab his holstered gun, the doors on the trucks flew open and six men came piling out of the trucks, weapons in hand and screaming obscenities at an unseen opponent while moving towards the bunker's entrance, Rook didn't need to think to figure out they were yelling at him, John had clearly called in a group of guys to come in and secure the front door as bliss still smoked out of the open bulkhead. They were so ready to defend John's bunker that they didn't bother to turn off their trucks before they came clambering out, they didn't even so much as close the doors. Since Rook barely made it down the slightly declining valley side, he could still see the one truck sitting on the lip of the plateau the bunker's front lot sat on, the doors were still wide open and it was clear the engine was still on, the roof of another truck poked up over the apex of the plateau's lip, he could only assume the truck was left in a similar state.

Rook stared at the idle trucks as he could hear the peggies shout instructions at each other, hoping to find the intruder that attacked their sanctum.

"Holy shit" Rook muttered to himself in dawn realization.

If not for the throbbing pain in his side grounding him to reality and prevented his mounting fear from being his main concern, it wouldn't have clicked in his head that a perfectly good way out of danger sat one hundred something feet in front of him.

Rook brought a hand up to cover his mouth in shock, the sheer bravery and finesse he would need to just saunter up there and take the truck without being spotted by the amped up peggies was far past what he had.

"Ok, ok, ok, in through the nose, out through the mouth" Rook quietly repeated to himself like a mantra before following through with what he was saying.

Before he could even think about making his move he needed to calm down, his elevated heart rate caused his blood to pump faster, in turn causing his side bleed faster.

Once he felt his heart rate slow and the pulsating in his side lessened, he ever so slowly peeled himself off the tree with pained grunts and gasps and staggered towards the treeline, grunting with every footstep as the vibrations of every footfall would send a spike of pain through his wound, once he made it to the edge of treeline he looked around for something to support him and found a tree branch that hung low, he reached out and grabbed it with his good arm to find the branch was flimsy but sturdy enough to support him, satisfied with what it offered, Rook poked his head out to see and analyzed the terrain in front of him for anything to increase his chances, but there was not a lot around him, a lonely dirt road that ran up a hill on the side of a valley wall, with no tall vegetation or anything he could hide behind, which just a straight forward approach.

He couldn't just crouch and sneak up like he usually did as his side would adamantly deny him to stay in such a position, walking up could be possible but he would be easily seen if anyone looked back.

Rook's mouth opened and closed, he wanted to say something, anything as he slowly came to terms with what he'd have to do if he wanted the truck, but he just couldn't muster anything as if it would somehow help.

Unable to do anything else, he let go of the tree branch and wobbled forward, all his time against the trees had made him forget just how heavy his legs felt, it almost felt like his legs were full of water, making Rook exert himself even more to get onto the path, but it just made him more tired in the process.

As Rook breached the treeline and stumbled onto the road, yet again his side burned in protest, he could feel a cold substance slowly seep through the fabric of his shirt, the blood was seeping through.

He looked down at his damp shirt before looking back up at the trucks, panting lightly. His heart skipped a beat every time he heard one of the peggies shouting, it was beyond him what they were shouting at or what they were doing, when he ran from the bunker he saw a few wisps of bliss snake out as John had properly flooded the entrance so the was not a lot for this group of new dudes to do, they were most likely going around the perimeter to make sure no one was dumb enough to try anything, by the way they were shouting it sounded like they knew the Junior Deputy was involved in what was going on, but also sounded like they were waiting for him to attack again. He swallowed the spit in his mouth and wiped the sweat from his brow before slowly working his way up the hill, he switched hands that held the shirt to his torso, making his injured left arm hold the shirt and used his perfectly fine right arm to pull the handgun out of his waistband, if he remembered right he had ten shots, he raised the handgun and pointed it to the top of the hill, next to the truck just in case but even then he didn't feel any safer, he didn't need to examine himself to know that he was trembling in fear, how could he not, for all he knew, a Peggie was going to poke his down the hill, the only real way to the bunker and see the wounded Junior Deputy, just the thought it made the nauseous feeling slowly grew and bloomed within him.

The further and further Rook made it up the hill, the peggies voices became more pronounced, they were screaming about protocol and how the bunker should be properly defended from the disgusting and vile sinner, they yelled about how their precious gate was in jeopardy, but as he climbed and listened, he wasn't sure if it was the exertion of walking up a hill or what but it suddenly became harder to breathe, it was like a hand was pressing down on his chest, he fought of the urge to cough away the feeling as it would alert the peggies

As he drew closer to the trucks, Rook slouched down as much as his wound would allow, he bent his knees as far as he could without falling over and slowly approached the truck closest to him, the peggies still sounded as angry as they did when they first arrived, but they sounded far away enough away that they could be on the far side of the compound, giving him the confidence to creep up just enough to poke up over the hill, he could see the abandoned trucks, still all the doors were left wide open and the engines still on, he could hear the gently beeping from the truck to signify a door was open, to Rook it sounded like a horn of an approaching boat to a man stranded on a tiny island, but he was quickly ripped from the reassurance that was built as he could also hear the screaming of the peggies that still hung around the compound. Rook's head snapped up in fear to identify the peggies to make sure they weren't making a move on him, Rook could feel the air catch in his throat as his eyes focused on the peggies that ran to and fro, trying their best to secure the bunker, it was evident they hadn't seen him and were just yelling at each other to keep the place safe, Rook sighed in scared relief as his body shook, he was going to give himself a heart attack at this rate, always thinking the peggies were coming to get him.

But it kept him alive, he needed to keep an eye on them if he wanted to get in the truck, he couldn't tell what they were doing exactly as they didn't see him, and that was all he cared about, he watched them jog back and forth, watching for a pattern, for the perfect moment to make a move for the truck, then he saw it, a break in the peggies patrol, three peggies looped around the transport truck trailer to go to the bunkers entrance, it was just what he needed, Rook stood up as quick as he could and scurried to the truck and did his best to jump in, his wound burned in protest as he moved in, he ground his teeth together to keep himself from making some noise of pain. When Rook sat down in the driver's seat, he practically melted into it, it was so soft and comforting yet sturdy and kept him up right, it was better than a tree in every possible way.

He dared not put on his seat belt or even close the door, he just wanted to get out of the area as soon as possible, from where he sat he could see the six peggies along the compound lot, they were all dressed head to toe in what looked like Kevlar padding and carried large automatic weapons, two of them stood to the sides of the bunkers mouth watching the bliss drift out while the other four ran around the far side of the compound, sticking their guns out into the environment in front of them, expecting someone or something to jump out at them, there was no way he could stop all six with a single handgun.

He lightly tossed the handgun onto the passenger seat and adjusted himself in his seat before examining the peggies again, they all were not looking in his direction, all he had to do was put the truck in reverse and floor it, sure he'd have to do a three point turn at some point and most likely out run the other two trucks but what other option did he have, besides bleeding out in the driver's seat.

Rook breathed slowly for a few moments to keep himself calm before placing a hand on the gear stick, his eyes quickly darted up to the peggies who still furiously examined every nook and cranny by the bunker door, but as he looked over the enemies. he only counted five, he remembered seeing six, Rook felt that bewildered frenzy build up in him as he couldn't see the last man, his eyes darted back and forth sporadically, the fear getting to much for him, he slowly reached over to grab his gun ready to fight back, as he was about to touch the gun he saw the last peggie, it was a young man examining the back of the transport truck trailer, probably making sure the sinner wasn't hiding inside. Rook let out a sigh of relief as the immediate danger was gone, but seeing the man by the trailer brought a new fear, the man was close enough the truck he could very well here Rook put the truck into reverse, Rook wasn't sure what to do, should he just bite the bullet it and set it in reverse and hope like hell, or should he use his gun and shoot the man then go but if he dug down and was honest with himself and with everything that happened to him, he really didn't want to kill, he just wanted to go home, get looked at by a doctor the sleep for a week, but to get that he would have to just peeling out regardless if he is seen.

Rook swallowed the spit in his mouth and shook his head hoping it would relieve the building heat in his body before pulling the gear stick into reverse.

The second he put the truck into reverse the peggie eyes flicked up and looked directly at him.

"Please no!" Rook moaned in frustration.

The peggie raised a hand to point at the Junior Deputy and yelled, he yelled for comrades to open fire at the trucks.

The next thing Rook knew a few bullets penetrated the windshield and piercing the back seats, creating spiderwebs of cracked glass, the bullets being mere inches from Rook, scared the life out of him, he swore loudly before stomping on the gas pedal making the truck shoot backwards down the hill, his door opened as far as it could as the wind pushed it open. Rook did his best to stay on the road via the rear-view mirror, his eyes would occasionally glance back to the lip of the hill to see if the peggies came after him, the gun next to him, slid around in the seat, Rook desperately wanted the comfort of the gun in his hand but couldn't think of a way as both hands were to busy to scoop up the firearm, he quickly glanced down at the weapon to make sure it didn't magically disappear and thankfully it was still where he left it, feeling somewhat safe he looked back up at the hill and saw a few peggies appearing on the lip.

The second he saw the peggies gather around the lip of the hill he jerked the wheel to the right, spinning the back end of truck into the side of the road, flattening the vegetation that grew in the ditch and came to a hard stop, the sudden stop and momentum caused his door to slam shut. Rook could hear the hard pinging of bullets hitting the side of the truck, terrified they'd hit something critical he slammed the gear stick into drive and stomped on the gas again, and just like before the truck shot forward, the second it launched forward he wrenched the wheel to the left to pull him back onto the road and down the hill, all the while bullets hitting the truck, shattering the rear window and breaking the rear view mirror, causing Rook to emit a yip of fear as glass rained down on him. But as he but more and more distance from the peggies, the time between their gunshot got longer and longer, unable to look behind him now, he was not sure if the peggies climbed into the two remaining trucks on the hill with them, he didn't hear the sounds of engines or anything to denote the peggies giving chase, it made a sliver of hope grow within the swirl of sick he was feeling in his stomach.

As the trucked sailed down the valley side, the road gradually began to grow blurrier and blurrier; Rook chalked the whole thing up to his body coming off the adrenaline, unable to rub his eyes, he shook his head and blinked rapidly hoping it would clear his vision, and thankfully his vision cleared slightly, but as his eyes adjusted to its newfound clarity, Rook could now see his truck was going off course, his truck was threatening to drive off the road and into a ditch. As his heart skipped a beat for what felt like the hundredth time, he wrenched the wheel to the left, veering the truck back on course, he wasn't sure was happening to him, it was obvious he was overheated as he was sweating profusely but for some reason he felt so cold, it felt like he swallow ice, his body trembled as well, it didn't feel like the trembling his body did earlier when he feared for his life, this was different, something was clearly wrong.

As the truck reached the bottom of the hill, Rook wrenched the wheel to the right, he didn't care where he went, as long as he could get away from John's bunker and get his sense of direction back it did matter.

Rook scanned the road in front of him for anything he could identify. Eventually a lone building could seen in the distance, it had white walls and a black shingled roof, it looked small but had what looked like a tower attached to one end, Rook had no idea what he was, he strained his eyes in hopes his eyes would refocus enough to figure out hat it was, but sadly his eyes did not refocus instead the distance between his truck and the building closed and the building came into better view and he recognized the building almost instantly, it was The Lamb of God Church, Grace Armstrong's impromptu home.

"Oh, thank god!" Rook thought as his mental map reoriented him in relation to where he was in the Valley.

As much as he wanted to pull over at the church and bang on the church doors, he knew no one was home. To his disappointment he remembered Grace hadn't been at the church for some time now, she was doing her part in the Henbane River, with a pained and dissatisfied sigh, Rook decided against pulling over and continuing onward, he knew how to get to Falls End from where he was, it was his best chance of surviving, sure the Rye's place was closer but he felt Nick would either suggest taking him to Falls End or the clinic they were at what he believed to be last night.

* * *

Rook tightened his grip on the wheel, struggling to keep control over the vehicle his symptoms worsened by the minute and it scared him to no end, his blurred vison made difficult to see the road, he wasn't sure if he was driving in circles or still headed to Falls End, he had past by many blurry road signs so that had to mean something, and in the distance was a cluster of blurry structures, if it was not Falls End then his only option was to pull over and hope someone finds him.

His mind somehow drifted over to Jess of all people, she was so adept at traversing the county by foot he half expected her to just show up out of nowhere by now, most likely to berate him for just disappearing again, going on about how she'd threaten to punch him in the mouth or split for good, when he had first met her he took those threats seriously, she was so jaded and cold back then. But now she and him were on relatively good terms, she had slowly opened up to him over the course of a few weeks, about her past, her interests, her stories, Rook had forgotten they had always been in close proximity to each other, sleeping eating "working" they did so much together, it felt weird to think but he missed her, not because he might very well be dying, but because they were actual friends, underneath the barbed wire that was her attitude there was a woman, he had seen mere glimpses very rarely but she was there, sure she had her flaws but who didn't, maybe after the cult was taken care of he could properly get to know that woman.

His mind drifted to wonder what Jess was doing at the moment, was she ok, was she picking a fight with someone, was she wondering where he was?

Rook shook his head again, he needed to focus, his vision was failing him, he had no time to get lost in thought, what if he hit something.

He could see several blurry buildings, it was clearly Falls End, hope swelled within him as help looked like a few hundred feet away. As Rook approached what he thought was the town, he slowed the truck, his deteriorating vision made it to dangerous for him to just drive right on in, he could very well hit someone. His mind felt thick and heavy, making everything feel like it was floating, little sparkles floated in his blurred vision making his head spin a little more.

Rook slowed his truck to a stop; through his blurred vision he could see he was roughly hundred feet from the edge of town.

Rook gathered himself and took a few uneasy breaths before taking his good hand off the steering wheel and grabbed a hold of his door's handle and pulled, with no strength to push the door open he leaned against the and used his body weight to push it open, as the door opened Rook slid out of his seat and planted a leg into the ground and pushed himself out, with more choked gasps Rook stumbled out of the truck, it felt like his sense of balance was long gone, taken by blood loss or whatever was happening to him. He tightened his grip on the soaking shirt he clutched against his side before lurching towards the town, the slash wound in his side screamed in protest, wanting him to stop moving, but at the same time it felt numb, the numbness dripped down the right side of his body and leaked into his leg making it near useless, since the numb leg could barely move, Rook was only left to drag the limb through the dirt as he hopped on his good leg, each hop shot more bolts of pain through his side making him grunt and hiccup in pain, his vision still blurred, made it difficult too see if anyone was nearby, he could make out the buildings but not finer details.

He could feel the ground suddenly become hard and perfectly even, by the click clacking of the footfalls from his good leg his senses told him he was walking on asphalt road within the town. He could smell the ever-present smell of ash, Rook didn't need to think long to know what it was, it was one of the remains of the house that sat on the edge of town, most likely torched by the peggies in the first few hours of their holy war. Beyond the long since smoldering ruins were a couple of houses, and beyond that was the Spread-Eagle bar and church.

But the ash was weeks old, to smell it still meant that he was very close to it, and that meant one thing, he did it, he was safe, he had miraculously made it to town.

The newfound sense of safety washed over him like a tidal wave, the fear was gone and was replaced with a warm feeling that comforted the nausea that swelled within him and made the shakes not so bad. All he needed to do now was find someone who could help him, he wanted to yell and hope someone would hear and investigate but every time he would open his mouth, he could not produce any noise, just more gasping and panting.

Unable to speak, Rook shambled further into town, he could hear anything that would suggest the presence of another person, perhaps they were all inside in case peggies ever decided to show up. As he moved forward what little energy was slowly seeping from his body, little sparkles danced within his vision as his body sway more then usual as he hobbled, Rook didn't know how describe what was happening to him, this didn't feel like what a slash wound would entail, he felt chills rack through his body, his body temperature was high and caused him to sweat profusely, his head swam and spun like it was all a dream, he felt heavy like a stone in a river, his chest and leg numb like they had fallen asleep.

And before he knew it, he collapsed.

Rook fell over in the middle of the road and was unconscious before he hit the asphalt.


	23. Chapter 23

Rook sluggishly awoke, his eyelids slowly gliding open, he wasn't sure what was going on or where he was, he didn't know what to think, his head hurt, and his body felt stiff and sore like he had. He didn't know how long he lay there in his half conscious stupor but it felt like a long time, long enough for his senses to awaken, the gears in his mind slowly turned again causing thoughts to lazily float through his mind.

"What time is it?"

"My head hurts"

"I'm thirty"

"What's going on?"

The last thought sparked some intelligent thought within him, The last thing he remembered was feeling absolutely awful as a chorus of voices surrounding him, bombarding him with a myriad of words to chaotic to pick apart and understand, it felt like a dream but at the same time it wasn't, the uncertainty had inspired a sense of peril.

He blinked a few times and his eyes adjusted, his vision became sharper and details became more refined, his vision was so glazed over when it finally cleared, he realized that he was staring at a ceiling.

A ceiling was not what he was used to seeing when he awoke, normally he couldn't see the ceiling, it was obstructed by Jess's bunk stacked above his, the ceiling above him was a cascade of bumps and ridges that made up the stucco commonly know as a popcorn ceiling.

"popcorn ceiling" Rook finally croaked, his mind slowly winding up.

He opened his mouth again and exhaled as he breathed in through his nose, bits and pieces of his memory slowly came back to him, the escape from the bunker, Hudson and John, getting hurt, driving away, he mental shuttered at the nightmare he dragged himself out of, it still bothered him that Hudson and John had slipped through his fingers, they were right there in front of him and he couldn't do a thing. Again.

Light frustration aside, he knew he needed to move, he needed to find out where the hell he was, the last thing he remembered was driving somewhere and now he was laying in bed.

Despite feeling sore and stiff all over his body, he needed to move, for all he knew he was still in danger, but his gut feeling said otherwise, the last time he had woken up he was tied to a chair, and this time, he had awoken in a nice soft bed, unrestrained and alive, after the stint he pulled there was no way John would just tie him down and try again, that had to mean he was safe to a degree, but for all he knew this was just a comfortable cell put together by Faith due to their established friendship.

Just the thought of that made Rook's heart rate pick up, he needed what was going on, he stretched his arms and legs hoping it would shake the sore out of them. It felt like he got the crap kicked out of him, he wasn't happy with what happened to him, sure anyone wouldn't be happy about getting battered around, but with wounded state, how was he supposed to get away if he was in another prison, let alone help people, what was he going to tell the Sheriff?

Knowing Whitehorse, he would most likely bench him for a week or two, and that frustrated him, what was he supposed to do in that time, he couldn't just sit around and watch the county move forward without him, just about everyone he had met since his arrival had needed his help in some way and now what was he suppose to tell them; figure it out on your own, call someone else, I'm sorry but no.

He needed to move, he needed to get up, determined to find out was going on, Rook tucked his arms underneath him and pushed, causing him to slowly rise from the bed with a small grunt but doing so caused a shot of pain to pierce his side, causing him to groan before collapsing in back into the bed, taking a few heavy breaths, he decided against doing that again, he swallowed the spit building spit in his mouth before he very carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position in the bed, using the headboard of the bed as leverage and pushed himself up, from there he could properly see himself, his body was bare as he was shirtless, his shirtless form revealed he had a few scraps and bruises here and there, but on his right side of his body, in between the ribs and hips was a large, thick layer of medical gauze was taped to his side with a combination of medical and duct tape, Rook shuttered again as he could only imagine what pulling it all off would feel like. But the bandages didn't rouse any confusion, just looking at it reminded him of what happened, how he got slashed.

Rook brought his left arm up to gingerly poked at the bandage job, the wound underneath felt sore and irritable as droplets of pain grew from the room, as he did this he noticed his left forearm had been wrapped up in bandages, the limb didn't feel injured in any way, unsure of why it was bandaged he flexed the arm a few times, besides the obvious stiffness the arm felt fine, feeling moderately convinced his arm was fine, Rook began pulling of the bandages coiled around his arm, grabbing a handful and yanking on it causing the bandages to rip and fall from his arm, as the bandages fell, so to did a small white object and landed on the bed with a silent thump, curious to what had been fastened to his arm, Rook reached down and picked it up to examine it, the packet was a small white rectangle, it was as big as a cell phone but what surprised him was that the packet was cold to the touch, still unsure to what it was he flipped it over to examine the back side hoping it would reveal some information, and to his surprise, in big blue letters said First Aid Ice Pack.

Rook stared at the ice pack for a few more seconds, unsure why this would be strapped to his arm, it didn't feel damaged or anything, put then again the pack was cold to the touch but he didn't feel the lowered temperature until it feel from the arm and picked it up. Rook examined the arm that had the ice pack fastened to it, it looked completely fine, just cold to the touch.

Convinced he was passably OK; Rook turned his attention to the contents of the room. The room was clearly a bedroom, a small bedroom, the headboard of the bed was pushed against the center of the wall, small nightstands stood diligently on both sides of bed, a clothing dresser rested against the far wall, adjacent to the bed, a window hung on the wall to Rook's left, the curtains drawn to keep the sunlight and any prying eyes out, a single wooden wardrobe stood next to the window, a door was tucked in the far-right corner of the room, the door was slightly ajar.

Rook let out a breath of relief as there was nothing in the room to suggest he was a prisoner or anything that looked like peggie paraphernalia, Rook didn't realized it but as he looked around the room, he held his breath, half afraid of what he could have found.

Deciding he was safe, Rook felt it time to get a move on, he needed to find out where he was besides in some bedroom, it was clear it was a standard bedroom that one would see in a house, but where was this house located, would he walk out into danger.

Rook needed to know and grabbed a hold of the bedpost closest to him and with the sensitivity of his wound he carefully swiveled his body so he could hang his legs over the side of the bed, he held a steady hand he cradled his wounded side and with his other hand still gripped the bedpost closest to him and pushed upon it as hard as he could, using it as leverage to push himself out of the bed, and with a raked groan he was able to leave the bed and stand up, stumbling forward slightly before finding his balance.

The first few steps were the most difficult as his legs felt like they had been replaced with wooden ones, but as he staggered to the door it felt like his legs slowly softened into normal legs, the usual aches and pains still floated up and down his limbs, as he approached the door he could see a little yellow square was affixed to the door at head level upon closer inspection Rook realized it was a little yellow sticky note, on it was a message written in neat cursive writing; _Stay in bed and rest up, we'll come check up on you every few hours -Mary May._

The note was a refreshing breath of clean air to Rook, the note was a clear he was in the clear, everything made sense now, he was in one of the houses in Falls End.

Feeling truly safe, Rook reached out for the doorknob but stopped, he remembered he was shirtless, he couldn't just go outside shirtless and looking all beat up, he needed to cover up, he looked back over to the dresser, but quickly decided against rummaging through it as it would require bending down, instead he turned to the wardrobe that sat by the window and lumbered over to it and pulled open the doors. Inside the wardrobe hung a few shirts on coat hangers along a wooden pole that ran across the top if the wardrobe, Rook pushed aside a few of the shirts as none of them looked appropriate to wear, they were mostly dress shirts suitable for important outings, Rook was about to give up searching for something suitable before he came across the final shirt on the pole, it was a green button up flannel shirt, Rook examined it for a few seconds before taking it down and holding it up to his torso to compare it's size to him, it looked a little big but it looked like it could work.

With no other clothing choices, he unbuttoned the buttons of the shirt before pulling the hanger out of the shirt and with minor struggling he was able to put on the green flannel shirt; he didn't bother doing up the buttons as the mid summer sun would make him come to regret doing so. The sleeves of the shirt was longer then he expected as it passed his wrists and covered his palms, it was obvious he would look silly if he went outside, to counter this, he rolled up the sleeves up to the elbows and tucked his shirt into the belt line, hoping to look somewhat decent.

Rook closed the wardrobe door and approached the bedroom room door, feeling it was time to leave, he pulled it open, the doorway opened up to the side of a hallway, a single door stood adjacent to the doorway he was standing in, Rook decided it was best to leave instead of exploring the rest of the house, he left the door be and walked down the hallway, another set of doors stood at either side of the hallway, a few pictures of the majestic Montana landscape dotted the walls, as Rook exited out of the hallway, the room opened up, to his left was the living room; a couch and a two reclining chairs lined the back wall and corners, all pointed to face the small tv that sat on a equally small tv stand, a small coffee table sat in between the furniture and tv as light streamed in through a window directly behind the couch, to his right was a dining room, a large, rectangular table draped in a dirty white tablecloth sat in the middle of the room, six wooden chair chairs surrounded the table, all neatly tucked into the table as a tiny copper chandelier hung from the ceiling directly above the table, in the corner was a tiny table with a vase perched atop; a few long dead flowers poking out of the top, a wooden clock hung a wall, quietly ticking away.

"Hello?!" Rook called out, hoping someone would respond.

And to his disappointment, no one called back, with a lonely sigh Rook walked into the dining room as its layout seemed to imply there was more to the house, as he stepped into the dining room proper, he could see to his immediate right was a kitchen, curious, Rook entered.

The kitchen was attached to the right side of dinning room, cabinets and counters lined the edges of the room, an island sectioned of the kitchen from the dining room, leaving half the room closed off, light shone in from a window behind the sink, across from the sink was a fridge. On the freezer portion of the fridge was another sticky note, in clean curved letters said; _Once you're feeling better, we can have a nice meal together as a family -Kim, Nick, Carmina_.

Rook couldn't help but smile at the note, from his perspective he had experienced some real horrors the past few hours, it filled him with a warm feeling as now he had something to look forward to besides getting better.

But what made the smile grow was directly below that was another note, this one was written in messy and quick, it said,_ when you feel better, we can crack a few cold ones while you heal up_.

Below the message in the corner of the sticky note looked to be a doodle of a winking smiley face giving a thumbs up.

Obviously, Nick had snuck this on when Kim wasn't looking, Rook wasn't sure if he was medicated or not, he certainly didn't feel medicated, but he needed to find out before going out drinking as Nick's and his interpretation of "a few" differed.

Seeing as there was no one in the house or anything that could help him, he decided it was time to leave the house, he backtracked to the main room that was the combination of the living and dining room, as he came back to the rooms. a lone door sat in between the living room and the dining room. He wasn't sure how he missed it in the first place, perhaps it was just his mind not fully awake yet, as Rook neared the door, he noticed yet another sticky note to it, in big, messy, letters it read; _You leave and I'll make you regret it._

Rook didn't need to think about who left this, it was obvious it was Jess, trying to make sure he was ok, it made him feel better to know she was here at some point but much as he wanted to heed her warning, he needed to leave the house, he had to get his bearings and find out what has happened in the valley in his absence, he had been out of the Valley for what felt like to weeks, all the fighting and running was a good way of skewing his sense of time.

As the front door creaked open The bright sunlight temporarily stung Rook's eyes, he brought an arm up to shield his eyes for a few seconds as his eyes adjusted to the light, when they finally did he could see the front yard of the house, the front yard consisted of a blanket of long unkempt grass, grown from weeks of neglect due to the peggie menace, a white picket fence lined the perimeter of the yard, thirty feet by thirty feet, a concrete pathway dotted the path from the edge of the yard to the front door.

Rook closed the door behind him and journeyed down the path, as he reached the end of the path the concrete pathway joined to a sidewalk that ran horizontally from the pathway, past the sidewalk was a road that ran adjacent with the sidewalk, and past that was a big white building, Rook easily identified it as Jerome's church, seeing the church filled Rook with joy, seeing everyone's messages had made him feel safe and at ease, but now that he could see the church he was so familiar with he truly felt safe.

He really was in Falls End.

Rook confidently walked down the pathway to the sidewalk the best he could, his mental map quickly reorienting him, if Jerome's church was immediately across the street from the house he resided in then that meant the building next to the house the auto shop, and next to that was the Spread-Eagle Bar. By the positioning of the sun in appeared to be maybe around noon, if that was the case then that meant Mary May would be in, doing her work and keeping morale up. He followed the sidewalk to the towns intersection and turned right and headed to the bar, as he walked past the front of the auto shop, he could hear all kinds of whirls and buzzing come from inside the shop, most likely working on vehicles that had been damaged or reclaimed from peggies, not wanting to bother the hardworking mechanics from the craft, he continued on his way to the bar. Thankfully the bar was the building immediately after the auto shop. Not wanting to hang around outside for to long he hurried towards the bar's entrance.

* * *

As Rook approached the front door, he could see a small sign in the door's window read _OPEN_, he pushed open the door and stepped inside, as he did he could feel a clear temperature change, the bar was a few degrees colder, it was clear that the citizens of the town also agreed as a dozen or so people floated around the bar it felt nice to see people just hanging around, it was a clear sign that Joseph's reach in the Valley was loosening, as he continued to look around the room at all the people he could see Mary May behind the bar as always, diligently cleaning glass cups, as Rook approached the counter Mary looked up at the newest patron, her face quickly switched to one of shock as she realized it was Rook.

Holy shit, Ben!" Mary cried before dropping whatever she was doing and hurried around the side of the bar counter and quickly marched up to him.

"Uh hey what's up?" Ben asked awkwardly, not expecting such a response for her.

"What are you doing up out of bed, didn't you see the sticky note?" Mary asked, and worriedly examined the man before her for any signs his condition was worsening.

"Oh yeah those, well I uh, I couldn't help myself, you know?" Rook replied.

"Benjamin" Mary scolded, placing her hands on her hips and giving him a disapproving look.

"What, you just expect me to lay around in that house for who knows how long?" Rook shrugged, a part of him wanted to lay and bed and take a few days off to let to slash in his side heal but people needed him, the county needed him.

"Ben, we found you lying in the middle of the road on the edge of town in a pool of your own blood!" Mary exasperated.

"Shit really?" Rook said absentmindedly, looking away from the barkeep and rubbing the back of his head, he had no memory of even getting to town.

"Yes! You were in a serious condition, you were bleeding out and blissed out, who knows how long you were there for? you need to go back to the house and rest!" Mary ordered.

"Come on, if I got here by myself then that has to be a sign, I'm good right?" Rook offered; he really didn't want to go back to doing nothing.

His plea reminded him of Michael back at the prison, how he was shot once and was sentenced to being laid up in the makeshift infirmary for what sounded like week.

"Benjamin, I'm serious, if you go and do something and get yourself hurt again I'm more then sure your Sheriff will come stomping down here breathing down my neck, huffing and puffing about how I let you get hurt again" Mary retorted.

"Ok I know he can be a bit protective of his subordinates, but that just comes with the territory and title of Sheriff, besides if anything he'll go right past you and go straight for me" Rook offered, trying to reassure her.

"Oh no" Mary scolded, wagging her finger at Rook again.

"You should have heard your Sheriff two nights ago, he came on the horn and started preaching to anyone who would listen, going on about how you just didn't show up at the prison and he was scared witless that you could very well be dead and was willing to offer anything for anything that would lead to your safety" Mary said sternly.

"Wow really, geez I'm really going to get it the next time I go back to the prison" Rook grimaced, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yes so you can imagine what he'd say to me, I got enough to worry about around here and the last thing I need is to worry about you getting you re-injuring yourself or something" Mary retorted.

"Well hey at least maybe we should let him know that I'm up, you did say I was gone, what two nights?" Rook asked.

Mary was about to open her mouth to respond, but before she could formulate her words, a flash of surprise flashed over Rook, causing him to interrupt her.

"Wait, wait, wait, back up, did you say two nights ago? Wait how long have I been gone?" Rook said nervously.

"Well that's another point I was getting too" Mary said awkwardly, any disapproval, concern had disappeared and was replaced with uncertainty, her head lolling back and forth slightly as she struggled to phrase her sentence.

"You see Ben, in the state we found you in, you were pretty worse for ware and well, you've been sleeping it off for a little over a day now, around thirty something hours" Mary said.

"A whole day!" Rook echoed back in shock, bringing his hands to his head.

The outburst caused a few regulars to look over at Rook to see whatever had caused the commotion. A few muttered to each other that the Junior Deputy was back on his feet.

"Ben, calm down, you were more worse off then you think and you had a little bliss in you somehow not enough to mess you up, but still enough to get you high, we don't normally see that stuff down here so we don't have what we need to treat it, so we did the best we could" Mary said quickly, hoping to calm Rook down.

"What happened to me?!" Rook asked, staring down Mary.

Mary May didn't respond for a few seconds and looked him over again, her eyes tracing over anything that could signify deteriorating health, but nothing seemed to suggest anything, he somehow, miraculously was able to just saunter into the bar like his wounds were not a big deal, as much as she wanted to send him back to the house he woke up and get him back in bed to carry out the rest of their conversation there but it was clear he wasn't going to go, she let out an unhappy sigh.

"If you're not going home, at least sit down, you look like your going to fall over" Mary replied, pointing to an empty stool by the bar's counter.

Rook didn't say anything, instead he hurried over to the stool she had gestured to and sat down, letting out a small groan as he did.

Mary carefully watched him as she walked back behind the bar and took her position from before Rook had entered and rested her forearms or the counter and leaning in on them.

"You got roughed up pretty bad, besides the obvious scrapes and bruises, you took a nasty blow to the head, not enough for a concussion but still, a head injury is a head injury, you bruised the bone in your left forearm somehow and we had to chill it for a bit and well your side, well... We got it all cleaned and stitched up, but whatever you did to get the cut, you somehow got some bliss in there" Mary explained.

"Wait bliss? Really?" Rook asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes really, we don't know how you did it, but you did" Mary replied.

"I got attacked by this guy as I made my escape, he got me pretty good with a knife, obviously, you think he like, swirled the knife around in some bliss?" Rook asked.

"Well it is a possibility, like I said before, we don't normally see bliss down here, so we don't really know to much about it" Mary said.

"So, seeing that your capable of making it over here, how you feeling? You must be hungry, right?" She asked, watching over Rook, half expecting him to unexpectedly slump over.

"Not really, I'd kill for some cold water though, but I feel like crap, my head still hurts, I'm feel pretty banged up and I do have this crap taped to me, but other then that I'm sort of ok I guess" Rook answered, gesturing to the improve tape work stuck to his side.

"Really? You're not just saying that thinking I'll let you off the hook?" Mary asked, as far as she knew, he had not taken any pills, if there was any medicine in him, it was done by injection or intravenously.

"Really, I feel ok kinda, to be honest I don't think I'll be out in the field, getting things done for a few days at least" Rook admitted.

"I'm going to hold you to that, you know the second you walk out that door I'm telling everyone about your condition so you don't go doing something you shouldn't" Mary warned, wagging a finger at him.

"Yes ma'am" Rook quickly replied, nodding.

"So, can I have so water or what?" he swiftly followed up.

"Yeah of course" Mary said before reaching down and pulling up a single glass cup from behind the counter and filled it to the brim.

"So, what happened to you, you just disappeared from the Henbane and you end up here bleeding and unconscious, both of those things has spread through the Valley and Henbane like wildfire" Mary asked, handing him the glass and resuming her previous stance.

"Well you may find this hard to believe but I uh, I got grabbed by John again" Rook said before taking a long sip.

"Jesus Dep, if your trying to make a joke that's not funny, god dammit!" Mary standing upright again in displeasure and shock as she watched him place the glass on a lonely napkin.

"I'm sorry but they just came out of nowhere, I don't even remember getting grabbed, for all I know Elvis Priestley himself knocked me out" Rook shrugged.

Rook tried to play it off as not as serious as it really was, to reassure Mary May and to reassure himself, in reality it terrified him how easy it was for the peggies just appeared and scooped him up to drag him off to the bunker, if they did it twice then they could very well do it a third time, Faith did it too and she could have killed him at her leisure as he was doped up to high heaven, he wouldn't be alive right now if she wasn't as sadistic monster like her brother. But regardless of who ordered his capture, if they could get him then they could get anyone, if the peggies found out who he was friends with like Jess, Hurk, or the Rye's what was stopping them from paying them a visit and disappearing them to god knows where.

"So anyways yeah they grabbed me and brought to John's bunker and they tied me this chair and I woke up in this dungeon or something, well, to make a long story short, John was going to tattoo something on me and my co-worker; Josephine Hudson and I was able to get away but I was unable to get her or John on the way out, well like I said I got a little slashed up on the way out, but after that I commandeered a ride and somehow ended up here" Rook continued.

"Christ Dep" Mary said somberly, crossing her arms, regarding the man before her with great concern.

"Yeah, I know, its terrifying" Rook muttered as he picked up his glass and took another swig of water.

"So how are you holding up, I can't imagine what you had to do to escape" Mary asked.

Rook thought about what she had just asked him for a few seconds, it wasn't until just now that he could finally take a step back from everything that had happened to him and go over it in his head, the waking confusion into fear, wandering blindly through the bunker, making it across the Valley in a bloody, blissed haze. Despite it happening days ago, it still shook him to his core, he shouldn't be able to get out of there alive, how could he have?

He was just some small town Wyoming cop who miraculously made it into the ranks of the Montana's Sheriff's Department, he wasn't anything special, no special training, no wartime leadership. The whole time he had been rolling with the punches and doing what he felt was right.

"I uh, I did what I had to, who knows what would have happened to me if I didn't" Rook said as he stared at the empty glass of water.

"Hey is that th' Deputy?!" A gruff voice came from the kitchen behind Mary.

Mary stepped to the side and turned so she and Rook could see the origin of the voice,

The two could see on the other side the small serving window in the wall that split the bar from the backroom kitchen, a man's face grinning up at them, the man was the bar's chief; Casey Fixman.

"Aw shit, look who's up, how you feeling, deputy?" Casey smiled.

"I've been better" Rook replied, trying to put on a brave smile.

"Yeah no kidding man, you gave us all quite a scare when we found you, all kinds of messed up, but hey look at you now all back up on your feet, you look good" Casey said.

"Thank you but, I wish I felt as good as you think I look" Rook replied.

"Well maybe I got a little somethin' somethin' that can cheer you up" Casey smirked before standing up.

Both Mary and Rook could see walk away from the serving window and towards the door that joins the kitchen to the rest of the bar, they then heard the sound of the kitchen door around the corner creak open.

"Come on boy, git, git" Casey said in a hushed tone.

Then suddenly a dog came bounding out from around the corner and towards Rook, as the dog drew close to him the dog skidded to a stop before jumping up and placing his front paws on Rook's lap as he looked up at the Junior Deputy, panting happily as he greatly missed the man.

Rook near instantly recognized the dog as Boomer, he had rarely seen the dog in his time in the Valley as a shard of glass had pierced one of his paws, leading to some much needed bed rest, and after that he had spent most of his time around the bar and slowly became the impromptu mascot, earning all the head pats, belly rubs and food scraps he could ever want.

"Oh hey boy! How have you been, it's been a while huh?" Rook cooed as he scratched Boomer's head.

The head scratches made Boomer's happy panting increase as he closed his eyes and thoroughly enjoyed the affection, his tail wagging back and forth.

"See look at that, now that's man's best friend right there" Casey grinned, sticking an arm out the window to gesture to the pair before pulling back to go back to what he was doing.

"He's really missed you, ever since you left for the Henbane and he was able to walk properly, he would sniff around the bed in the backroom I'd let you sleep in" Mary said, leaning over the counter to see the dog.

"Oh, I'm sorry boy, I didn't mean to leave you behind" Rook said as he moved his hands to scratch under Boomer's jaw, earning purrs of happiness from his companion.

"You should take him with you when you go, I'd feel a lot better know someone is with you, and Boomer could stand to lose al little weight, he's been sleeping in and suckering people out of pieces of their meals over the last few weeks" Mary said, as she picked up Rook's empty glass and began rubbing it down with a rag.

"Oh, of course, there's no way I'd leave him behind, look at those big eyes, who could say no to those" Rook grinned before he stopped scratching Boomer and turned back to her.

he pressed himself up against Rook's legs then laid down, his head occasionally turning to look around the room, keeping an eye out for anything for the Junior Deputy.

"Oh, speaking of taking things with you, here, you should have these" Mary said.

As she spoke she reached down under the bar to and grabbed something before placing it on the counter in front of Rook; a small black walkie talkie, then she reached into her back pocket and placed in on the bar counter, it was a small metal key, she pushed both items across the counter towards Rook

Rook looked at the two items, the walkie talkie was an obvious gift, he needed to be able to contact his friends and allies if he wanted to survive in this climate, more so right now, but the key grabbed his curiosity.

"What's this go to?" Rook asked, pointing at the key.

"It's for the front door of the house you woke up in, a handful of people used to stay there since they all lost their homes to the cult when everything kicked off, and well that was weeks ago and they all died or hunkered somewhere else, so me and Jerome decided you'd get better use out of it since it was either that or the backroom I let you sleep in" Mary explained.

"Wait really, are you sure you just want to give me a house, like an actual house, ok not an actually a house and more like a condo, you sure no one could use it more then me?" Rook asked, he was bewildered that the property of a building just fell into his lap.

"Yeah it's alright, nobody's going to miss it and thanks to all your hard work we're slowly pushing the cult out of the Valley and we're talking back more and more land and buildings, don't worry you earned some privacy and an real bed, besides do you really want to keep sleeping in my back room" Mary smirked.

"Wow, Mary I, I don't know what to say, I never had like a whole house to myself like… wow" Rook muttered in awe.

"Don't worry about it Dep, it's about time you got something for all your hard work" Mary replied casually.

"Wow, I never thought I'd ever get out of my apartment" Rook smiled sheepishly before scooping up the key and carefully inserted it into his pocket, he carefully tilted and bent as he did to keep the movement from irritating his wound.

"And don't forget to give your buddies a call, they've been loitering around here all yesterday, pestering me about you, they could really use the peace of mind" Mary said, pushing the walkie a little closer to him.

"Oh yeah really? I did see a few sticky notes littered around the house before I left" Rook replied as he took that walkie talkie and clipped it to his belt.

"You should have seen them all down here when news spread that we found you, Nick Rye and his family was down here, he wouldn't stop asking questions about you, obviously I'm a bartender and not a doctor so I couldn't really answer any" Mary said, almost rolling her eyes

"He's just worried about me, we're pretty good friends, I helped his daughter get delivered safely" Rook replied quickly.

"Oh, I know, he wouldn't stop telling me and everyone else, I let him say it as much as he did because if wife was carrying the baby and she was very cute" Mary said with a small smile.

"But speaking of friends, I got to say, you've made so friends out in the Henbane" Mary continued.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, unsure of what she was implying.

"Adelaide Drubman and her son Hurk came down here with someone claiming to be his cousin, they came in here thinking you were dead or something, it took a few minutes to explain to them just what happened, they eventually calmed down, had a few drinks in your name then left" Mary explained.

Rook let on a single laugh at the Drubman family antics, his unconscious state didn't stop them from having a good time.

"That certainly sounds like them" Rook grinned.

"I'm glad they got here long after the Rye family left, I wouldn't want the baby around such a rambunctious bunch" Mary spoke.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I couldn't imagine Nick being cool with Hurk and Sharky around Carmina, so did I get any more visitors?" Rook inquired.

When Rook asked his question Mary looked uncertain again, as if she did not want to answer.

"Well your friend, Jess Black stormed in here and started demanding to know where you were, when I told her she just stomped away, and I haven't seen her since, other than that no one else" Mary said.

"Yeah Jess can be… intense when something's up" Rook shrugged apprehensively.

"Well next time you see her can you ask here to turn down the intensity when she's in here, I would appreciate it if she kept her indoor voice indoors" Mary asked.

"Uh, yeah sure, sorry, yeah ill take care of it" Rook said awkwardly.

He couldn't imagine what else she might have done.

"But hey, I'm going to get going, I would like to see what else is going on, maybe find something to do while I heal up" Rook said looking at his hands on the counter as he spoke.

"Sounds good, to be honest I don't want you hanging around here to much here, don't want you to get tempted by the drink, seen to many get that way already" Mary replied.

"Don't worry, I'm not too much of a drinker anyways" Rook smirked.

"That's good to hear, the last thing we need is for you to be interested in getting to the bottom of a bottle then getting to Joseph" Mary responded.

"Yeah, I feel if I did get like that, the Sheriff would kick my ass" Rook said.

"Speaking of your boss, I'll let him know your up and about" Mary replied.

"Thanks, to be honest I really don't want to do it, I can't imagine what he'd say, hey I'll get out of your hair now" rook said quickly as he began to stand up.

As he stood up from his seat, the movement caused a bolt of pain to shoot through his side, making him grunt in pain, casing him to push his hands into the counter as leverage and pushed himself to his feet, the whole thing caused Boomer to stand up, ears pointing straight up, alerted to Rook's pained grunt.

"Hey! Hey! take it easy there, go slow" Mary said concerned, extending one hand towards him ready to grab a hold of him if he stumbled.

"I'm good, no worries, but uh yeah I'm going to head out now, thanks for, uh the heads up" Rook said awkwardly.

"See you around, Ben" Mary nodded.

As he turned to leave, his hands slid across the cool counter top, he felt a warm pressure on his right hand, curious to what it was, he turn back to look and saw that it was Mary's hand, she had placed her hand on his, confused to what she was doing he looked up at her to meet her gaze.

"Good to have you back, Ben" Mary said with a small smile before letting his hand go.

"Uh, yeah thanks, it's nice to be back" Rook nodded, returning the smile then turning back to leave.

As Rook walked towards the Bar's front door with Boomer following close behind, he could hear Mary address Casey.

"Casey, why were you keeping a dog in the kitchen, are you trying to contaminate the food?" Mary asked sternly.

* * *

As Rook and Boomer exited the bar, Rook removed the walkie from his belt and examined it, Mary had gave him orders to let his friends now that he was back on his feet but he wasn't sure who to call first, he had built up a cavalcade of friends since he had shown up in county.

Perhaps it was best to call Jess and smooth everything over with her, he did upset her last they spoke and he did leave the region without notifying her, that was one of the few rules they had established.

Rook brought the walkie to his mouth and pressed the button.

"Hey Jess… I uh, I'm awake and I'm kinda ok, so what you up to… you wanna meet up or what?" Rook asked before releasing the button.

Rook waited in silent anticipation for a response, but seconds ticked into a half minute and nothing came, he was unsure what to else say, he wasn't sure if she was angry at him, they had split on a rather sour note, it didn't help that Jess had made it painfully clear that she holds grudges.

But still the walkie remained silent, whatever Jess was doing, she seemed it more important then his call, or maybe he just got the channel wrong, perhaps Jess left her walkie on a different frequency then what they usually used.

As much as he would have liked to flick from frequency to frequency to find his archery prone friend, he didn't want to pollute the airwaves, letting everyone and anyone who had a radio hear him. Instead he changed his walkie to a frequency he did know, the one his friend Nick usually left all his devices on.

"Hey Nick, you there?" Rook asked, half expecting to get the same result as before.

"Holy shit man is that really you?!" Nick's voice excitedly came out of the walkie within a few seconds of Rook asking.

"Yeah man, its me, how are you doing?" Rook asked, grinning, he was happy to hear his friends voice.

"I'm great now man, but what about you, how you feeling you didn't look to good" Nick asked, still sounding just as excited.

"I'm still pretty scuffed up but I'll live, I doubt I'll be doing anything for a little while so I thought I'd hit everybody up" Rook said.

"Where you at Partner, I got a little pet project that isn't my plane, why don't you and me work on it since you can't do to much?" Nick asked enthusiastically.

Rook didn't respond for a few seconds as he looked at the church across the street, the thought of dropping by and speaking to Jerome hadn't crossed his mind until now.

"Uhhh sure why not, I'm at Falls End, I'll be in the church till you show up" Rook answered.

"OK Partner stay there, I'm on my way, I'll just let Kim know I'm headed out" Nick said before the line clicked dead.

the sudden silence left Rook dating at the walkie in his grip, with Nick now on his way down all he had to do was wait, he clipped the walkie back on his belt and turned to Boomer who patently watched the Junior Deputy.

"Here that boy, we got a friend coming" Rook said, looking down at his canine companion.

The remark had earned a playful head tilt from Boomer as he continued to pant happily.

"Come on, let's see if Jerome is home" Rook offered as he started walking towards the church.

Boomer yipped once before trotting after him.

* * *

As Rook opened the church door, Boomer scampered inside, nervous as to just letting a dog run inside the church, he quickened his pace to keep the dog in his view, but thankfully all boomer did was trot up to the nearest pew and jump up onto it before laying down on it, stretching out and getting comfy.

Feeling relieved the dog didn't try anything rambunctious, Rook walked up to Boomer and quickly rubbed his fur, rewarding him for his self control. He then looked up to find Jerome but quickly found he was approaching him.

"Benjamin Rook, as I live and breathe" Jerome said, greeting him warmly as he closed the distance between them.

"How are you?" He asked.

"About as well as can be expected" Rook sighed.

"Are you sure you should be up and about then?" Jerome asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good" Rook answered, waving off the question.

"Mary already interrogated me about it" he said.

Jerome chuckled lightly at his response.

"Well if you have her permission then I guess you really are ok, so what brings you down here?" Jerome asked.

"Well I was hoping you'd bring me up to speed with everything that's happened since I left" Rook asked.

"Ah, somehow a lot and a little progress has been made in your absence" Jerome replied.

"We're oh so slowly pushing peggies out off the Valley, but it takes a concentrated effort to clear one section, pulling people out of other sections to lend a hand, but with all our men in one area, peggies seem to sneak in through a less guarded section, not only that but whatever John is planning, he's made it clear he's hunkering down and preparing for the long haul" Jerome explained.

"What do you mean did something happen?" Rook asked, sounding a little nervous.

"While you were out, John jumped on all the tv's and radios to make a big speech about how you are just a minor inconvenience that will be smoothed out soon enough and to make matters worse he has deployed a fleet of airplanes to provide support to the ground troops when they make their moves" Jerome grimaced.

"Seriously?!" Rook gapped in bewilderment.

He had no idea John had the resources to pull something like that off, but it also had to mean something was seriously wrong on John's end if he decided to deploy a fleet of planes now, he could have deployed them any time before yesterday but for some reason he didn't, if he had then he might have died along time ago.

"Is there anything in the works to take him or the planes down?" Rook asked, crossing his arms.

Ever since he got up close and personal with John, it had rubbed him wrong, John made in uncomfortable.

"Nothing concrete at the moment, right now all we can do is keep tearing at his works until he comes out to make a show of force to push as back and bolster his ranks" Jerome answered.

"Hmm, I see, but is there like, is there anything specific that everyone is working on?" Rook asked again.

Jerome didn't respond for a few seconds as he pondered Rook's question.

"Well nothing interesting comes to mind, we've just been doing the usual mundane routines, keeping areas secure, keeping the pressure on hostile zones, and doing patrols to make everyone feel safe, other than that I cant think of anything… well… no never mind" Jerome shrugged brushing away a thought.

"Wait what about the last thing, it sounded like you were going to say something" Rook asked, his curiosity piqued.

"It's nothing really, as I said before, John had deployed planes to give his troops air support, and well the only way those planes could land and take off in this area would be John's ranch, it has a big landing strip attached to the place as John has a penchant for flying, and well some of the rowdier members of town have been thinking about storming the place and shutting it all down" Jerome explained.

"Oh jeez, really?" Rook asked in awe, Jerome was right that was a little crazy.

Rook had been there once in his first few weeks of being in the county to steal back Nick's plane and it was one of the hardest things he ever did, he barely got away alive.

"Yes, but for now that is just a pipe dream as the ranch is one of the most guarded places in the Valley" Jerome responded.

"Do you think their guarding something important, I mean besides all the plane stuff?" Rook asked.

"We don't know until we actually get in there, until then we just got to keep our heads down when we hear turbines, but that leads me to my next point, what do you plan to do when your all healed up?" Jerome asked, the tone in his voice dropping slightly.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, unsure what he meant.

"When you get better, will you be staying with us or will you be returning to the Henbane River?" Jerome clarified

His question through Rook through a hoop, he never really thought about it, he had spent so much time in the Henbane without any communication from the valley at a certain point he took it as they were doing ok but now that Jerome had briefed him on the matter and asked him the question, it really made him think, one hand if he were to return to the Henbane, he'd have to get Jess to go along with him, that was not a problem in it of itself as she went where the peggies did, but the Henbane was in a more dire situation as Faith's grip on the region was still iron clad if not unchanged since he showed up, and there was Faith herself, he had somehow gotten in her good graces so to speak, sure it would have advantages down the road as her passive nature would mean her game plans would move at a slow pace as it appeared she had no wartime training or anything of the sort, but when it would finally boil down to dealing with her be it with handcuffs and the Miranda Right or a bullet, it would still feel very awkward as he would be abusing their friendship, even more so if he had to use the bullet, but on the other hand if he stayed in the Valley John's grip was clearly slipping, peggie attacks were getting less and less frequent, but John was nothing like Faith, he was a monster, he had seen John's true colors in the bunker, he saw just what he was capable of as there was no low he would stoop to reclaim his lost territory, even more so now that he was slowly being pushed into a corner, John was most likely getting even more stress from Joseph himself as he was probably scolding him for his repeating failures, the newly deployed airplanes made it evident.

"I uh, I don't know yet" Rook said nervously, almost expecting Jerome to give him a slap on the wrist for his indecisiveness.

"It's quite alright Dep, your still injured after all, so just relax for now and get better ok?" Jerome offered.

"Uh yeah, I will, totally" rook mumbled.

What Jerome said stuck with him, if he wanted to remove the evil that was the Seed's from the County he had to really think about what part of the valley he wanted to hit, he couldn't just ping pong between the two at his leisure, he needed a plan to deal with both Faith and John, but what made Rook really nervous was the Mountains, he had very rarely stepped foot in the mountain region and who knew what the oldest Seed; Jacob could possible be planning, there was no way he wasn't conversing with his siblings, learning from their mistakes, he new very little about Jacob, the only thing he really knew was he was responsible for training the real soldiers, the ones that were meant to fight in the post apocalyptic world Joseph prophesied would come.

"Hey Partner!" Nick's enthusiastic voice suddenly echoed through out the normally quiet church.

The sudden vocalization made Rook jump, he quickly spun around to face his friend, Rook saw Nick looking expectantly at Rook as Boomer; now standing up, ears perked and watching Nick, not moving and inch.

"Oh, hello Mister Rye, how the wife and child?" Jerome asked.

"Their great as always, man" Nick grinned as he nodded at Jerome before turning his attention back to Rook.

"Hey dude" Rook said as he approached Nick.

As he did, Nick held out a fist, signifying a fist bump, Rook wasted no time and fist bumped his friend.

"Man, your looking better than I thought" Nick grinned.

"Thanks man, I feel pretty ok" Rook replied.

"So, what have you been doing since you woke up?" Nick asked.

"Oh, you know, just getting up to date on what's going on" Rook answered

"But what about you, what have you been doing?" Rook asked.

"I've just been looking after Kim and Carmina, shit's getting crazy since John just got a bunch of planes in the air, for once, I'm not to excited to get airborne" Nick said.

"Speaking of that, how'd you get here so fast, you live on the far side of the Valley?" Rook asked.

Nick let out a hearty laugh before answering.

"Well to be honest, apparently I'm a bit to smothering at home, I just need to give Kim and the baby some space, I think Kim just wants some mommy daughter time" Nick said.

"Well since your out of the house for a while, what's this pet project you've been working on?" Rook asked.

Nick wore a devilish smile when Rook asked his question.

"Oh, you'll see, come on, I'll show you, it's great" Nick grinned as he back pedaled to the door, ushering Rook to follow.

"Hey, it's not like dangerous or anything, I am still pretty beat up" Rook asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah man, it's all good, and if it does go south, I'll take care of it" Nick replied.

"But what is it though?" Rook asked getting a little concerned as Nick would not tell him.

"It's a surprise, I can't tell you, if I did, you wouldn't enjoy it" Nick smirked.

Rook regarded Nick for a few seconds before responding.

"Alright dude lead on" Rook said.

Rook couldn't see a reason to say no to Nick, he had never done anything to make Rook question him and he had been a solid friend through and through, with his mind made up, Rook followed him out the front door, causing Boomer to jump off the pew and follow the two men, Nick noticed the furry creature following him almost instantly.

"Wow, you got Boomer with you?" Nick said, surprised to see the dog not back at the bar.

"Yeah, he's a good boy, is it a problem?" Rook asked expectantly.

"No way man, dogs are awesome, he can totally come" Nick grinned before turning back around.

Rook didn't say anything else, he just followed his friend to his pickup truck that was parked on the edge of the road, seeing the red truck sparked a few more memories within his mind, the high speed driving he did to get Kim to the clinic seemed to spring from his mind with a nostalgic feeling.

As Rook approached the pickup and opened the pickup's back doors and Boomer quickly hopped inside before Rook closed the door, before climbing into the passenger seat with a noticeable grunt as Nick climbed into the driver's seat.

"Hey you OK?" Nick asked nervously.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good" Rook waved off as he settled in the seat and fastened his seat belt, panting slightly.

"Alright man, I trust you, just let me know if you need to slow down" Nick offered.

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind" Rook replied.

With Nick accepting Rook's response he quickly looked at Rook with a knowing grin as he inserted the keys into the ignition and started the truck.

"You're going to love this man, just you wait" Nick practically giggled.

"Hey, as long as there's no gunfights or anything, I'm down for anything" Rook replied.

"Don't worry, thanks to your hard work, no gun fights with peggies will happen as we have a little fun" Nick said as he pressed upon the gas pedal and slowly creeped back onto the road before taking off.

Rook felt somewhat relaxed as Nick drove, the last time he had some actual time off to do whatever was when he went hunting with Jess, but this time he was with a fellow man, who knows what Nick could have been planning, a part of him was excited to see what he was planning and another part of him felt trepidation as Nick may not be as wild as Hurk or Sharky, but he still had a wild streak about him. The peggie menace had brought out all kinds of things in people as death lurked around all corners, but Rook had good feelings about Nick, his new fatherhood had given him a new lease on life.

Rook reached up and flicked on the radio and some old rock and roll song started playing it, Rook identified it immediately, it brought a smile to his face, he heard Nick make a comment saying how much he liked the song, which made the smile on Rook's face grow.

Maybe despite everything that happened to him, he still could have a good day.


	24. Chapter 24

Nick and Rook drove the lonely Holland Valley roads, the peggie threat had been pushed back enough that they could drive down the roads at a decent pace without speeding, the two men playfully bantered as they went. Rook enjoyed the ride; he couldn't remember the last time he was in a car and not

drive, it was nice to just enjoy a car ride without clutching a gun or planning to kill a bunch of dudes and take a piece of land back from the enemy, it made him feel normal, despite the throb in his side, he felt like he was just some guy going somewhere with his friend and his dog, but where they were going was still a mystery, but as they went Rook's mental map of the Valley slowly came back to him, from what he could gather, they were headed in the general direction of Nick`s home and business.

"Anyways Kim wants me to repaint the whole room again" Nick sighed, wrapping up his story.

"And are you going to do it?" Rook asked.

"I don't know, maybe, paint used to be a little expensive around here and now its just gone, all that's left is that nasty mayonnaise yellow and white colors the peggies keep laying around" Nick responded.

"Once the peggies are all gone I'm sure she's going to want you to make a bunch of touch ups here and there, baby proofing the place at least" Rook offered.

"Augh don't get me started on that" Nick groaned, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Ok let's change the subject then" Rook asked.

"If you're not telling me what we're doing, can you at least tell me where we're going?" Rook asked.

"Uhhh, alright why not, ok so essentially my thing is set up right by my place, right down by the river, south of my place" Nick answered.

"We're not doing any sort of home renovation or baby proofing are we?" Rook asked apprehensively.

Rook really didn't want to do any manual labor, sure he'd have no problem helping a friend out, but his body would adamantly complain against it.

"No way Partner, this is a casual thing to blow off steam, I thought you were going to die or something, and after all that and everything you did for me an' my family, you deserve some grade A chill time" Nick said.

"I'm always down for some R and R but these past weeks has just been nothing but fighting the cult and I'm just so used to it; I feel like I'm just going to have a hard time trying to relax" Rook admitted.

"Don't worry dude, this will take your mind off of all the shit around us, so until we get there, just sit back and enjoy the ride" Nick said, trying to reassure him.

Rook silently agreed with his friend, he had promised Mary he'd try not to hurt himself further and that meant mentally as well, he needed to try not to sit around and worry himself sick thinking about what could be happening within all three regions, his friend was taking time out of his day to make sure he got something to take his mind off of the torture dungeon that was Johns bunker instead of laying in bed all day constantly thinking about it, not wanting to look a gift in the mouth, he did what Nick said and tried to get even more comfy in the seat and tried to enjoy the trip.

* * *

As the truck rounded a long, slow bend the Rye family driveway slowly came into view, seeing the entrance to Nick's home didn't surprise Rook, his mental map that slowly came back to him had guided him correctly and he had a feeling Nick didn't want to be far away from his family for long periods of time. The truck quickly approached the driveway and sailed right by it, continuing down the road, as they went down the road they were coming up on the large driveway that gave access to Nick's airstrip, as their truck became parallel with the driveway, Nick pulled the wheel to the left. It made Rook jump in fear as for a second he thought Nick was going to try to push through the treeline that grew alongside the roads but instead of trees and waist high grass, they rolled down a dirt road, the ground hard and even from years of use, it stretched into the forest for seventy or so feet before the path opened up to a large circular area, the ground just the same as the path, at the side farthest from the entrance was a few wooden logs lay in a line, perfectly adjacent to each other as the represented parking spaces, a wide river flowed gently across the landscape a few meters beyond the circular ground, Nick slowed the truck and pulled up right in front of one of the logs before killing the engine.

"We're here" he grinned, giving Rook a look before exiting the vehicle.

Rook followed suit and unclipped his seat belt and carefully climbed out of his seat, as he stepped out of the truck and closed the door behind him, he opened the back door and Boomer leapt out and shook lightly before getting comfortable in his new environment.

"Alright follow me" Nick called out.

Rook looked over to his friend, and saw him walking away from the truck and towards the other end of the large circular ground, almost towards the way they came, but instead of going right, to the path they had just come down he went left towards the babbling river, and down a smaller path hidden in the brush.

"Come on boy" Rook muttered to Boomer before moving forward quickly to catch up to his friend, not enough to hurt himself but enough to clear the distance.

As Rook and Boomer trotted down the small path towards the river he could see Nick and what he was leading him to, it was a small lonely pier that stretched out into a third of the river's width, to the right of the pier, where the pier connected to land sat a small shed, most likely housing various things, next to the door of the shed was a small round barbecue. On the end of the pier was two foldout lawn chairs, a small blue cooler sat in between them, a parasol firmly planted in a base place directly behind the cooler provided shade to the two chairs, a fishing rod lay next to either chair, a fish net lay next to the fishing rod on the right.

"This is my prototype Daddy daughter bonding site" Nick announced proudly as he stood by the chairs, stretching his arms wide.

"Well I want to add a few more things here and there and I can't really have beers in the cooler" Nick continued, dropping his arms.

"Wow man, this is really cool" Rook grinned, pausing to take in what Nick had built, he rarely fished before, but when he did, he enjoyed it, not only that but the sun was out and it was a beautiful day out, why not spend it with his buddy and go fishing.

"Lord knows Kim wouldn't let me teach 'Mina how to fly a plane till she's at least sixteen I think, until then I'll teach her other things I enjoy" Nick said sheepishly.

"This is a really rad place you set up man, I'm sure she'll love it" Rook said.

"I hope your right, so come on Partner, let's break this thing in" Nick replied before walking around the right most chair and sat down before popping the lid of the cooler.

"C'mon man what are you waiting for let's down some beer a catch some fish!" Nick hollered as he reached into the cooler and pulled out a beer can and popped the seal, he took a quick sip before placing it on the ground next to the fishing rod before picking up the aforementioned tool and casting his line into the water, the red and white bobber gently bounced up and down as it floated in the water.

Rook and Boomer walked down the pier, Boomer stayed behind on the midsection of the pier while Rook went forward and carefully maneuvered himself under the parasol and around his chair before cautiously lowering himself into the chair with a grunt.

Boomer wandered over to the side of the pier and lowered his head to sniff at the flowing water a few times before hoping in, the water level from where Boomer stood was inches deep as he was at the shoreline, trying to cool off, and biting at the lapping waves that splashed against him a few times, as if it were possible to snap up the water.

Rook looked down into the open cooler next to him and saw several cans of beer, surrounded in ice, still feeling the thirst he had when he woke up, he stuck a hand into the cooler and grabbed a can, the cold on the can and surplus of ice chilled his hand, it felt nice against the heat from the summer sun. he closed the cooler's lid as he pulled the can out and cracked the seal and took a swig, he didn't normally drink but for some reason the beer tasted better then he remembered but quickly chalked it up to just being thirsty all day. He wiped his mouth with his free hand before placing the can on the pier and with trifling effort and pained grunts he was able to pick up the fishing rod at his side, he settled in his seat and waited for the pain to subside before continuing.

"So, what's in the water?" Rook asked as he raised the rod over his head and cast his line into the lazy river.

"Uh, I believe golden trout I think, I fished around here before and they looked goldish, big suckers though they'll make good eating that's for sure" Nick remarked.

"You think they're hungry?" Rook asked, slowly winding the fishing line, keeping taunt against the current.

"Last time I was here, they were snapping up the bait as much as them peggies were snapping at you" Nick offered.

"Then why can't I see any then?" Rook joked, but he had a point, the water was clear, and no fish could be seen.

"Like I said Partner, they usually snap like the peggies snap at you, so they're all just waiting for the right time to strike" Nick retorted, giving his rod a few light jerks.

"So, should I except a fish to hit me over the head or something?" Rook said, continuing the joke.

"Just keep doing what your doing Partner and you'll be unstoppable, you're already putting a fear into ol' Johnny boy" Nick smirked as he leaned back in his seat.

"Really, John is afraid of me, the guy who blew him off for a week or two to deal with his sister?" Rook asked, doubt the certainty of Nick's statement.

Nick let out a hearty laugh at what his friend had just said.

"Well when you but it like that then yeah, I'd be more pissed then anything but yeah man, if he's not pissed then he's freaking out" Nick sneered before grabbing his beer can with his free hand and taking a swig.

"What makes you say that?" Rook asked.

"John's a total control freak, when the cult was still all grass roots, John was out here selling the dream to people with his big city talk, but he still had that holier then thou vibe on him, not like Joseph or anything but it was like he didn't want to be touched or he'd get dirty, he always did whatever he could to make sure he looked good at all times, always went out of his way to step around puddles and other crap, always washing his hands, it was like he needed everything neat and perfect, I bet he even puts that green crap on his face with the cucumber slices over his eyes when he goes to bed, but anyways with all that in mind, here you are, smashing his shit, taking his stuff, ruining everything he has set up, I bet it's really winding him up something fierce" Nick described.

"Huh, that actually makes sense, I get what you're saying" Rook supposed, rubbing his chin for a few moments before feeling a pang of worry.

"Not trying to say I don't believe you or anything, it's just I think I only saw him face to face like three times and only talked to him two or three times" Rook said, trying to wave off any implications of his previous statement.

"I feel you, he doesn't look it but he's got a hell of a temper, I couldn't even imagine how bad he messed up his perfectly manicured nails after he finished punching a billion holes in the drywall after that big yes sign went down" Nick said.

"You have no idea, last time I spoke to him he wanted to do this weird cult ritual and he needed me to say yes, and obviously I didn't and he just snapped, he flipped a table and started yelling, a lot of angry pacing and furious monologuing" Rook explained.

"Yeah that sounds about right, you can see his anger even out here with all that sick shit laying around the Valley, the corpses with sins carved into their bodies as they hang from stuff, getting his dudes to destroy certain stuff when he's in one of his moods, conducting those baptism drownings, he's a right bastard, hell yesterday he made this big announcement because something happened up at his bunker or something, I have a feeling you have something to do with that?" Nick supposed.

"You felt right, I did have something to do with that, but what did he actually say yesterday, like specifically" Rook asked, curious as to what John could possibly say to brush off the fact that he was dragged deep within his bunker's bowels and still managed to escape.

"He came on all the radios and stuff and started preaching about how things will get worse before they get better, for them of course, then he starts going on about how we're moving into a bold new future as the end fast approaches, and to make up for it there will be a bunch of planes will be deployed to kick our asses if we ever try anything that would make big mission any harder, then he started yapping about how you're the great sinner, yadda, yadda, yadda, you need to atone for your sins, yadda, yadda, yadda, souls don't harvest themselves, the whole nine yards" Nick said, rolling his eyes at John's antics.

"But he didn't say anything that could elude to what he maybe be up to in the near future?" Rook asked, he wished he could have heard the broadcast, who knows what John could have said about the future.

"If he did, he was real sneaky about it, all I got was about end of the world nonsense and talked about the planes and getting you" Nick summed up.

"Damn, I was really hoping he'd say something about what he's planning for the valley, he's vain enough to let something slip" Rook groused.

"Don't worry bud, I'm sure you'll get him soon enough… but speaking of getting people…" Nick trailed off before turning to look at his friend.

"Benjamin" Nick said with a mischievous smile, when he said his name, he stretched its pronunciation slightly, as if to imply something.

"What's up?" Rook asked, trying to remain casual, it was clear by the look on Nick's face that he wanted something, and that meant no good.

"With all this work your doing, fighting th' cult and all that, your getting pretty famous around here, when your Sheriff jumped on the radio asking anyone for help to find you a bunch of people came out to do a look for you, yours truly included, but I got to say, a large portion of the people were ladies, and might I say they seemed pretty concerned over little ol' you, so I got to ask" Nick said before leaning towards his friend, the mischievous growing on his face.

"You hitting any of that?" Nick smirked, his eyebrows bouncing up and down a few times after he asked.

Of course, that's what he was after, Nick was asking him about his sex life, or to be more specific has he been flexing his title as poster boy to attract possible hookups. Rook didn't feel to comfortable answering such questions, a splash of embarrassment washed over him as he had no sexual contact to brag about, nor would he even if he did.

"I uhh, sorry man, not really" Rook shrugged, hoping Nick wouldn't make a big deal of it.

But his answer earned a sizable groan from Nick as he leaned away from him.

"Come on man, you're just saying that because you don't kiss and tell, right?" Nick groaned.

"Sorry to say but it's both actually, even if I was meeting up with a woman, I wouldn't say too much" Rook shrugged.

He didn't really know what to say to his friend other then no, he never had a good track record with woman, any romantic relationship usually lasted two months at the most.

"Come on, there must be at least one lady your talking to, and I don't mean girls like Fairgrave or Armstrong, I know you have to talk to them to do your job, and well let's face it, they're out of your league" Nick deadpanned.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?" Rook pouted, the response had rubbed him he wrong way.

He knew he wasn't the most suave or charismatic person in the world, but he couldn't just take a hit like that laying down, he could bite the bullet and do what would need to be done if he needed to.

"Come on man, have you looked at them, and I mean really look at them, they're both gorgeous, and besides, Mary May was probably one of the most popular people in high school and in a small county like this, that carried to a degree out of school so she's got a fair amount of sway in the Valley as she was good at getting people on her side and she's doing something right if her bar was competing against the local brewery, the only other source of alcohol in the county and Armstrong, I mean come on, she's a war vet and an Olympian" Nick explained.

"Wait what do you mean?" Rook asked.

"A while back she actually got in the two thousand and four national Olympics, she won a national title and a bronze medal in that event where a plastic disc shoots into the air and she shoots it down" Nick explained.

"Holy shit I never knew that, I knew she was a crack shot, but I never knew she was that good" Rook said in awe, absolutely surprised Grace was truly that good.

"There's even a big billboard somewhere around here that says something like welcome to Hope County, home of the Olympian; Grace Armstrong or something like that" Nick supposed.

"But man was she ever pissed when the local newspaper screwed up the article of her medal and wrote she won a silver instead of a bronze, she spent like half a day blowing off steam, sniping pumpkins at the ol' pumpkin farm" Nick said.

"how'd hey mess that up?" Rook asked.

"Hell if I know, all I know now is the Seeds bought up the paper mill fast and slowly pumped out their shit around that time so maybe that caused it or the explanation was cut out and replaced" Nick theorized.

"Wow, I know I got briefed on the Seeds before I came out here, but I still forget sometimes that they were out here for so long" Rook pondered.

"Yeah no kiddin' not to many people seemed to care when they first came, a few knew something was up from the get go but no one really listened, I know I didn't I was to concerned with the business at the time, but man I wish I did, I wish I could have done something" Nick said before angrily sighing.

It was clear he regretted not getting more involved in the welfare of his hometown, but who could blame him, how was anyone supposed to know the Seed's little community gatherings would grow into a full-blown cult.

"Come on man, you shouldn't blame yourself, how could you have know, hell what could you have done, even if you tried, they might have killed you for causing them problems or something, what would Kim do then?" Rook offered, trying to make his friend feel better.

"Yeah I feel you, but still man, a lot of people would still be alive if something was done sooner" Nick said.

"But we're doing something now, better late then never right?" Rook offered.

"I suppose but it's like weird at the same time, I'm fighting to build a home for my daughter and wife and get back at the cult of killing my neighbours and other people but a good chunk of people who are doing this sick shit were once Hope County citizens, it just feels weird to kill people I would see at community gatherings to protect the ones that aren't going to kill me" Nick supposed, the way he talked, it sounded like it depressed him, but who could blame him.

"Well tell you what, leave that stuff to me, I'm the Junior Deputy, I should be doing the up close work, I shouldn't even be letting you do any fighting, but I get a feeling you'd still try anyways, but regardless, let me do that hard work on the ground, just stick to the skies and give me cover and we wont let the people who killed the innocent go unpunished, before we know it, we'll have Joseph and the rest of his family in cuffs and awaiting trial" Rook spoke, trying to encourage his friend.

Nick didn't say anything for a few seconds, it was like he was processing what he heard as he stared out into the river to the sounds of Boomer splashing around behind them.

"Hey I know I said I'll help you out when ever you need it but I double mean it now, you ever need anything and I mean anything give me a shout, I can't have my daughters godfather get disappeared again" Nick smiled, perking back up again.

"Thanks man, I really appreciate, I could use all the help I can get, hell whenever we make a move to get rid of all those peggies planes I can really use your help if your up for it" Rook replied.

"Hell yeah I am!" Nick declared happily, holding up a clenched fist.

"I'm so ready to kick those bastards out of the sky, I miss flying my plane, dammit" he scowled.

"Thank you, I really appreciate anything you can do, as of right now your fifty percent of the total air force so far" Rook admitted.

"What's the other fifty?" Nick asked.

"I got an I owe you from Adelaide Drubman right before I got messed up, was hoping see could lend a hand" Rook said.

"Adelaide Drubman" Nick repeated warmly; his voice carried a knowing pitch to it.

"Sounds like you know her" Rook pointed out.

"Sorta, throughout the years very rarely when I bump into her out in town by myself, she very subtly tries to jump my bones" Nick smirked.

"Really?" Rook asked in curiosity, he remembered Jess saying something about she was as big-time cougar, but he didn't expect her to try to poach a married man.

"Yeah man, but I kinda excepted it in the first place, after she got this big divorce and run off with a bunch of money she came back a while later and after that there's this rumor floating around about this list she has, apparently it's called the any hole list, and I'm sure what you can guess what that could imply" Nick

Rook shuttered at the lists name, when he met Adelaide she seemed like a nice enough lady, he would never had guessed she had such a lecherous side despite all of the warnings she received.

"I kinda had a feeling I'm on that list seeing as I'm so handsome and what not, y'know I wouldn't be surprised if your on that list" Nick pondered.

"What no way, I barely even talked to her, I probably didn't even say more then two hundred words to her" Rook retorted, trying to dodge the possibility that a much older woman was pining for him.

"That's all it takes for the magic to happen man, that's how them older woman are, they see something they like it and they go for it, married or not, trust me" Nick replied

"But hey I see what your doing Mister Deputy, your trying to change the subject, your trying to move away from the woman your talking too, so come on man spill it" Nick continued, the mischievous returning.

Rook mentally swore, Nick had remembered what started the conversation, it was clear he wasn't going to let this go, Rook had to answer, but no one really stood out in his mind, he didn't speak to that many women on a day to day basis, there was Tracey but he didn't know where they stood, there was Adelaide but he barely knew her, other then them he couldn't think of anyone.

Anyone other then Jess.

He didn't know how to explain Jess to Nick, she had made it clear they were friends but all they did was kill peggies and talk to kill time, was that what friends out here do?

If he were to tell him about Jess what would he even say, she was rather intense when it came too killing peggies and had a rather vulgar mouth, other than that she was quite stoically silent, but there was still something about her, something that made him care about her in a way that wasn't the usual police officer care.

"Well..." Rook began, unsure if he should finish.

But just saying that made Nick lean back in towards Rook with that same devious smile, as if he was about to hear some premium gossip.

"Now that I think about it, there's this one girl I hang out with a bunch" Rook said anxiously.

Nick made a hum of acknowledgement.

"Her name is Jess" Rook finally said.

"And does this Jess have a last name?" Nick teasingly asked.

"Jess Black" Rook stated quickly.

Hearing the name, Nick leaned away from Rook again, sitting normally in his seat, making a noise of puzzlement.

"Can't say I ever heard anyone with that name before" Nick spoke.

"She uh, likes to keep her head down, she's a hunter so she's good at not being noticed" Rook explained.

"A hunter huh, did she come down her for hunting season right before the peggies hit?" Nick asked.

"Naah, she's lived here her whole life" Rook responded.

"Ok tell me about her, what's she like?" Nick questioned.

Rook couldn't help but feel painfully nostalgic, in his high school days his father would pepper him with questions when he found out his son had spent time with a girl.

"She's quiet most times, but we usually shoot the breeze and talk about whatever, some would probably say we banter when we're not killing peggies but uh, she's really good with a bow, like Legolas level good, and me and her are a pretty good team, good enough to hang out all the time, we really made some dents in the Henbane, she's uhhh, really cool, I er, I like her, I trust her to watch my back and stuff" Rook tried to say confidently.

"Alright, alright, I dig it, she sounds pretty sweet, but what she look like?" Nick asked, trying to pull more info out of him.

"She uh, she got blueish eyes, long brown hair, kinda short maybe five eight, five nine I think, pretty sure late twenties, she always wears this big green jacket for some reason, I'm sure you'll recognize her when you see her" Rook said.

"Come on man, your killing me here, give me something good to work with, when I asked what she looked like, I meant is she hot?" Nick groaned.

He wasn't really sure how to answer, he never really looked at Jess that was, he knew she wasn't not pretty and her facial scars never bothered him, it was hard to see her as a potential romantic partner when she had an obsession with murdering a group of people and swore like a sailor, he couldn't see any traits that would suggest a long lasting relationship, but that didn't mean she was a bad choice, they did get along quite well and had made each other laugh a few times, despite coming from two very different walks of life, but that didn't mean anything, he could say the same about Armstrong or even Hurk, but still, they had a chemistry.

"Uhhhh, yeah sure, I guess she's cute" Rook shrugged, he didn't know how to vocalize his thoughts.

"So was she like crying over your body as you were unconscious yesterday" Nick asked, clearly enjoying hearing about Rook's love life.

Rook tried to imagine the scenario Nick pitched but just couldn't see it, much less Jess cry in general.

"No way, that's not her, she's pretty hard up, I once watched her set a peggie on fire with an arrow once" Rook replied.

"Holy shit dude, I didn't know you are into that breed of women!" Nick laughed.

"What? No, it ain't like that, we're just a team" Rook pouted.

"Yeah sure, you're just a team that hangs out all the time, so come on dude when are you going to introduce me to this Jess?" Nick teased.

"Well yeah, that's how we survive, the only reason I got this messed up is because I was on my own" Rook retorted.

"Whatever dude just let me know if you want me to be your best man when ya'll get married" Nick giggled as he playfully planted a fist into Rook's shoulder.

By the way Nick laughed and teased him for just hanging out with a girl, he couldn't help but feel like he was in elementary school again. But as Nick's attention was locked firmly on ribbing Rook for his interaction with women, he failed to notice that the end of his fishing rod slowly bended a few times before shaking lightly as a fish on the hook, neither man was to busy to notice a fish had been hooked and was adamantly fighting against the line, swimming down stream, just as Nick became aware of what was happening,  
the fishing rod slipped from his hand and was quickly pulled into the river and floated downstream.

"Aw shit!" Nick yelped as he shot from his seat and leapt off the side of the pier to chase after his fishing rod.

Rook, who didn't move from his spot, he didn't bother to help as he didn't want to aggravate his wounds and couldn't help but watch the sweet, sweet karma Nick was receiving and couldn't help but point and laugh.

* * *

The hours seemed to fly by as the two fished and had a few drinks, Rook eventually brought Nick up to speed about what happened to him in the bunker and the events that lead up to it, all the while catching a few fish every now and again, the fish to Rook, didn't quite seem to live up to their namesake as they barely looked gold, but who was he to question it, he knew nothing about fish, Boomer eventually had enough of the water and got back up on the pier and lay down next to Rook, to get comfy under the shade and eye the fish the two men pulled up, Rook eventually noticed the canine eyeing up what they have caught and to appease him, Rook tossed him the smallest of the fish they had caught, Boomer jumped at the fish and ate if happily, as the sun slowly began to drop out of the sky, nick looked at his wristwatch.

"Oh, shit man, it's almost five in the afternoon" Nick moaned.

"Is that a bad thing?" Rook asked, looking at his friend.

"Not really, just didn't think we were out here this long" Nick replied.

"Hey, you had enough of fishing?" he asked.

"You know what" Rook said looking back down at his bobber in the water.

"I think we can call it a day if you want" he said.

"Then let's get out of here" Nick said before setting down his fishing rod and rising to his feet.

Rook followed suit but his rise from the chair was accompanied by a grunt, both the noise and the act of standing up caused Boomer to rise as well.

"Come on boy, home time" Rook said to the dog before turning around and walking the length of the pier.

As the walked down pier, he couldn't help but feel more tired then he did before for so reason, perhaps it was a sign that he should continue to take it easy the coming days no matter what was coming.

"Hey you ok?" Rook heard Nick called from the end of the pier.

He looked up to see Boomer running ahead of him towards his friend standing in the grass on solid land, holding the net full of fish, giving him a concerned look.

"Yeah, I'm ok, just been sitting for so long my legs fell asleep a little bit, I'm not used to sitting still again" Rook replied, trying to wave off the concern.

"You sure? You're walking kinda slow" Nick said.

"Just taking my time" Rook said, fighting off a yawn.

As much as he wanted to deny it, he could feel it now that Nick had called it out, the smaller strides, the shortness in breath, the soreness, the tiredness, he probably should have taken some medicine.

"Alright Partner, I'll be up by the truck then" Nick said, still sounding a little concerned before turning around to his vehicle.

As Rook worked his way up down the pier and made it to the end just in time to see Nick throw the net full of dead fish into the flatbed of the truck before opening the back door for Boomer to jump in, once he was settled Nick shut the door and looked up at Rook.

"You ready to go?" Nick asked.

"Yeah let's roll" Rook replied as he trudged through the tall grass and slowly made it to the truck as Nick climbed in and started the truck.

He pulled open the door and climbed in with a grunt and fastened his seat belt before shutting his door.

"Hey, you sure you're ok, you seem to be getting a lil slow" Nick asked again, looking at his friend.

"Yeah man, I just got to be careful when moving that's all" Rook said trying to reassure him and himself.

"Alright man, I trust you, just be careful" Nick said nervously before fastening his seat belt and grasping the steering wheel.

He checked his mirrors then begun doing a few three point turns to reorient the truck, so it was facing the small pathway to leave the area and slowly crept forward to roll up the path back to the main road, as the truck's hood poked out onto the road, Nick looked both ways before rolling forward again but before any speed could be built, Nick quickly stomped on the brakes, causing the truck to slightly jerk to a halt, with the truck stopped, Nick leaned forward in his seat and looking up, trying to see the sky.

"Hey, you ok?" Rook asked, completely unsure of what could have caused this sudden change in behavior.

But Nick didn't respond, he kept looking towards the sky with an astonished look on his face.

"Hey dude, are you ok?" Rook asked again, extending an arm towards Nick and shaking his shoulder

The contact snapped Nick out of his reverie and quickly looked at his friend.

"Shit, sorry, sorry dude, it's just I thought I heard a plane or something, thought maybe we were in danger or something since John's ranch is so close by" Nick apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Do they bother you a lot?" Rook questioned.

"Not directly, it's just a little scary to hear the coming in for a landing or whatever, I'm just expecting them to start shooting at my house again, hell sometimes the fly a little to low and last night they woke up Carmina, really scared the crap outta Kim too" Nick admitted, his voice carried noticeable fear.

When Nick spoke, Rook could hear the restlessness, the fire he had within him when he spoke of fighting the cult had died down, his plane was his way of fighting but with the peggie landing strip so close to his home and family, they could easily hit him back, they already did once before, it made fighting almost non-existent, and it upset and frightened him.

"Shit man, that sounds pretty scary" Rook said.

"I guess all I can do for now is keep my head down until we do something about" Nick replied.

Rook couldn't help but agree with him, he wasn't the only one being affected by the planes, from what he's been told, it sounded like the planes were the new bane of the Valley, making life a lot harder for anyone that wasn't a peggie, there was nothing stopping them from doing a bombing run on Falls End, at the moment, they had the upper hand, something had to be done to stop the planes, a plan needed to be made, regardless of how absurd Jerome said it was a few hours prior, Rook pondered what Nick and everyone else had said to him, the gears in his head turning, trying to scheme up something that could help in the long run, no matter how small, all they needed was info.

"Tell you what, when I get back to town, I'll start asking around and see what's being done about the place" Rook offered.

"Thanks man, I can always count on you to help me out, I really appreciate it" Nick smiled.

"Hey, you want to stop by my place real quick, there was something I wanted to give you a while ago, for helping me when no one else would, but I left it at my place, it's is literally across the street" he asked.

"You don't have to reward me dude, I wanted to help you, to help everyone" Rook replied.

"Naah dude, this is a special one of a kind thing, only for my baby girl's godfather" Nick grinned.

Nick's smile was earnest, Rook had only seen that smile when he spoke of his family or his plane, whatever it was, it wasn't something goofy, it was something serious and from the heart.

"Sure, let's do it" Rook said, returning the smile.

"Fuck yeah, let's get going then" Nick grinned before pressing on the gas pedal and drove across the road and into Nick's expansive backyard.

* * *

Nick brought the truck around front and killed the engine before the two men climbed out of the truck, Nick retrieved the fish as Rook let Boomer out of the back, the dog came bounding out of the truck excitedly, happy to see a new environment to explore and ran around the yard.

"I don't know about you, but I think he's good out here" Nick said, watching the dog.

"He's a smart, he'll find a way to let us know if he wants in" Rook replied as the two approached the house and climbed up the porch steps.

Nick stepped in front of Rook and opened the front door and the two men stepped in.

"Kim, I'm home!" he called out happily.

"I'm in the kitchen" Kim's voice came.

"Follow me, dude" Nick said to Rook, his voice returning to normal then walked to the kitchen's doorway.

Rook silently nodded before following his friend through the living room and into the kitchen, as the two men stepped into the kitchen Rook could see Kim, facing away from them as she stood at the kitchen counter, working away from something, a few feet away from her by the edge of the counter was Carmina, laying in a baby carrier, silently cooing and slightly moving, experiencing the limitations of her tiny form. Kim must have heard them enter as she turned around to greet her husband, beginning to ask him about his day but stopped when she saw him and Rook, She didn't know what to say much less think when she saw her husband holding a dripping wet net full of fish with the Junior Deputy who was previously incapacitated next to him.

"Do I dare ask what you've been doing?" she asked, confused.

"We went fishing" Nick announced proudly.

"Yes, I gathered that, but you took Ben with you?" Kim asked, looking at Rook, wide eyed and shocked

"Well yeah, remember when I told you he called me to tell me he was fine, so I headed down to him, and we went fishing at that spot I've been working on" Nick explained.

"Nick, he was unconscious for more then entire day, you can't just drag him around the Valley even if he says he's ok" Kim exasperated.

"And please put that in the sink, they're leaking all over the floor" Kim groaned, pointing to the building puddle on the floor, the waterlogged fish had slowly leaked as they conversed.

Nick looked down at the puddle before jumping to life and hurriedly moved to the sink and placed the net in the sink.

"Whoops, sorry Hun, I'll clean that up" Nick said, grinning sheepishly.

As Nick grabbed a lone mop from a corner in the kitchen to clean the mess, Kim approached Rook, arms crossed and nervously eyed Rook, scanning him for any and all injuries.

"Are you sure your ok enough do be moving around?" She asked again, looking over Rook.

"Uh, I think I'm ok to a degree, I even got Mary's borderline approval" Rook replied.

"But what about you though, I'm not an expert on it but you gave birth a few days ago and now your walking around, are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine, but that's besides the point, I'm more concerned with you at the moment, everyone was in a panic when you were declared disappeared and then showed up here a few hours later, seriously Ben, how are you?" she asked somberly, her head tilted to the side slightly.

Well I feel somewhat ok all things considered" Rook shrugged.

"Benjamin, I feel like your avoiding the question, there was a big commotion when they found you, we stopped by to see how you were doing and you looked like you needed a hospital" Kim spoke.

"There's not a lot to avoid really, it's a long story how I got banged up but it was pretty standard, the pains manageable, I'm pretty sure someone put some kind of meds in me while I was asleep, I mean, I'm not in horrible pain or anything, but I still do feel like I got my butt kick" Rook replied.

"Do you need anything? We have some very basic painkillers laying around" Kim offered.

"As much as I would appreciate it, I rather not, me and Nick had a few beers while we got the fish, I don't feel comfortable mixing the two" Rook replied.

Upon hearing what Rook said, Kim's head snapped towards Nick with an irritable look on her face

"Nicholas!" She snapped.

"What?!" Nick quickly replied, looking up at his wife, surprised and confused over his wife's mood.

"Why would you give him alcohol, he could have been medicated, if not now he can't be!" Kim scolded.

"He didn't say anything, hell I didn't even offer, I opened a cooler and he just took one" Nick retorted, trying to save himself.

"But why didn't you stop him?" Kim asked.

"I don't know, I didn't think about that, I was too excited to see my friend up and about and to show off my fishing site" Nick quickly replied, leaning against the mop.

She inhaled deeply before sighing; her eyes shut, when she opened her eyes she turned to Rook, still standing where he was.

"So Ben, what brings you by?" Kim asked, trying to calm down.

"Me and Nick were doing some fishing just across the street and Nick wanted to give me something" Rook said before letting out a small yawn.

"Oh" Kim said in response.

To both Rook and Nick's surprise Kim's expression softened, it softened so much she was almost smiling.

"I think I know what that might be, it's high time you get something for helping my family" Kim said.

"Exactly, that's what I said, y'know what I think I'm going to go get it now" Nick said before he stopped moping the floor placed the mop back where he found it before quickly leaving the room to retrieve what he wanted to give Rook.

"I uh, I told Nick, but I don't need a reward for helping people out, I want to help, that's why I'm here" Rook offered, hoping he didn't sound like he was being ungrateful.

"Ben, you have been working nonstop to help as many people as possible, you deserve a little something every now and again" Kim said.

"Well, yeah it will come in the form of a long overdue overtime pay, if I can get that I'll be fine" Rook shrugged.

"You deserve so much more then that Ben, you deserve a medal, you've done more then anyone else had done, and so many people are so grateful, when you went missing almost everyone in the Valley kept an eye out for you, you're a really hero" Kim commended.

"Well I don't know about that, all I'm doing is killing people, it's not as glamorous as you make it sound" Rook said.

"Benjamin, you gave Nick the courage to stay and fight or the home his family built when he just wanted to run solely to protect me and Carmina" Kim said before turning to Carmina who sat in her carrier on the counter and scooped her up in her arms, before turning back to Rook.

"If it weren't for you I don't think we wouldn't have made it to the clinic in time and Carmina would have been born on the side of the road and who knows how that would have gone, you may not want some payment for what you've done but we want to give you something, what you do means the world to us" Kim continued.

It never really hit Rook just what he meant to people, he knew he was slowly becoming the face of the resistance and save peoples lives, but that was his job, he was supposed to do it, legally and morally, he didn't need thanks to do what was right, but the people he was helping, they were just normal everyday people, they weren't like him, they never killed before, they never had to plan to take down the leader of a cult, they were just civilians, civilians that desperately needed someone like him to step in and make the bad guys go away.

He was a hero to them.

She held out Carmina so Rook could hold her, Rook brought his hands up and very carefully took Carmina, nervous about accidently hurting her, as he got a gentle grip on her tiny frame, he cautiously lifted her from her mothers hands and slowly nestled Carmina close to his body and looked down at her small face, it was the first time he could properly see her, he had a very brief look right before he was taken, but now we could properly see her in the light, he could see she was absolutely adorable for being a few days old. Her little arms aimlessly reaching out for nothing in particular.

"Well ain't you just the cutest thing in the world" Rook cooed as he carefully brought a hand up and gently caressed on of Carmina's open palm with a single finger.

The second his finger touched Carmina's palm, she instinctively clasped the finger as tight as her tiny form could allow, earning an aww from Rook.

"I think she likes you" Rook heard Kim say, he turned to look at her to see she was smiling at him.

"I hope so, I don't know what I'd do if someone this lovable didn't like me" Rook cooed again as he looked back to Carmina.

"How couldn't she not love her family member" Kim said as she took a step towards Rook as Nick stepped back into the room.

As Nick re-entered the room, Rook carefully handed Carmina back to Kim before he turned to Nick who was watching him expectantly as he held Rook's gift, it was a rolled-up piece of black fabric, to Rook it looked like a shirt or small flag.

"This is the least we can do for everything you've done Partner" Nick grinned as he held out the gift.

"Thank you" Rook nodded before taking the gift.

Rook took the rolled-up fabric and unrolled it before holding it up to see what it truly was; it was a black tank top, on it in big red letters clearly said Rye and Son's Aviation, but the Son's had blocky yellow words stitched over it that spelled Daughter's, to reflect the changing of the name of Nick's company, Rook couldn't help but laugh at the patch job to make the company's name more accurate

"This is great man, thanks, I really appreciate, I really do" he smiled, looking up at the Rye's.

"Nick spent almost half an hour trying to sew that before I had to step in and help" Kim teased, but Nick quickly spoke over her, trying to hide he needed help.

"I made this to say thank you dude, and just you wait, when the cults gone all kinds of reporters are going to be down here looking at everything and I'm going to use that to drum up some major business, we're going to get famous off that and that shirt will be a collectors item" he said whatever came to mind quickly, his voice slightly squeaky with embarrassment.

"Don't worry dude, I couldn't sew to save my life either" Rook grinned.

"I don't know what your talking about" Nick replied, it was obviously a lie.

"It's cute, it really is" Rook said as he fought off a yawn.

Rook didn't know why but he was feeling more tired then before he entered the building, he could feel another yawn was coming, one he couldn't supress it, he turned his head and brought his free hand to his mouth and yawned.

"Sorry just tired I guess, don't know why though, I slept for like a whole day but I'm still tired, getting messed up is weird like that" Rook shrugged, trying to explain his sudden fatigue.

Kim couldn't help but eye up Rook again, he was slouching and his shoulder dropped considerably, a sizable contrast to his usual posture, it was clear he was still not properly rested, the Junior Deputy just didn't want to admit it.

"Nick, I think you should take him home, he needs some rest" Kim offered.

"What really? You think he's that tired?" Nick asked, looking at Rook with puzzlement.

"Now that you mention it, I'll get out of your hair and head back home, I'm sure someone is wondering where I ran off too" Rook supposed.

"Aw man, you really want to head out already?" Nick frowned.

"You only just got here, hell if you really want you can stay the night" Nick offered, perking up slightly.

"I appreciate the offer, but like I said, someone will start to freak out if I'm not back in town, I think we had enough of those for a while" Rook replied.

"Aw crap man, I'm going to miss you, we got to hang out more, let me know if you want to do something while you recover" Nick offered.

"I'll give you a shout if I'm ever bored" Rook nodded to his friend.

Nick returned his friends nod before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his truck keys.

"I know I didn't stay long but thank you for having me" Rook said, looking at Kim.

"And thank you for coming Ben, it's wonderful to see you up and about so soon" Kim replied as she rocked Carmina in her arms.

"And when your all better, swing on by and we can have our first real dinner, as a family" Kim continued.

"Now that I can totally do" Rook said, grinning and nodding before turning to take his leave and followed Nick to the front door.

Rook said his goodbyes once again before Nick opened the door and Nick and rook stepped out of the house, as the two men exited the house, Boomer who still happily explored front yard, saw the men leaving and came bounding towards them before coming to a stop at the bottom of the porch.

"Hey boy, time to go home" Rook said, patting the dog on his head as he stepped down off the porch.

Boomer yipped once before following Rook to Nick's truck and just like before, Rook opened the back of the truck and Boomer hopped in, with the dog secured safely in the back, Rook joined Nick in the front, before emitting another yawn.

"Seems like every time you get in my truck you seem to doze off" Nick joked as he started the truck.

"I'll try not to make a habit of it" Rook replied as he settled into his seat.

"You get sleepy in my truck and scared in my plane; I can't imagine what would happen to you if you got in my boat" Nick smirked.

"You have a boat?" Rook asked, completely ignoring the joke.

"It's a shitty canoe down at my fishing spot" Nick replied as he stepped on the gas pedal.

* * *

The drive back to Falls End was a quick and quiet one, the peggie threat was still unseen so close to down, but still Nick drove with his window down to keep an ear out for any airplanes that may be circling the area.

As Nick's truck pulled into town and slowed the trucks pace and came to a stop right outside of Mary May's bar.

"Well here we are" Nick spoke.

"Thanks for the ride man, I'd drive myself around but uh, I think my car was totaled" Rook replied.

"No biggie dude, I'm always up for hanging out with you like a normal person again, it feels nice you know?" Nick said.

"Yeah I get you, the whole fishing trip was probably the longest I ever felt normal" Rook answered.

"I can't wait for the day Joseph and his band of losers to be taken out, then we can go back to doing our thing and fish whenever we want" Nick spoke.

"I'll do my best to make that day come as soon as possible, I promise" Rook nodded.

"But uh, thanks for the ride though, I really appreciate it" he continued.

"No problem Partner, I'll do whatever I can to help you out" Nick replied.

"Nick I really mean it, thank you" Rook said again.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you dude, now get outta here, go find that Jess lady, I bet she's really missing you" Nick smirked as he jokingly waved him off.

"See you around man" Rook said as he took off his seat belt and climbed out.

Rook climbed out of the truck and let Boomer out of the back seat, with Boomer out Rook shut the door again before lightly banging on the side of Nick's truck, the banging caused Nick to honk his horn a few times before speeding off back home.

With Nick gone, it was just Rook and Boomer alone in front of the Spread-Eagle Bar, Rook wasn't sure if he should go inside and let Mary know he was back in town safe and sound, but would she even care, she would care obviously but she wasn't his mother so he didn't need to keep her up to date on his day to day, besides he had his walkie on him so if worst came to worse, she could always call him for an update.

with his mind made up, he turned and walked down the street, towards his home, as the day was slowly dripping down into the early hours of the evening, the sky became pastel painting of oranges and light reds, and the town of Falls End was quieting down, the auto shop next to the bar had fallen silent, the sound of power tools no longer rang out, the church across the street slowly began to light up from dozen and dozens of candles being lit, if not for the fatigue and the aches and pains, Rook would have enjoyed the walk home, he turned the corner and slowly walked down the stretch of sidewalk that lead up to the front yard of the house, Boomer, who still followed diligently, the way a few feet ahead of Rook, still happily panting from spending so much time with him, Rook enjoyed the dog's company, he never had a dog before but he was surprised Boomer was so obedient to someone who never trained him. Rook turned again and stepped foot onto the front yard of his house and walked up the pathway towards the front door, when he reached the door he twisted the doorknob and the door popped open, it made him nervous that the front door had been unlocked all day, the house sat on the edge of town and anyone could have snuck in.

but then again, with the heighten security due to the planes there was no way anyone nefarious could have snuck into town or his home, Rook pushed the idea out of his mind and the door open causing Boomer to scamper inside, Rook followed right behind him and closed and locked the door behind him, after doing so he couldn't help but be reminder how tired he was again, it was clear he needed to sleep, Rook slowly made his way to the hallway that lead to the bedroom, out of the corner of his eye, a table lamp clicked on, partly illuminating the room with a pale yellow light, curious to what had caused the lamp to turn on, he turned his head to look at the light source.

Sitting in the chair next to the lamp was a person, it scared him to think someone was just in his house silently waiting for him, but as quick as the surprise and fear came, it left as his eyes settled on the stranger in his house, it was Jess, gently spinning the length of her bow against the ground with one hand, staring daggers at him.

"Jess, what the hell are you doing?!" Rook asked, greatly confused to what was happening.

"You sack of shit" she spat angrily

* * *

**Sorry for the delay folks, can't update if I'm not connected to the internet.**


	25. Chapter 25

"You sack of shit" Jess spat angrily as she stared down the shocked Junior deputy.

Boomer who assumed the lady in the house was a friend came trotting up to her, excited to meet her and sat at her feet, awaiting some sort of acknowledgement but received nothing as Jess continued to stare daggers at Rook.

"Holy crap Jess, what are you doing? you scared the crap out of me!" Rook cried.

Jess didn't respond, instead she stood up from the chair and slung her bow over her shoulder, not breaking eye contact with him.

"Jess, what's going on?" Rook asked nervously, he could tell something was not right.

Again, Jess was silent as she stomped towards Rook, Boomer who still sat by the chair watched as Jess got right up to Rook, standing a few feet apart, she stared at Rook angrily for a few seconds before bringing an arm and up punched Rook in the shoulder.

"Ow! Jess what the hell?!" Rook cried as he brought a hand up to protect himself and one of his legs extended behind him to brace himself from the blow.

Boomer quickly stood up upon hearing his master's gasp, his ears standing straight up, and eyes firmly locked on the two people in the room.

Rook wasn't expecting the hit and almost stumbled back a step, but it scared him that Jess would just hit him like that without saying anything, the punch hurt but it felt like she pulled her punch a little, he had seen her carry a adult deer long distance over her shoulders, and besides, someone like her needed to be strong to fight the fight she was in.

Jess still didn't respond, instead she just jabbed him again in the same shoulder.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" Jess yelled.

"What?!" Rook yelled back, completely unsure of what was happening.

"That, motherfucker!" Jess yelled as she turned as furiously pointed on at the front door.

On it still hung the small sticky note that read; _You leave and I'll make you regret it_.

"Oh" Rook couldn't help but mutter.

"Yeah! Oh!" Jess cried as she turned back to Rook and stepped into his personal space

"Do you have any idea what I've been through?!" Jess barked as she repeatedly jabbed a finger into his chest

"I went all over the Valley looking for you, fucking up as many fucking peggies as I could to dig up some dirt to find you, for hours, and when you finally show up, I come here and I leave a note, a clear fucking note saying don't go anywhere, why would you fucking even leave anyways, look how fucked up you are, you should be lucky to be alive, but you just go running off with your boyfriend or something, not even leaving a note for me or anything, just fucking disappear into the fucking wind again just like you did when those motherfucking peggies grabbed you!" Jess yelled as she continued her furious tirade.

"You could have died or gotten yourself hurt again and how would I know what happened to you, we both know I wouldn't then eventually your fucking Sheriff dickhead yelling at me again about how it's my fault, the last thing I need is the peggies and the Sheriff's goons on my back, like fuck I don't need you stressing me out, I had no idea where you ran off to, Fairgrave didn't know, the dude in the only other store in town that isn't the bar didn't know, fuck that mega asshole dude who knows everything going on in town didn't know where you were, we are partners or whatever, we have rules we have a thing where one speaks and the other responds!" she ranted before falling silent, staring down Rook who appeared stunned.

Rook stared at Jess, and took in everything she had said and just how angry she was, he had never expected something like this from her, despite all the points she had thrown out, the center of it all was about his well-being and her not knowing where he was, and as much as he hated to admit, she had a point, he had disappeared without leaving so much as a hint to denote his plans or where he was, if the roles were reversed he too would have been very worried as he would have believed she had went back to hunting peggies.

"I, Jess, I-I made a big mistake, I'm sorry" Rook said, also not breaking eye contact.

"Sorry!?" Jess screeched.

"That's all you have to say? Fucking sorry, H-how about; Jess I apologize for just disappearing on you for a few hours again when I clearly need a hospital, or, or how about Jess I am so very remorseful over how treated you as a friend!" Jess demanded.

She could feel herself lose steam with each word from fatigue as she had barely slept the previous night, to busy hunting peggies to blow off steam from their previous conversation, but she didn't care, she wanted to let him know just how she felt, she just couldn't help it; she was just so angry with him.

And she was angry at herself.

She had made some sort of silent promise to herself that she would find and rescue the Boy Scout, she refused to let him get swallowed up by the peggies like her brother almost certainly had.

She had began her search the only way she knew how, by putting the screws to the peggies, and so she started hitting up the usual spots that the peggies still hung around and try to get some info about any new abductees, but no one cracked, the peggies she hit either truly didn't know, or John had done something to keep them that tight lipped, but it didn't matter, she would kill them regardless if they talked or not, but thankfully after an hour of doing her work, Dutch called to let her know he was able to find the site of where Rook was last seen, and what she found when she made it to the her uncle had specified was much worse then she expected, on the side of the road, in a ditch was the truck her and Rook had cruised around the Henbane in, flipped upside down and right side was heavily impacted with door ripped open, it looked like it was hit by a bulldozer, it was obvious this was no accident, this was a planned attack and it clearly worked, Rook had been snatched up by the peggies, just like her brother, it made the cold hollow feeling grow in her chest ten fold, a part of her couldn't help but feel that it really was her fault that the only person she could actually trust and a true friend could be dead or worse all because she had bailed on him.

She quickly came to the conclusion that her only real option left was to continue what she was doing before and hoped it would drum something up. So she went from spot to spot, for hours on end, stalking killing, and interrogating for the next few hours and then Dutch had finally called to let her know a few citizens of Falls End had found an unconscious Junior Deputy laying on the road she could hardly believe it, when she heard the news, she dropped what she dropped what she was doing and ran back to town and practically kicked open the door to the bar Rook would usually frequent, and demanded to know where the Boy Scout was, Fairgrave tried to argue that it would be best to leave him alone so he can rest, but she had made it very clear that she wouldn't leave until she learned Rook's location, after an annoying back and forth, Fairgrave very reluctantly pointed her to the house behind the auto shop.

Armed with the knowledge, she stomped her way out of the bar and around the side of the auto shop to the house, luckily the door was unlocked and she quickly and quietly entered the house, all the lights were off and the house was silent, she didn't need to know all this meant he was in the bedroom resting up like Fairgrave had said, wordlessly she crept down the hall, passing by all the closed door and approached the only door that was slightly ajar, as she approached and pushed open the door, she expected the Boy Scout to blow off the whole disappearance thing and talk about something stupid like his love of music or apologize for being such a bother. But as the door opened and exposed the room, instead of being met with what she expected, she was met with silence.

She could see Rook laying in the bed on the other side of the room, a big patch of medical gauze tapped to his side, and his body marred with various cuts and bruises and unconscious, but it was quite obvious that was not merely asleep, he had been through something awful and somehow, all by himself, he had gotten himself from god knows where all the way back to town, he had done all that.

And she had done nothing to help him.

She couldn't do a damn thing that contributed to recovering him and that burned her up, she was still unable to save anyone she cared about from the god damned peggies that tore the county apart.

"Ok, ok, ok, your right Jess hold on" Rook said, trying to calm her down.

"What I did was really bad, I shouldn't have just left without saying something to someone, I wasn't being considerate to those who are worried about my well being and I will make a point to use my head more in the future, I'm dumb, Jess and I should have thought of you more, I'm sorry" Rook said, trying to appease her.

Jess didn't say anything again and just stared at Rook for a few seconds before raising her hand to point a finger in his face.

"Fuck you" she hissed before turning and stomping towards the front door.

"What else you want me to say then, come on can't we just talk this out?" Rook asked as he chased after her, he was starting to feel really for what he had done.

But Jess wasn't listening, she didn't care what he had to say, she pulled open the front door and stormed out with Rook close behind her.

"Jess please can we just calm down and talk, I made a mistake I get that, everyone makes mistakes" Rook offered as he followed as he followed her onto the front lawn.

As much as he would like to let her go so she could go cool off, he just couldn't bring himself to do it, he had really upset her, far worse then before, and it really bothered him to know he had upset one of his friends that badly. In an attempt to stop her from leaving, Rook extended a hand forward, hoping to grab her by the shoulder and pull her back so they could talk it out.

"Jess, what can I do to show I really am sorry?" Rook asked as his hand clasped her shoulder and pulled her back gently.

"Just leave me the fuck alone!" Jess angrily snapped as she pushed off his hand before quickly spinning around to face him.

When Rook looked upon her face, he could see the usual intensity in her eyes, but somehow she looked very different, aside from the anger there was something else on her face, he wasn't sure what is was; was it sadness? hurt? distrust? What ever it was, it made Rook feel awful, this was the first time he had seen some other emotion from her other then when they stumbled upon the filming of her favourite movie franchise.

"Just fuck off... go back inside and fucking rest like your supposed to!" Jess ordered, pointing to the still open doorframe with Boomer poking out of the side, still watching the two.

"What about you?" was all the Rook could muster, the look on her face had taken the metaphorical fight out of him

"Oh, so now you care about me?" Jess hissed, her vocal energy dropping considerably.

"You know what I me-" Rook tried to say but was quickly cut off.

"Benjamin" Jess said, her voice somehow sounding upset and calm at the same time, it was like she was angry but lacked the angry to make herself loud.

Saying his name made Rook freeze, it was the first time she had ever referred to him other then Boy Scout or something insulting, but for some reason just the way she said it cut him deep.

"Just get fuckin' indoors and rest and I'll deal with you later" Jess said bitterly.

"Ok" Rook muttered as his eyes finally broke off her and fell to the floor.

And with that, Jess turned and calmly walked away, leaving Rook by himself in his front lawn, he glumly watched her cross the street and passed the church headed to who knows where, after a few seconds, Rook sighed and turned and walked back towards the house and Boomer who still waited in the doorway, he had felt tired when he had first arrived but now after his confrontation he felt even more drained somehow, as he reached the doorway and the waiting canine, he quickly reached down and patted Boomer on the head.

"Come on boy, I think we've done enough for today" Rook sighed before closing the door behind him and went to bed.

* * *

Jess trudged through the Holland valley, moving away from the town and muttering curses under her breath, the Junior Deputy had truly gotten under her skin, his second impromptu disappearing act had lit the already short fuse that was her anger, not only that but he couldn't stick to his ways, the second she started berating him for his atrocious line of thinking, he crumples and start apologizing, he didn't even have the balls to stand up and defend himself or what he felt was right. The absolute gall of him to do that shit to her after she went all over the Valley hunting, interrogation and killing peggies just to find him only for the church pastor tell her he was picked up by one of his buddies to just hang out.

It made her want yell, she wanted to punch something, she wanted to insult someone, but she just didn't have the energy, she hadn't slept or ate in the last eighteen hours, as she stomped through deserted grassland she kept an eye out for any place she could hunker down catch of few hours of sleep, finding a safe place in it of itself was no problem as peggies wouldn't dare come near Falls End anymore as the resistance was slowly becoming more and more reinforced, but if she had used her head more instead of her anger taking the wheel, she would have remembered that she had a self proclaimed hideaway on the Auto shop's roof, but then again would she want to stay there, so close to the Boy Scout.

A part of her argued to just go back and call it a night atop the auto shop, but a more stubborn part of her pushed to go further as in the distance, she could see a red building standing on the horizon and Jess knew it was a farm; Sunrise Farms to be more specific, it was the closet farm from the town and was once under John's control and guarded by peggies, but was cleared out and retaken by the Boy Scout early on in his crusade against Eden's Gate, the farm was one of the first places the peggies were kicked out of, but whatever damage to the farm the peggies inflicted while they had the property was long lasting as after the farm was retaken, the resistance tried to put the farm back into use and grow some half decent food, but all their efforts were wasted as the ground was soiled and nothing could be grown, the peggies had properly polluted the ground making the farmland objectively useless.

Jess stared at the farm and thought about her options, the auto shop, the farm, a few other far away hideouts and forts she had erected over the years, but after some lengthy contemplation and a defeated sigh, she had decided on the farm, sure there was probably a bunch of people floating around the area, keeping it safe from anyone who seemed a little threatening but that was probably for the best as she wouldn't have to worry about getting jumped as she sleep, but then again, they were complete strangers, she couldn't trust them, they were bored after all, who's to say some of them won't try to fuck with her to kill time. But that was a problem she's be willing to solve when it finally came around.

With her mind unenthusiastically made up she began walking towards the barn in the distance, it wasn't far away, maybe fifteen minutes away by her guess, but again she didn't care, she hoped she would calm down slightly by the time she arrived.

* * *

As she arrived at the farms edge, she could properly see it, she had never been to the farm before and a part of her wish that was still true as the whole place looked rather depressing, and that wasn't because of the peggies.

The farmstead itself was small; two old and paint chipped barns and a ancient wooden windmill, but the surrounding fields were another story; what was once pumpkin fields that rivaled Rae Rae's pumpkin farm was now barren and what little remained were deflated and decayed, further from the property was much bigger fields that catered to growing larger fields of corn and other vegetables, the resistance members were quick to abandon the farther as they were useless and decided on holding the barn itself as it was the only building within a few acres.

As she approached the edge of the farm's property, she was stopped by a simple fence sectioned off the land to keep any animals from getting out, or any predators in, beyond that was the barns and the handful of resistance members that lazily patrolled their territory, various guns in hand, it was evident that they had grown this way from inaction, a few walked up and down the perimeters of the fence, a few came and went from one of the barns, a few even still believed the soil was fertile enough to bare something edible.

All of them looked mediocre in every way, just a bunch of generic nobodies who have never did anything until the peggies made there move, if any of them had a problem with her coming in and squirreling herself away in some dark corner, she could easily scare them off, what would they even do? Shoot her? Call the Junior Deputy?

Jess casually vaulted over the fence and continued on her way towards the barn, as she stomped deeper into the estate, Jess made eye contact with a few resistance members for a few seconds before acknowledging who she was and left her be and didn't seem to pay her any mind, it was like they already knew who she is, to her it was a relief and creepy to know that people she had never met before knew her and let here do her thing, but she couldn't let it get to her, she couldn't let them know it could get to her, she adjusted her hood and threw on a mask of her usual stoic glare and walked into the barn, as she entered she could properly see what was inside, above her on the far end of the barn was an interior storage balcony, on it was a plethora of different shaped wooden boxes, most likely filled with various farming equipment, from the lip of the balcony, hung a small banner that stretch across the width of the raised platform that read; _Support Local Farmers_.

Below that on ground level was three large cages, lining the walls of the barn, they sat among the hay that littered the ground, they were wide and tall, more then enough to house a bear, or several people, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as it reminder her of being caged by the Cook. She quickly shook her head a few times to shake out the dark cobwebs in her mind before she carried on, the cages looked easily climbable as getting on top would give her access to the balcony as it didn't have a railing or anything to keep things from falling off, it was the perfect place to hide away and get some much needed rest.

Jess adjusted the bow and quiver on her back before approached the side of the cage and reaching up to the top and lifted herself up onto the cage's roof and then up onto the balcony. The balcony and it's contents was coated in a fine layer of dust, it was evident no one had been up here for years, but Jess wasn't a picky person, she never cared for dust or grime, she just carefully walked around the many crates looking for a good place to sit down, she had started on the left side and slowly worked her way to the right side where she found to near identical crates, both six feet tall and four feet wide, a mere five feet from each other, it was just what she needed, she maneuvered her way over to the gap and climbed inside and settled in between to boxes and tried to get comfy by removing the bow and quiver and tucking it next to herself before curling into a ball and pressed against one of the crates.

But after ten minutes of just sitting there, listening to the light breeze blow through the holes in the poorly maintained shingles on the roof and the occasional shuffling of feet through dirt from the patrolling resistance members below, for some reason she could not sleep, and it annoyed her, it wasn't the anger that kept her up, she had fallen asleep much angrier many times before, and in less comfier conditions as well, she sighed again shifted in her place trying to get comfy but all that did was cause something on her person to jab softly into her hip, making her uncomfortable again. She reached down and pulled at the small thing that jabbed at her side, as the thing came free it was accompanied with a small clicking noise, curious to what it was, she brought it up to her face to examine it, and to her moderate surprise it was her walkie talkie, it had seen so little use she usual forgot it was strapped to her waist, she looked down at it and the last time she used it, it was hours ago when Dutch had called to let her know that the sack of shit Boy Scout had been found, but it made her growl inwardly, she didn't want to think about Rook, but he was what kept her up, her mind could not settle and it felt weird to know she couldn't do anything with this feeling, her uncle told her she would get like this with the peggies, he would always say there would always be more to kill, far more then she could ever kill and it would keep her up all night. But that also pissed her off, she felt like that was yet another reason he chose to hide away in his bunker, always watching and listening, never doing.

And as much as he would do nothing, he was always there for her, trying his best to help his niece however he could, no matter what she said or did.

"Fuck it, what else could I possible lose" She thought as she reluctantly brought the device to her mouth and pressed the button.

"Hey Dutch, are you there?" She sighed.

A few seconds later her walkie crackled to life.

"Hey kiddo what's up?" Dutch replied quickly.

Jess paused to think about what she wanted to say, she had all these thoughts and emotions swirling within her and she had no way of expressing it, she never was any good at expressing anything that's anger.

"Fucking Boy Scout" she sighed, not knowing what else to say.

"What about him? From what I've heard from the Sheriff and Fairgrave he seems to be doing ok all things considered" Dutch offered.

"He's a sack of shit" Jess growled.

"Do I dare ask what he did this time?" Dutch asked, almost sounding a little bored.

But who could blame him, Dutch had eyes and ears everywhere, if he so wanted too he could follow his niece and the Junior Deputy's every exploit across the county but with the peggie threat moving on three separate fronts, he could only catch bits and pieces off of security cameras and whatever he could grab off the airwaves, and what he did see and hear was the two of them bickering or to be more specific, Jess was giving him crap for not being the Junior Deputy that was in her head, it was always the same with them, the kid would try to take a softer approach at fighting the cult then Jess would berate him for not being hyper aggressive. If Dutch was a few decades younger and still a part of the military, he would have written the two off as soon to be dead as neither of them had the right mentality to be doing what they were doing, but then again they had been at it for weeks and they were still in relativity one piece.

"The shit heel just bailed on me" Jess hissed as she adjusted in her spot again.

"If you don't mind me asking, isn't that what you did to him" Dutch asked.

But it was odd, he remembered seeing a few blurry video screens of Rook and Nicholas Rye fishing in a creek, having a few beers last night.

"But this is different" Jess groaned angrily, practically whining.

"I gave this piece of shit clear fucking orders not to move, you'd think he'd be smart enough to know that but oh no, he just had to just leave without saying anything, he just disappears into god damned thin air and running off somewhere, for all I know he could be fucking dead or whatever and I wouldn't know, I'd just keep running around the county looking for this shitfaced asshole!" Jess groused.

Dutch was silent for a few moments to think over what his niece had said, contemplating her problem.

"I'm going to ask you a question and I'm going to need you to not get mad" Dutch said before continuing.

"Do you think your projecting your inability to find Scott onto Rook?" Dutch asked.

Jess opened her mouth to rebuke the man for suggesting so outlandish and asinine, but before she could speak Dutch continued.

"I get why your upset kid, believe me I do, he's in the wrong but the Deputy will never actually know just how upset you are unless you open up and talk about your brother" Dutch said.

"This has nothing to do with him and you fucking know it, old man!" Jess seethed.

Just the very mention of her brother had pissed her off all over again and he knew it would, how dare he do so.

"Then why are you so upset, you're not one to follow rules much less his, so why should he?" Dutch asked.

"I'm fucking upset because he doesn't fucking coordinate with me!" Jess growled.

"And neither do you kid, you sometimes make him go along with your plans and expect him to adjust, you walk out on him sporadically, that's what got him in the situation you're in now" Dutch quickly retorted.

"But this is different" groaned angrily.

"How?" Dutch replied almost instantly.

Jess opened her mouth to explain how wrong her uncle was, but for so reason unbeknownst too her, she could not conjure anything to retaliate, after a few seconds of silence, Dutch took the silence to continue.

"Kiddo, he's not going to understand unless you come down to his level and talk about how what he does makes you feel" Dutch offered.

"And from what I've seen and heard about you two, he's your only friend, he is most likely the only person who will actually watch out for you and keep you safe, you can't just fly off the handle every time you have a problem with him, he's your friend and he cares about you, constantly berating him will just push him away and you will be on your own again, your going to need is help if you want to kill the Seed's and god knows he'll need yours" Dutch said.

Jess exhaled defiantly, it pissed her off to know that she felt that some of what Dutch said was true, the Boy Scout did care for her, he did watch out for her, and he did some how wormed himself into her good graces, helping her kill the Cook aside, he had done something to trust her trust him enough to open up about her grandmother, blood dragon, he so far as to call him an actually friend to his face. She understood what Dutch was trying to tell her, to be nicer to her only friend but how could she, all her life she survive by building countless walls around herself to keep anything out, even with her friends and other relations she had in her younger years they had built a range of teasing and mockery, much more then the usual teenager, she had kept a distance from them emotionally, how could she bring down a lifetime of walls for someone she had met only weeks ago.

"Rook won't hurt you, he just wants to help" Dutch finished.

"And what, pray tell, do you in your infinite wisdom suppose I do" Jess huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Meet up with Rook and talk about what happened like an adult" Dutch instructed.

"That's dumb" Jess sighed.

It wasn't until just then she realized just how tired she had become since she had called her uncle, at this rate she would fall sleep in minute.

"It's what your grandmother would do, make peace with your problems rather then let it boil" Dutch said.

Again, Jess didn't say anything, she thought about what he had said, he was right, that's what her grandmother would do, it's what she had taught her to survive. Jess looked down at her walkie and though about how tired she was and how much longer this conversation would go on for, before concluding enough was enough, she needed to sleep.

"Hey Dutch, I'll talk to you later, I'm going to bed" Jess said, fighting back a yawn.

"Goodnight kiddo" Dutch replied before the walkie clicked off.

Jess stared at her walkie for a few more seconds before placing it on the ground next to her bow and quiver before tucking herself into a ball, again she tried to get some sleep, and this time she finally fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

"I, am going to teach YOU, courage, teach you how to say YES, so you can confront your weaknesses, CONFRONT your sins, YOU WILL SWIM ACROSS AN OCEAN OF PAIN AND EMERGE!" John yelled at Rook who was bound to a chair in front of him.

John's voice got louder and louder as he went on before it turned into full blown angry screaming then suddenly pausing and looking over at Rook.

"Free" he said before lurching towards Rook, screwdriver in hand and jammed it into his shoulder, pain shot through his entire body and boiled in the pit of his stomach, paralyzing him.

Hudson was strapped to a chair behind them slumped over in her chair and long dead, flies hovered above her decaying body.

As Rook sat strapped to the chair, John brought up his free hand and firmly locked his hand around Rook's throat and squeezed, cutting off any oxygen, making Rook gasp and choke as his body was slowly being starved of air.

Not being able to breathe was like thousands of little knifes buried themselves into his lungs as they tried to inflate with air but with no air to inhale his body screamed that much more.

"Souls don't harvest themselves" John's voice dug into Rook's brain and echoed off his skull like a gunshot in a cave.

And then Rook woke up.

Rook shot up from his bed emitting a small yelp, before crumpling back into the bed, the sudden lurch had irritated his wound enough to shot bolts of pain through his body, causing him to groan in pain softly as he brought his hands to his wound, panting softly, the nightmare and the pain had given him quite a shock the pain eventually subsided allowing Rook to try to sit up again, this time he slowly propped himself up in the bed, using the backboard as leverage to sit up, he sat there for a few moments, processing his dream and coming to terms with how real it was, the fear, the pain, John's voice, it was like he really was back in that little dungeon, as Rook slowly began to calm down he carefully pushed himself out of bed and on two shaky legs felt the need examined his room just out of sheer caution and found the room was just as he left it, Boomer lay curled up on the floor, fast asleep halfway between the bed and the bedroom door that was firmly shut, two shirts sat on the on the foot of the bed, half draping off the bed. One was up the flannel shirt he wore yesterday, the other the black tank top Nick had given him last evening.

Accepting that all was normal, Rook slowly walked to the edge of the bed and picked the flannel shirt and used it to dap at the cold sweat that developed on his body, he didn't know he was sweating until he started to move around, another by-product of his nightmare, once he was done he tossed the shirt onto the floor and scooped up the tank top and very carefully, spent the next few moments putting it on. He couldn't help but feel a little naked with the tank top on, he was so used to the flannel shirts and how they soaked up blood, sweat and other undesirable materials on his body, but seeing as he was unwilling benched he wouldn't have to worry about it. Feeling adequately dressed, Rook turned to the bedroom door, he wanted to go out and find something to do, there was no way he could just sit around and do nothing, making up with Jess was one of those things. As he made his way to the door, he decided to let Boomer sleep in, and it would make traveling a lot easier, but before Rook even left the bedroom he had an idea of what he wanted to do this morning, there was no he could sit around the house, he needed to go out and actually do something, lord knew Mary May wouldn't throw him a bone that wasn't helping out at the bar so he made it a point to stay away from the bar while looking for something, but of course that only left the church left, Rook had a good feeling about Jerome he was always on the level with him, and with his prolonged absence.

With his mind made up, Rook walked to his front door and stepped outside, the early morning sun shining down on him and flooded into the darkened home, causing him to squint before turning around and locking the door and made a mental note to come back for Boomer within a few hours, with that out of the way, Rook turned and walked down the front lawn until he made it to the road that ran in between him and the church. He looked up and down the street before crossing, there were very rarely other cars going about the town, but it was never hurt to check, Rook did his best attempt at a jog as he crossed the road and returned to a walk as he made it to the other side and walked around the side of the church towards the front door. As Rook drew closer to the church's front door he saw as always, the door was open, literally and figuratively. Rook took a few steady breaths before stepping inside, as he did he could see Jerome at the far end of the church, diligently keeping the place clean and in a pristine condition, it appeared the Pastor and Deputy were the only ones in the church as all the people who would sleep come here to sleep had vacated.

"Mornin' Jerome" Rook called as he approached the far end of the church.

"Jerome turned to look at who had greeted him and saw the Deputy who had entered the church.

"Good morning Benjamin" Jerome said with a smile.

"And how are you feeling today?" He asked as he placed his bible on the pulpit before approaching Rook.

"I could always be better, but I'll live, I think this gash in my side is getting better" Rook replied as the two men came together and stood before each other so they may speak casually.

"Speaking of which, when was the last time you had your bandages changed?" Jerome asked, raising a hand to Rook's wound.

"Uh, I'm not sure, not since yesterday morning at least" Rook guessed.

Everything had been constant movement since he had woken up from this grand escape and the idea of cleaning and rebandaging his wounds was forgotten on him.

"Then why not get it over and done with now, it would promote faster healing, here let me take a look" Jerome offered, gesturing to a near by pew.

"Hey not to doubt your medical skills or anything but you sure you know what your doing" Rook asked, hoping not to offend the man.

"I fought in the Gulf War as a Gunnery Sargent and well, I picked up a few things here and there" Jerome replied.

"Oh, wow really?" Rook asked, looking wide eyed at the man.

"Indeed, I spent some time in the military before I decided enough was enough, and I returned here and started my path as a pastor" Jerome answered.

"Wow… I bet people flocked you when the peggies came in" Rook said in awe before accepting his offer and shuffled over to the pew.

"You could say that again" Jerome nodded before turning to his pulpit and retrieved a small little first aid bag from its midsection to properly address Rook's wound.

"When those from Eden's Gate came in with their guns and their beliefs making their demands a few citizens tried to stop them, which brought in more attention, and with a town this small everyone knew right away, a few people came to me begging for help and I gave them some coordination for a time, but well… you saw how that turned out when your first arrived in town" Jerome explained as he returned to Rook and sat down next to him.

"So why don't we take a look at what dealing with" Jerome said as he unzipped the first aid bag.

Rook silently agreed and gripped hem of his shirt and carefully lifted the right side, giving Jerome access to the bandaged area. Jerome then began gently tugged at the tapes that affixed to Rook's torso.

"But speaking of dealing with unhappy people at our door, it sounded like you had a problem last night" Jerome said.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked as he winced and twitched as Jerome slowly peeled of the medical and duct tape of his torso.

Rook didn't think about anyone hearing him and Jess have they're little argument, he tried to hold in a groan as he didn't want any gossip to sprout from it.

"In the evenings I do pop open a few windows and well, your home is right across the street" Jerome admitted.

"Sounds like your having a little problem that regards a woman" Jerome said. As he lightly placed a few used strips of tape in between them before continuing.

"You don't know the half of it" Rook sighed as he felt the medical gauze come free from his body.

"So how does it look?" Rook asked nervously, changing the subject to his side.

He couldn't help but worry Jerome would tell him it looked bad or it was infected, fighting the peggies had built up a resistance to a type of fear, but body horror on himself made him squirm.

"Well it looks a lot better than I excepted, you healed faster than I expected, here why don't you take a look?" Jerome offered as he slid down the pew a few inches so Rook could get a better look.

Rook slowly tilted his head down to his wound, apprehensive to what he would see.

The whole area around the wound was still colored a light irritated red and seemed the be bloated ever so slightly from swelling, the wound itself was promptly sewn shut, with a row of little black knots sealing the gash shut, a few ends of the stitch job stuck out from the skin like a few ingrown hairs. Seeing the wound made Rook uncomfortable with how it looked as he had never sustained such an injury before, but Jerome was right, it did look like it was healing.

"See, it's not so bad, is it?" Jerome asked, pulling Rook out of his mental assessment.

"Uh, yeah it looks ok, still wish I never got this messed" Rook replied.

"Trust me we all do, the peggies are slowly getting bolder and bolder by the day since you stopped fighting back" Jerome said.

"How bad are things getting out there… I mean really?" Rook asked looking up at Jerome.

Jerome paused for a few seconds; deep thought streaked his face as he tried to construct an appropriate response.

"Asides from the usual concern from these airplanes John has deployed, the peggies are getting more bolder and John seems to be more short tempted then usual, it appears he is done taking half measures, it's almost as if he's ready to put us in a pre-emptive checkmate" Jerome described.

"Damn… so what are we actually doing to counter all this?" Rook inquired.

"Well that's the thing" Jerome said, breaking eye contact with Rook, looking down slightly for a few seconds before looking at him again.

"There is not a lot we can do, they're all hiding out on the borders of the Valley and every time we go out there to look for them, they sneak in closer to Falls End, and regardless there's the planes patrolling and giving air support, all we can do is just keep holding on and wait for an opening" Jerome answered.

"But don't worry, we may have that opening now, we have a recently captured Eden's Gate member locked in a basement, and it appears he's going to talk soon" Jerome explained.

"What really?" Rook asked, slightly bewildered to the possibilities that the peggie could offer.

"Indeed, we have given him well… a few motivations to share what his cohorts have relayed to him" Jerome said.

"Wow your right, that could very well change the next few days or something but hey… what are you going to him after you get what you need from him?" Rook asked, showing slight concern.

"It's fairly obvious he will be killed" Jerome answered bluntly.

"We can't kill him, if we just start killing people once they're uses run out, we'd be no better then them" Rook replied quickly.

"And what do you suppose we do?" Jerome retorted.

It appeared he was genuine about sparing the peggie, it was a welcome change from Jess's usual anger.

"We lock him up or something, we can send him to the Sheriff, and we can put him in a cell" Rook offered.

"And do you think everyone will be ok with that?" Jerome asked as he began rummaging through the small first aid bag again.

"Well maybe they will when they hear it's what you and I want done, we are like, the go to guys so to speak" Rook said as he watched Jerome pull medical gauze out of the bag.

"I don't know how everyone will feel about it, but I suppose we can give it a try, all we have to lose is a single enemy life" Jerome supposed as he gently pressed the gauze against Rook's wound.

"I'm sure they listen to reason" Rook said as he winced from the sudden light pressure from the gauze and Jerome's pressure.

"On that note, is everything between you and Miss Black alright?" Jerome asked, pushing the subject of conversation back to the argument he had heard across the street.

"Uhm, yeah, everything is good I guess, a little rocky here and there but we're good" Rook said, an obvious lie.

"Ben, it is a sin to lie in the lord's house" Jerome said, wagging a finger at him once.

"Ok so yeah maybe I did lie… yeah there was a little problem last night" Rook winced, feeling a little embarrassed for being called out so easily.

"What happened?" Jerome asked as he began applying the medical tape to keep the gauze in place.

"Well as you know I just disappeared for a few hours a few days ago, and well Jess was also looking for me by killing a punch of peggies trying to get info on where I was, and well when I was found and brought to that house, she dropped by and left a note telling me not to leave and well… I did leave and uh, she didn't really like that when I returned" Rook explained.

"Hm… I see, and I take it you tried to apologize?" Jerome asked as he continued to apply medical tape.

"Emphasis on tried, she's uh, she's like a brick wall sometimes" Rook muttered.

"Well Ben, I don't know to much about Miss Black asides from what the Sheriff and a few others have told me about her, but she does sound like a bit of a problem child, so why does someone like you work with someone like her?" Jerome asked.

"Well… yeah I guess, yeah she's a bit rough but she actually sees me as a friend and I mean an actual friend, she cares about me, she wouldn't spend hours ripping up peggies to find me and leave a note to make me stay put, she wouldn't've made a big deal about me leaving, but she has her moments though, she is genuinely nice in her own way to me, and well… I trust her, sure we have our ups and downs, but I trust her with my life and I have never felt actually threatened by her before, she is someone I can count on… and well she's really good with a bow and she's teaching me to be sneakier, lord knows I could always make less noise" Rook explained.

"It does sound like you to do have a repertoire together, but if you don't mind me saying; from what the Sheriff has explained to me, she tends to push you around a bit, verbally of course, always strong arming you into doing what she wants to do rather then what you want" Jerome said.

"Well maybe sometimes, but like I said, she's a brick wall sometimes and just can't be reasoned with, she just wants to get all those peggies" Rook responded.

"I won't tell you how to save the county, so long as the Seed's are stopped and people are saved, I won't reprimand you, but if I can give you any advice, it would be to take a stand up to her every now and again, come up to here level and let her know you won't tolerate insubordination, you're the one with the most authority after all, reminder her of that" Jerome offered.

"Uh yeah, I feel you" Rook nodded awkwardly.

He understood what he meant but if felt weird to hear.

"And just like that were done" Jerome said, his voice was accompanied by the sound of the first aid bag zipping closed.

Rook looked down at his side and found that the wound had been properly re-bandaged and was good to go.

"Thank you, Jerome, I feel better already" Rook said jokingly.

"It's not a problem at all, if you need anything at, just let me know" Jerome said before standing up and sidestepping to pass Rook and exit the rows of pews.

Rook watched the man slowly leave so he could get back to his duties but a he left, Rook remembered why he came here in the first place, to be given something to do.

"Hey before you go, I totally forgot to ask but I was wondering…" Rook said as he quickly jumped to his feet, grunting, hoping to catch the man before he properly left.

But thankfully Jerome did stop to hear the man out, he turned to see Rook stagger to his feet.

"Is there anything I can do to help fight the cult, and I don't mean like sit around on guard duty, I mean something I can actually do" Rook asked quietly.

Jerome didn't say anything, instead he put his hand to his chin as he analyzed the deputy before, he made a hum of puzzlement before he spoke.

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would be possible for you…" Jerome said before pausing again.

"Well I can think of one thing… we need someone to go around and verify some information for us, our captured friend I mentioned before mentioned a few locations to some farming silo and using them to make explosives, before he can destroy them we need to find where they are, tell you what, swing by the auto shop and see if you can get yourself some wheel then come back here and I'll have a list for you to check out" Jerome offered.

"Yeah! Sure, I can totally do that" Rook said, trying to suppress some excitement.

"I'll go get the car now" Rook said, sticking a thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the door before turning around and quickly moved for the front door.

As Rook moved for the door, he heard Jerome call for him once more.

"Hey deputy, before you go" Jerome said, causing Rook to turn back around.

"It wouldn't hurt to get someone to come with you to keep you safe just in case, maybe see if Miss Black would accompany you, it would be an opportune time to patch things up"

"Uhh, yeah, totally, I probably should" Rook muttered, nodding.

The idea of facing Jess so soon made him feel a little apprehensive, had she calmed down by now, would she even want to see him let alone talk to him.

"And please before any of this goes into motion, get yourself a firearm, Mary May would strangle me if I let you go into the wild unarmed and unready" Jerome nodded.

"Now that I can do" Rook said, nodding once again, before turning for the door.

Rook promptly walked to the exit, the whole time his new found plan looped in his head, get gun, get car, get info, then call Jess, the first three were no problem but Jess still intimidated him, he didn't know who to initiated the initial conversation, one wrong word and she would probably hang up on him, Dutch was also a viable answer but the whole thing still felt weird, he knew deep down the only way she would get through to her was to do was to just talk about it like an adult and talk to her maturely. With his mind made up Rook tapped on his walkie on his hip to make sure it was still there before stepping out of the church, as he left he could see his home out of the corner of his eye, it made him think about Boomer who was still locked inside, it made him jump slightly to think he almost left him in there for who knows how long, quickly his mind changed from the plan to the dog, the silos could wait a few minutes, right now he needed to get the dog before he could even think about getting a gun or calling Jess.


	26. Chapter 26

Rook stared apprehensively at the walkie talkie in his hand, still he had no idea what to say to Jess as he sat in his newly acquired car, Boomer in the backseat, lightly panting happily as he enjoyed the air conditioning that gently blew through the car. He had pushed off the deed until he had acquired Boomer, a gun and a car, but he had accomplished the last two much faster then he predicted.

He had sweet talked the general store owner into lending him a .44 revolver and some ammo until he could properly pay it off as in his time in John's bunker had caused his firearms and wallet to be confiscated. And after that he had sauntered over to the auto shop across the street and after a few long minutes of bartering and promise making, he was able to get his hands on a new vehicle; to called it new was an understatement, it was an old two thousand four Honda Civic, it was only brought out to be worked on since all of the preferable vehicles were in use or impossible to get started again, despite all that, the small auto shop team very reluctantly gave him the car with the condition it would be returned at the end of the day without a single scratch or dent, they knew he wasn't supposed to be leaving town let alone going somewhere far enough it required a car in his condition anyway, but how could they say no to the man who had pushed back John's will so efficiently.

Rook continued to stare at his walkie, a variety of opening phrases and sentences ran through his head trying to come up with something to get Jess to answer his call without cursing his name again, a part of him thought about calling Nick and or Mary May for help as one had a successful marriage, clearly he knew his way around the female mind, and the other was a woman herself.

"What do you think we should do, Boy?" Rook asked Boomer, eyeing him through the rear-view mirror.

And as Rook expected, Boomer replied with a single yip, responding to his master's voice.

"I thought that too, but that could just make things worse" Rook replied as if the dog's bark was in human tongue.

He brought a hand up to his chin in perplexity as he hummed to himself, Jess was never one for talking, once she lost her patience for what was being talked about she usually dropped the whole thing entirely, sometimes it was like she was a riddle inside of an anger management problem wrapped in a hoodie. Rook thought about opening up with another apology, but he had remembered what Jerome had told him about flexing his authority and letting her know where they stood. He wanted to ask her to give him some space more then anything, the nightmare he had this morning still stuck with him and left him and found in his more relaxed moments his mind would just drift to his experience in the bunker it was like he hadn't come to terms with that he shouldn't have made it out, it was a one in a million shot, and somehow he was just that lucky, and with Jess constantly harping on him for his mistake wasn't making it any easier, but that almost didn't feel right, he was in the wrong after all, he had done the bad thing and was paying for it so how could he just call her up and almost demand her to meet up with him. But he did have a point though, if he wanted to truly make up for what he had done he needed to take point on the matter, Rook exhaled deeply to try to shake off some uneasiness before lifting the walkie to his mouth and thumbing the talk button.

"Hey Jess, I would appreciate it if you were to pick up right now" Rook asked firmly.

He felt a little anxious as he took his thumb of the talk button and waited for her response. But sadly, seconds turned to minutes and it was clear she wasn't going to respond.

"Aw shit" Rook grumbled.

* * *

All Jess could feel was the intense heat from the fire that consumed her parents in front of her, if not for her jackhammer heartbeat that pounded in her ears, she would have heard the Cook, standing a few meters from her parents, dousing them in fire from the flamethrower he always carried, cackling and preaching some nonsense about fire and the coming end times, her brother next to her in the cage they were trapped in, shrieked and wailed, horrified his parents fate would befall him next. Jess turned to him and watched him have his emotional breakdown, she wanted to tell him something but every time she opened her mouth, she screamed just as loud as him.

Then Jess woke up.

She awoke with a start, her heart gripped in horror, her mind screeched she was in danger, causing her to try to shoot up from her little curled up ball into some position that would allow her to defend herself, gasping and couching while muttering some slurred curse as she tried to ready herself for whatever was to come but under all her duress, she had forgotten she had left herself in such an enclosed space, causing her to lightly bang her head against the side of the wooden crate, causing her to gasp again from the sudden pain, the impact caused her to stubble slightly, one of her hands shot out to the side, searching for anything to brace her self upon, but the balcony she had hid herself on was full of wooden crates and quickly found something to hold herself up on as she scanned her surroundings with a blurry vision. As her senses slowly returned to her, she quickly realized something was in her eyes that obstructed her view, with her free hand she quickly brought up a hand to wipe her eyes but as her hand touched her eyes, it immediately felt wet, she instantly knew what it was, it was tears. She couldn't help feel disgusted and disappointed in herself as a dream had reduced her to a teary eyed, terrified mess, she quickly blinked the tears out of her eyes and scanned her surroundings again only to see she was still on the balcony she had left herself on.

Jess came to realize she wasn't in any danger; she was still inside the barn she hid herself in to catch up on some sleep, feeling a fraction of safety, she felt her muscles relax slightly, her entire body slumped downward as it loosened itself up, she began taking ragged breaths to calm down even further, she brought a hand up to lightly rub the spot on her head that connected with the crate for a few seconds before her arm fell limply to her side, she coughed a few times to clear her throat from the bile that had built up.

Fighting peggies was nothing to her, they were always the same, clueless nobodies who don't know what they were doing, running around with guns they have no experience with, she could pick them off all day as if she was Grace Armstrong putting holes in pumpkins with her patented sniper rifle, but the dreams were something different, she was always so weak and malleable in her dreams, she was completely unable to protect herself from the dreams that felt so real, it made it easy for the Cook and other horrors to properly terrify her to no end, and she hated.

She continued to stand there against the crate, still trying to catch her breath, despite her heart beating in her ears and her light panting she could still her the resistance members marching around lazily outside, making shiftless banter to each other as the morning crawled on, it was clear nothing sinister had snuck in during the night, but the thought of Holland citizen listlessly tour around the farm it made her snap her head to her feet, she needed to make sure that no one snatched up what little she owned, and sure enough her bow and quiver full of arrows still lay on the ground, a few inches away from her weapons was her walkie talkie.

Feeling naked without her prided tools, she quickly bent down and scooped up the bow and quiver and fastened it to her body, before bending down and picking up the walkie off the floor, she examined the device briefly before attaching it back onto her hip, but just as the walkie clip grazed her belt, the walkie crackled to life.

"Listen if you don't want to talk that's fine but just let me know at least so I'm not wasting our time, I'm sure you wanna go off and do your thing, but still let me know yeah, sure I didn't really do it but I'd just like to know your ok" Rook's voice came through the walkie, sounding almost dissatisfied.

"Ugh, the Boy Scout" Jess inwardly groaned.

Just thinking of him made her roll her eyes as she was still sick of him, but it was clear by the way her talked he wasn't going to let it go that he upset her, what Dutch had said the night before still bounced around in her skull, she didn't care if Dutch was right or not, she didn't want to deal with the Boy Scout, but again, it was clear he wasn't going to let it go, so why not rip off the bandage sooner then later"

With a depressed sigh, she brought the walkie to her mouth.

"The fuck you want?" Jess said as she suppressed a hiccup.

"I-I-I was just uh, checking up on you, there was something I wanted to talk to you about" Rook stammered, clearly caught off guard by her responding.

"You're not my mom, you don't need to be doing shit like that" Jess sighed.

"Yeah, I know… but your like, my friend I care about you" Rook replied.

"Well you can stop caring, I'm fine" Jess said bluntly.

"I'm sure you are, I know you can take care of yourself, but the best can always be beaten" Rook offered.

"What do you want, dude" Jess sighed, quickly becoming bored to where Rook was taking the conversation.

She already wasn't in the best of moods; she didn't need his coddling.

"Ok listen, we both know I'm not really allowed to do to much around here these days and I kinda got Jerome to give me a little something; I got a car and a gun, Jerome wants me to go around the friendly areas in the valley and verify if certain farming silos are being used to make explosives or not, and if you don't want to tag along that's fine, I doubt there will any peggies but it would be nice to have you there so we can watch each others back again, and maybe I can give some sort of actual apology" Rook said gently.

"And well, it's going to be a long day regardless of what happens, and I feel a lot of that time could be killed with you explaining what Blood Dragon is about" he added.

Jess repressed a dismissive snort, he had to be joking, there was no way he seriously asking her to tag along on some little cruise around the valley to take about movies and apologies, he had to have hit his head before calling her.

"You can't be fucking serious; you can't honestly believe that I'm just going to fucking agree to your stupid little plan to do whatever and just expect everything to go back to normal, like you think the world just works like that, I'm not going to forgive you just because you give me some after school special heartwarming speech, you just fucking abandoned me, again in case your forgot so why do you just except I'd just let it slide this time dumb ass, do you even know what it feels like, do you even know what it's like to have zero trust in everyone around you except for one fucking loser who just can't follow simple instructions and just disappear for hours on end, and just leaves you on your own to deal with the fact you've just been abandoned, again!?" Jess yelled.

Jess couldn't help but get louder and louder as she spoke, he just made her so made sometimes and she didn't know how to cope otherwise.

"Well do you!?" Jess barked; she didn't care if the patrolling resistance members heard her, she had been wound up all over again.

But she was still met with silence, whatever the Boy Scout was thinking, he was keeping it to himself.

"What got nothing to say!?" Jess demanded.

Still, Rook said nothing, he remained absolutely silent.

Jess was about to say more but as she did, Rook finally spoke.

"Nancy" Rook finally muttered.

"What?" Jess replied, confused to who Nancy could possibly be.

"Nancy is our dispatcher back at the sheriff's office, she uh, she was the person who was on the other end of our radios the night we went to arrest Joseph, she… uh, she was a really cool lady, she made the best casserole for the office get together and well, she was someone I counted on day to day… when me and my coworkers showed up to arrest Joseph, she was still on the other end of the radio, making sure we were ok, she was the bridge to any help if things went sideways, and well it did, as we were leaving the county in our helicopter with Joseph, one of his peggies threw themselves into the propeller blades and brought the helicopter down and it sucked, like real bad, really disoriented me and couldn't do anything for a few minutes, but in that time I could hear Nancy on the other end through a headset, she was on the brink of tears, begging me or Whitehorse or anyone to let her know we were ok, and before I could even try to get to the headset and to green light the national guard, Joseph emerged from his seat, somehow with his cuffs off he grabbed the headset and told Nancy everything was ok, at first I… I thought she was going to start freaking out or something but instead… she sounded so relieved like she thought it was the Sheriff but then… she uh, and then she said; _yes father, praise be to you_ and that was it, that's how I knew I was on my own until I died, and t the point, I thought I was going to die that night, so it wasn't a big concern but as I am still here somehow and it leaves a lot to think about" Rook explained.

"I've known her for a few years, before I joined the Sheriff's department, my dad used to work with her occasionally so every now and again I saw her at those office get together as you could bring your family, and I thought she was such a nice lady, she's like that sweet old grandmother that always gives you more to eat, always caring about you… it was, it was like a slap to the face when I heard her praise Joseph, she didn't even care about me or the Sheriff who she worked with everyday for a few decades, it was like she was a totally different person, like an evil twin, and she doomed us all" Rook said, pausing briefly before continuing.

"I'm pretty certain Nancy told everyone who mattered that we all died in an unfindable, undetermined helicopter crash or something that wouldn't cause the national guard to swarm the county or really anyone to investigate, hell if I know what she came up with… the point I'm trying to make is my coworkers and I have been most likely written of as dead to the rest of the world with no one coming to even look for our bodies, there's probably tombstones for all of us somewhere and well… I don't know how my parents are dealing with that" Rook said, as he went on his speech became more stuttered as in his rush to answer Jess's question he had accidentally treaded upon a more sensitive matter in his personal life, he would rarely open up about his parents, rather his father as it was a sensitive subject and didn't want anyone's sympathy or pity.

"My um… my um, my dad has memory problems, not like Alzheimer's or anything but it's still pretty bad, if he was told I was dead around the time I, uh disappeared or whatever then I wouldn't be surprised if he had forgotten about it by now, and uhm… knowing my mom she'd try to hide her grief so he doesn't have to uh, repeatedly remember that his only child has died" Rook somberly said before falling silent, awaiting Jess's response.

Jess was also silent as she contemplated what Rook had said, as much has he grinded her gears, she could sympathize with him to a degree, she was used to hearing about how the government was to lazy, stupid, incompetent or some combination of the three, and how they just wouldn't do what they were needed to do be it, find her missing brother or a psychopath with a flamethrower, or allow her uncle to collect rainwater without bugging him to get a permit to do so, or even be bothered to take a look at the numerous municipal and civil complaints about a suspicious religious movement that had been sent over the years by so many concerned citizens, it had reminded her once again that the only person she could ever trust was herself. But it was aggravating and unsurprising to hear that the American government couldn't spend the time or resources to sent a few dudes out to find a supposed downed helicopter full of bodies of their own Sheriff and Deputies, if they had simply done their due diligence they would have discovered this Nancy bitch was not on the level which would open up an investigation, and in turn, hopefully find out about the horrors that plagued Hope's County.

And all the shit about being left to die and then having it covered up and his father was an extra twist of the knife, with his do good attitude she never expected he would but himself in a position where someone could do something like that to him, but he was right, he did know what it was like to be abandoned by someone he trusted, if she didn't fuck him over, the government might have actually rolled in and tanked the cult by now.

"Sounds like you got fucked by Joseph's god damned political reach, it may not be a government but it's close enough, welcome to the government has fucked you club" Jess sighed.

"Yeah, no kidding, eff me, right?" Rook retorted, sounding defeated.

Jess was about say something more about her distaste of the establishment, but what Rook had just said clicked in her mind, he said eff me, not fuck me, he willingly chose to censor himself.

"Did you just say eff?" Jess asked, her anger fading and quickly replaced with confusion.

"Uh… yeah I try not to swear, well I mean I do swear but I try not to use the more vulgar words, if I swear a lot, I'll just sound like the guys I arrest, y'know?" Rook offered.

Jess couldn't help but groan, as she brought up her free hand and massaged the spot she had banged against the crate next to her, the do no wrong levels of the Boy Scout knew no limits, it almost hurt to listen too.

"So, what's that make me, huh?" Jess asked, trying to get past what he had said.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked.

"A lot of swearing makes one sound like your bad guys, I swear a fuck ton, what's that make me?" Jess asked.

"It makes you still my friend" Rook asked quickly.

"I know you well enough to say underneath all your swearing and well, rough around the edges attitude you're still a good person, your still someone I can trust, sure we have our ups and downs but my thoughts and feelings about you haven't changed Jess, I know I haven't treated you as well I should have but if you give me the chance, I'll give you my Junior Deputy promise that I won't be so negligent to my friend" Rook offered.

"Your Junior Deputy promise?" Jess echoed back, sound like she didn't believe him.

Jess wanted to tell Rook to fuck off, she wanted to ignore him for who knows how long but he had hit the nail on the head and answered her question, and Dutch's advice still bumped around in her head, if she properly severed her ties with him she'd be all along again, it would just be her by herself killing the peggies again like she had been for years, but for some reason that felt so undesirable, the prospect of going back on the hunt alone seemed more lonely, it confused her to why she felt that way, it wasn't like he was any good at the hunts, or even wanted to go on them in the first place, but for some reason his presence was tolerable, asides from being her only legitimate friend, and he did genuinely care for her.

"Fine, get to Sunrise Farms before I change my mind" Jess sighed, resistance was truly futile.

"Wait really" Rook chirped in surprise.

"Yeah, yeah, now get the fuck over asap" Jess ordered.

"Uh, yes ma'am" Rook quickly stuttered before her walkie clicked off.

Jess sighed again, she pulled down her hood and ran her hands through her hair a few times before flipping her hood back on then adjusted her bow and quiver on her shoulder, her day was not going as planned, she didn't want to forgive him as fast as she did but she couldn't afford too, She approached the edge of the balcony and hopped down onto the metal cage a few meters below her with a hollow metal thump, she waited a few seconds to regain her balance before moving forward again and jumped off the cage onto ground level. She stepped out of the barn and walked into the morning sunlight, it was times like these she was happy to constantly have her hood over her as without it, the morning sun would be shining in her eyes, as she walked to what looked like the driveway of the establishment, she could see the surrounding resistance members give her odd looks as they most likely forgotten she was on the premise and were probably wondering what she was even doing on at the farm. As Jess reached the supposed edge of the drive way she could see a dilapidated fence that separated the road from the barren fields, the closest fence post to the road was cracked and split, what should have been at shoulder height now rested at waist height, it was a good enough place to wait as any, bored, Jess adjusted her bow before sitting down on the fence post and waited for a vehicle to come over the horizon as she asked herself if she was making the right choice.

* * *

Rook sighed in relief; he had somehow gotten his foot in the proverbial door that was their friendship.

"You here that boy, we got her" Rook said to Boomer as he rolled his head back and looked at the dog from the corner of his eye.

Boomer yipped in response before painting softly again.

"Better not keep her waiting" Rook said before hurrying out of the car as quick as he could and hurried into the church to find Jerome.

With all his short term goals completed, he quickly returned to Jerome to receive the info on the silos, upon asking Jerome gave him a folded piece of paper and was told it was the approximate locations of the silos, Rook gave his thanks before quickly returning to his car and fastened his seat belt and safety left town before picking up any more speed. Jess had said she was at Sunrise Farms, he was familiar with it's location as it was one of the first properties he had properly kicked the peggies out, but even then they had still gotten the last laugh, to Rook's dismay, the peggies had done something to the soil to make the fields barren, it upset Rook to hear the farm was objectively useless, it was just another twisted level of sick John and his goons had sunken too to keep their collective heel on peoples throats.

As Rook slowly rolled up the dirt road towards the farm, he could see Jess sitting on a fence post, looking bored and sullen as she usually did, as his car drew closer Jess turned to see who was coming up the road before standing up and walking down the side of the road, watching the approaching car. Rook rolled down his window and waved at her, Jess simply nodded as she stopped walking and waited for the car as Rook slowed down to come to a safe stop.

As Rook came to a stop, Jess approached the passenger door to enter, as she did, she noticed the happy looking dog watching her get closer to the car, she softly scoffed as she opened the door.

"You got a dog now... Sweet" Jess deadpanned as she climbed in and closed the door.

She wasn't thrilled about a dog joining their party, regardless of what they were doing a dog was too unpredictable, at the first sign of trouble the dog could start barking at whatever it deemed a threat and give away their position.

"I know what your thinking, Boomer here knows how to keep quiet, he's as smart as he is a good boy" Rook said trying to reassure her unease.

"I'm sure he is" Jess said disinterested, rolling her eyes.

"So, uh yeah anyways that thing I mentioned earlier was peggies have these farming silos all over the Valley and they're full of manure or something, basically you can make explosives out it and that's what the peggies are doing, Jerome has asked me to go and take a peek at a few silos to see which ones are being used for explosives, to be honest I'm pretty sure they will be guarded so we should be careful when we roll up" Rook said awkwardly, he had quickly picked up on Jess's total disinterest and just wanted to quickly sum up the mission.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, let's do it" Jess replied bluntly.

"Uh, yeah, go team" Rook said as he tried to agree with her before placing the car in reverse and three point turned around and retreated back they way he came and onto the main road.

"So, there should be one down far south of the valley, down by the river that eventually separates the Valley from the Henbane" Rook supposed as he eyed the paper while he drove.

Jess merely made a noise of acknowledgement as she got comfortable in her seat, but her comfort was short lived as Boomer's head poked in between the two front seats and sniffed Jess a few times before eagerly licking her arm, trying to say hello.

"Wha-? Come on, shoo, get off me pooch, stop it" Jess groaned as she swatted her arm, hoping to get the dog to leave her alone but Boomer took the quick movement as playing and nuzzled himself into Jess.

"Come on dude, control your dog" Jess groaned, as she tried to push Boomer back.

"Boomer, come on, sit, calm down" Rook firmly said as he took a hand off the steering wheel and gently began tugging at Boomer's para cord collar.

After a few tugs, Boomer finally retreated into the back seats, whimpering sadly as he was denied his playtime with the new person and curled up on the seats.

"Sorry about that, Boomer is a really affectionate dog and loves meeting new people" Rook offered as he pulled of the dirt road and onto the main road before speeding up.

The paper said there was a single silo far south, so that's where they would go.

"Shit, the dog is a lot like you" Jess sighed in response.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rook asked, a little nervous to the implications.

"Neither of you can follow basic orders" Jess replied bluntly.

Rook let out a sigh before stealing a look at her.

"Ok I get it your still mad, but is there anything I can do to get you to turn down the rude reminders your mad?" Rook asked.

"I don't know, you really pissed me off, I might just bug you about it for a week or two" Jess guessed.

"Hey, you never told me what happened to you in the first place, I saw the old truck on the side of the road, looks like you fought a rhino" she asked.

"I uh, uhm, I got grabbed by some peggies and dragged off to John's bunker" Rook stammered, trying to focus on the road ahead of him.

The roads down south were less maintained as they were rarely used, the trees and other vegetation threatened to spill onto the road from lack of trim work, Rook could see how this area would be a good location to hide a silo.

"Woah, no shit?" Jess asked as she sat up in her seat and quickly turned to look at Rook, sounding a little surprised to the extremity of his answer.

She had heard horror stories of people being dragged off to John's bunker almost like she and her family had been years before, she had heard all kinds of rumors about what John would do to the people he had in his lair, cruel cult rituals, senseless beatings and murder, bliss infused baptisms and just straight up torture to sate John's sadistic urges, the chances of escaping the bunker on a good day were slim to none, but yet somehow, the inconsiderate, overly cautious, weirdo of a Junior Deputy miraculously pulled it off, Jess who had spent almost a year under her grandmothers tutelage had barely escaped the Cook's compound with her and her brother's life, and that was just the Cook's compound, not even one of Jacob's secured locations, how could someone like Rook pull off such a feat with his life.

"No shit" Rook echoed back, suddenly sounding worn down.

"How the fuck did you pull that off, like did you take John himself hostage or something" Jess asked with no attempt to hide her interest.

Any and all anger within her had disappeared as was replaced with morbid curiosity

"No, I didn't to be honest I genuinely thought I was going to die in there" Rook said somberly.

"What?" Jess muttered, caught off guard by such an answer.

"I really thought John was going to do some slasher movie horror show things to me, he was so angry when I didn't play along to his weird cult stuff, he got so angry I thought he was going to snap and just kill me or Hudson then and there… John is sick monster, he needs to be stopped no matter what… and I was trapped in his spiderweb" Rook continued.

"And somehow… somehow I was able to squirm and wriggle out of his torture room and I was out of the frying pan and into the fire, I was wandering around in John's bunker, his gate or whatever, a peggie hot spot, as I wandered around, I was so ready to just get shot in the back or leg and dragged off to be tortured or something unimaginably horrifying, but yet again I somehow managed to scrape and claw my way to the exit, as I was making my great escape, I was climbing the staircase to the surface, scared out of my mind and just as I made it to the exit, some big guy just came out of nowhere and he just gets me good in the side with a knife, that's how I got that slash, knocked the gun right out of my hand, then he just starts throwing me around that little room just for fun, he could kill me at any time... And we both knew it... I only got out of there alive was because he just so happened to throw me on top of my gun, as he moved in to kill me, I was able to pull it out of my back and shot him... but still in that very moment… I actually made peace with myself that I was going to die and yet… here I am" Rook said, his voice still low.

"Now I know I haven't really shown it or anything, but I'm like, still processing all that and then some mentally I guess, so please Jessica, please… please, give me a little slack ok I know, I messed up I'm sorry, but please, just give me some space to come to compartmentalize everything" Rook quietly asked.

He wanted to be firmer with her like Jerome had suggested but that was all he could muster. Jess remained eerily silent causing no noise to emanate within the vehicle besides from the hum of the engine.

She was still processing what she had just heard, at first, she wanted to tell him to grow a pair and move past it but as he went on it was just one nightmare after another, she was still in awe over how someone like him could survive what he endured but she slowly came to the conclusion of what was going on with Rook.

The years she had spent by herself angrily plotting the demise of the Cook and every peggie that crossed her path had hardened her to the point of total numbness to the imaginable depths of cruelty the peggies could bring forth, not even the mutilated corpses that marred the county like twisted decorations. Not for a single moment did she ever stop to think the Boy Scout would fall down that same path, after a while she merely thought he was just cracking under the immense weight of the responsibilities thrust upon him. She had seen many people crack and break to the stress that constant threat of death or worse would bring but people who had yet to crack either died or found some sort of coping mechanism, and the Boy Scout had neither, the Deputy wasn't cracking, he just didn't know how to cope with the numbness induced by countless pointless monstrosities.

"Yeah" Jess finally said softly, unmoving from her position, still staring at Rook.

Rook didn't say anything after that, he just focused on driving, he didn't move at all except to change speed and direction, but as all the roads were long stretches, he still barely moved.

Jess left Rook along after that, neither of them saying anything, she could have sworn they went in a big circle once or twice, but the woods of Montana all looked the same so who cared, neither of them complained so it wasn't to big of a deal, the silos weren't going anywhere, but after a while Rook finally spoke up.

"Hey, I think were getting close" Rook said as he quickly examined folded paper in his grasped, pinned between his hand and the steering wheel.

"You think it's around here?" Jess asked.

"I think so, it's a good as place as any to hide something so big" Rook offered as he slowed the car down and gently pulled off to the side of the road before coming to a complete stop.

Rook killed the engine and climbed out of the car, before opening the back to door to let Boomer out, as the dog came bounding out of the car, so to did Jess at a much slower pace, with everyone ready to move Rook looked down at the paper again to figure out where to go from here.

"Uhhhh" Rook mumbled as he squinted at the paper Jerome had given him, he looked in a few various directions before turning back down at the paper, trying to get his bearings.

But nothing came to him, he had trouble Making out the directions, if they were a mile or to east he would have no trouble as that would be Nick's end of the woods. As Rook tried his best to decipher the paper, Jess slowly approached him and wordlessly held up a hand to him, silently asking for the paper as she knew he'd fail and lead them on a while goose chase.

After a few more moments of hopelessly rereading the instructions, Rook finally noticed Jess.

"Hey Jess wha- oh uh, yeah sure, you can give it a try" Rook said sheepishly as he figured out what she wanted mid-sentence and gave her the paper.

Jess was still silent as she read the paper and analyzed the small doodled maps next to the instructions for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion.

"It's that way" she said bluntly, pointing southward, into the thick treeline that ran against the road.

"Oh yeah, of course, I knew that" Rook said awkwardly, clearly I lie to save face.

"So let's get going then" Rook quickly said before marching off in the direction she pointed with Boomer following close behind.

Jess rolled her eyes at how painfully obvious his lie was before following the two into the woods.

And the three walked through the woods for a time, they were both silent as Boomer would occasionally ran a dozen feet ahead and sniff the ground or quickly look around before returning to Rook and Jess, only bugs and birds buzzed and chirped around then, it was a quiet late morning for whatever day it was, Jess hardly ever knew what day it was, it was only day or night to her.

"So did the paper say how far out the silo is?" Rook asked, breaking the silence.

"No, it's all just rough guesses, could be two minutes ahead, could be twenty" Jess answered.

"But how far do you think it is, master hunter?" Rook inquired.

"fuck if I know, didn't you say this was just a scout thing, there might not even be anything fuckin' out here" Jess replied.

"Right" Rook groaned.

He had forgotten the finer points of the job as at the time Jess was on his mind then the job, and he was starting to regret it, if not for the tank top he would be sweating more under the hot sun. Rook rolled his head and flexed his shoulders in hopes of shaking off some stiffness, as he did, he saw a flicker of movement came from out of the corner of his eye, it wasn't a branch swaying in the wind or an wild animal, nervous, Rook turned his head and could have sworn he saw the shape of a man through the trees.

It made his heart skip a beat as if it was a human, chances it was peggies.

But as quick as he saw it, it disappeared into the trees.

His hand shot to the revolver tucked in his waistband and gripped it tightly as it could very well be trouble, as we watched the area where the man disappeared, he replayed what he saw in his mind a few times.

The act revealed a few details to work with, the man was wearing a green hoodie and baseball hat, a shotgun was slung over his shoulder and appeared to be carrying something as he casual weaved through the trees.

Rook was ready to draw his gun and investigate, but the green hoodie stood out to him, it was old and faded, it had a few light burn marks and a few other stains on it, it all seemed so familiar to him before, his mind whirled to produce an answer and finally stopped on his pyromaniac friend Sharky Boshaw.

Rook paused momentarily to second guess himself, why on earth would be out here so far from home, something had to be up and he had to find out.

"Sharky? What is he doing here?" Rook thought as he started to walk towards Sharky's supposed direction.

"What are you doing?" Jess asked, looking over at the man, watching him break away from her and Boomer.

"I think I just saw Sharky" Rook quickly answered.

"Boshaw? No way, he's off in the Henbane with his inbred cousin, that was probably just some loser" Jess retorted, trying to wave of the notion.

"Ok but still, why would I see a guy just now, walking the same direction as us" Rook said, pointing to where he supposedly saw Sharky.

"You got a point, you probably saw a Peggie" Jess said as she removed the bow from her shoulder and loaded an arrow into it.

"Let's get this son of a bitch" she said before walking off where Rook had pointed.

Rook silently nodded and drew his revolver and followed behind her with Boomer staying close, as the dog walked, he seemed to carry himself closer to the ground like he was ready to pounce as if he understood what was just discussed.

And the three of them walked off in the changed direction for a few minutes, looking for whatever or whoever Rook may have seen, both of them feeling tense as they could not find any trace of another living creature, not even a lonely squirrel.

"I still don't see anyone" Jess said in a low voice, examining her terrain.

"I'm telling you, I'm sure I saw someone" Rook replied, his voice just as low.

"Then where are they, they didn't just disappear, it's not like you saw a ghost or bigfoot or something" Jess retorted.

"I don't know maybe they're hiding?" Rook offered.

"Come on dude, there's no one here, let's get back to the hunt" Jess groaned as she turned away and walked back to the area they came from.

"Your giving up that easily?" Rook almost whined.

"There's nothing out here" Jess said as she walked away.

Even Boomer seemed to have lost interest and followed Jess.

Rook let out a sigh before slowly following his two friends, after a dozen steps, Rook heard a snapping sound, a snapping of a stick or branch, whatever it was, it didn't sound like normal.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Rook asked, trying his best to keep his voice down as he called to Jess.

"Hear what?" Jess asked, turning around.

"It's was like a twig snap or something, just follow me" Rook asked, as he crouch down ever so slightly in hopes of reducing noise and moved towards the source of the noise.

Jess was silent as she followed behind him, pulling her arrow taunt, ready for any, suddenly trotted ahead, past Rook and further into the trees, he must have gotten the scent of something, Jess never liked dogs, but she was beginning to see their usefulness.

They followed Boomer further into the woods a few dozen meters from a break in the trees, a clearing could be seen through the break as some small, rickety looking buildings could be seen. But just as quickly as Boomer took the lead, he stopped and crouched low, practically on the ground, his ears slicked back against his head and completely motionless.

"What's up boy, you see something?" Rook whispered.

Boomer didn't so much as twitch from Rook's words, instead he stood perfectly still, looking forward.

"Shit, dude look" Jess said tugging on Rook's arm, pointing ahead with her bow.

Rook looked up from his canine companion to see where his human companion pointed, a couple dozen meters ahead was a man, crouched down on one knee, fiddling with something as the cardboard bow of what was now clearly a rotting fruits and vegetables sat next to him, a dozen flies hovered over it expectantly, the man wore a dingy green hoodie, it was a dingy green hoodie Rook was familiar with, the man on the ground was clearly the one and only Sharky Boshaw.

"What the hell?" Rook whispered to himself as he holstered his revolver again and quietly approached his unaware friend, as he got a few feet away from Sharky, Rook called out to him.

"Sharky, what are you doing out here?" Rook asked, bewildered and nervous to what his pyromaniac friend could possibly doing out in the middle of no where with rotten produce.

The moment Rook spoke up, Sharky shot up from his crouched position and quickly spun around, confusion and nervousness was across his face as he wasn't expecting for anyone to sneak up on him but when he saw it was the Junior Deputy, he lit up.

"Yo! Deputy Devastation! How you feeling, man?" Sharky asked as he quickly approached Rook and extended a fist, offering a fist bump, completely ignoring what was just asked of him.

"I uh, I'm feeling better man, thanks but what the hell you doing out here?" Rook asked again after giving his friend his fist bump.

"Amigo, I've been cooking up some shit" Sharky smiled cantankerously as he rubbed his hands together before noticing Jess stood behind Rook, almost directly behind him, looking equally confused as the Junior Deputy did.

"Oh, and hello to you too Jess, sorry I didn't see you back there, you kinda blend in back there and Dep distracted me" Sharky said as he over dramatically removed his baseball hat from his head and held it over his heart before giving her a small bow, then replaced the cap on his head.

"Sup Boshaw" Jess replied.

"Your going to love this too, I had to do somethin' to kill time, ol' aunt Addie flew me and Hurk down here when we heard Benny here got himself messed up six ways from Sunday and well we can't really fly back to the Henbane as Johnny boy has a bunch of aeroplanes in the air, making it hard to leave, and well Addie doesn't wanna leave, something about a lot of mail or something and Hurk's out being Hurk but yeah anyways I've been cooking up something fun, educational and all around cool as shit!" Sharky rambled on before turning and extending a hand towards what he had been working on before Rook and Jess showed up.

Rook took one look and didn't need Sharky to explain what he had set up, it was quite obvious what he had made among the trees, he used to have a game on his phone that depicted a similar concept to what Sharky had constructed; two sturdy looking trees, perfectly parallel to each other, stood almost thirty feet apart, what looked like a thick rubber insulated wire was thoroughly tied to either tree and came together in the center of the two trees, instead of the two wires connecting, both ends were tied to metal basket.

Sharky had construct a large makeshift slingshot.

"Wha… what are you planning to hit out here?" Rook asked, utterly confused to what he had stumbled upon.

"Them!" Sharky declared confidently as he just as confidently pointed to a structure in the distance in front of the slingshot's effective range.

Rook and Jess both looked up to see in the distance, a few hundred feet away was the large red silo with the Eden's Gate logo clearly printed in whit on the side, at it's base was a six figures that moved around the large cylinder, it was clear they were peggies, probably trying to syphon whatever they could to make some explosives

"Dude… is this for real?" Rook breathed, he could hardly believe Sharky would devise and construct such a thing despite everything that was happening in the valley currently.

"Your fucking nuts, dude" Jess said, watching the spectacle indifferently.

"Your say that now but just you watch, I'm gonna scare these losers away" Sharky said confidently before turning back around and grabbing a rotten cabbage out of the cardboard box and tossed it in the basket.

"Now hold on a minute, Shark" Rook said nervously, causing Sharky to stop and look over to him.

"You can't just launch stuff at peggies, we don't even know if their armed, sure you have a shotgun but a pistol has a bigger range" Rook offered.

"And besides, this whole thing is crazy, these guys kill innocent people for their doomsday religion cult and you just want to hit them with rotten fruit?" Rook said, greatly concerned.

"Well... Yeah, you hit the nail on the head" Sharky said casually as he nodded his head nonchalantly.

"Oh my god" Rook muttered as he buried his face in his hands.

"Just hold your horses, your gonna love this" Sharky grinned as he grabbed hold of the basket and began walking backwards, pulling the slingshot taunt, much to Rook's behest.

The further Sharky moved back the more difficult it became as the wires were pulled taunt.

"Dude, you don't have to do this, there are smarter ways to go about this" Rook offered as he watched with great anxiety.

"I'm a doer not a thinker, a lover not a fighter" Sharky almost laughed as he pulled against the basket.

"Jess come on back me up" Rook practically begged as he turned to her.

"As much as this is going to go bad, this could be funny, we can just shoot them when they come after us" Jess replied indifferently, giving Rook a lazy shrug.

"Seriously?" Rook moaned as he ran his hands through his hair.

It was obvious this was a recipe for disaster, but for some reason only he could see it, or even cared. At his feet, Boomer lay on the ground, he let out a yawn as he lazily surveyed the area.

"Alright, I think she's ready to go" Sharky grinned as he struggled to maintain his grip on the basket, He had almost back stepped half the distance of the wires combined length.

"We can still stop this!" Rook begged his friend.

"To late!" Sharky cried as he let go gave the basket.

Letting go caused the basket to launch forward like race car before snapping back from the velocity and momentum.

But no one watched the basket, all eyes were on the cabbage that's sailed through the air like rotten cannon ball towards the metal silo and spattered against the side of the silo with a dull bang as a chunk of the produce had clung to the metal several feet above the peggies heads. The six peggies all jumped in fear, so yelp in terror others drew the handguns that were holstered on their hips and began giving orders while looking around for the source of the noise.

"Aw shit, I missed" Sharky pouted.

"Oh, thank god, let's just get out of here, we can let Jerome know and we can get some dudes out here to deal with this" Rook said in relief, hoping Sharky would listen to reason.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jess turn and walk away, most likely headed for the car.

"It's ok dude we got a butt load of ammo" Sharky replied as he walked up to where the basket lay and picked it up.

"Sharky, you gotta be joking, they will kill you, their guns if they have any have a longer range then your shotgun" Rook begged his friend.

"That's why I brought tons of things to launch, Amigo" Sharky replied as he casually loaded the basket with a moldy hand of bananas.

"Jess, for real, please help me out" Rook begged as he turned to face her, thankfully at some point she had stopped and watch the spectacle again.

"I don't know man, he's pretty gung-ho about this, just let him do his thing, he's gotta learn his lesson eventually" Jess shrugged.

Rook growled with anxious frustration as he had no control in what was happening around him, he worriedly turned around again just in time to see Sharky back stepping again, he had almost cleared the distance to fire again, this time Rook knew he had to do something, he needed to step in and stop his friend, as Sharky was about to fire, Rook hastily stepped forward and placed a hand on Sharky's shoulder.

"Sharky, I really thi-" Rook tried to say but was quickly cut off by the basket flying forward again.

"Sorry dude, were you saying something?" Sharky asked.

Rook didn't say anything, he stared at his friend in silent horror for a few seconds before turning to see the bananas fly through the air and slam into the back of one of the peggies, knocking him onto the ground.

"Oh no" Rook muttered as the other peggies seemed to get more scared and angrier over their silent attacker.

"Yeah! You see that? That was awesome, one down five to go!" Sharky cheered.

But before Rook could turn around and berate Sharky for pushing their luck so much or even try to make him stop and leave, one of the peggies examining his surroundings noticed it was bananas that hit his friend in the back, it didn't take a genius to figure out where they came from, he looked over to the guesstimated direction it came from and saw the Junior Deputy in the treeline staring at them.

"It's the Deputy!" the peggie yelled as he pointed at Rook, causing the rest of his allies to prepare their attack.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Rook cried nervously as he quickly drew his revolver and raised it to the peggies that now charged his location.

* * *

The peggies fired their guns at Rook as they charged him, causing Rook to fall back and drop to a knee with a grunt, before blind firing his revolver once, he needed to be very ammo conscious, the revolver carried six shots, his handgun carried twelve, half of what he was used to.

Before Rook could issue orders, he could see Jess had taken up a tree near him, peaking out and firing arrows at the peggies, Boomer, barked and growled at the source of the gunshots, thankfully he did not run at the peggies as that would have killed him outright.

"Aw shit, here we go!" Sharky cried as he fired his shotgun, but just as Rook had said before, the buckshot fell short of the peggies.

"We need to get out of here!" Rook ordered as he carefully lined up a shot through the brush and fired another round, the bullet ripping through a peggies leg.

As the peggie hit the ground, screaming bloody murder from the bullet that buried itself in his leg bone, it caused his four friends to halt the assault and assessed what they were running into, as bushes and other vegetation shielded Rook somewhat, the furious dog barking and shotgun blast made them wary of what awaited them. But the hesitation costed them dearly as the second they stop an arrow flew out of the treeline and lodged itself in the head of the peggie closest to the forest. The sudden murder had scared the three remaining peggies into doing whatever they felt would increase their chances of survival, one of them just blind fired unrelentingly into the woods, emptying the clip and quickly reloading before firing again, the second one grabbed a walkie talkie off his hip and began yelling into it, but the third one was the most dangerous of all, he reached down to his belt a pulled the Molotov he had strapped there out before pulling out his lighter and igniting the rag on the end.

"Hey, is that a Molotov?!" Sharky yelled.

"What?!" Rook yelled over the gunfire, barking and yelling.

Before anyone could repeat what Sharky had said, a small fiery explosion went off a few meters away from Rook.

The explosion caused rook to let out a cry of surprise and fear as he brought up a hand to cover his eyes from the heat.

"Fuck dude, we got to go!" Jess yelled as she ran from the tree she hid behind as the fire quickly spread to the trees and bushes around the source of the fire.

Rook didn't need to verbally agree with her, with a loud grunt, Rook quickly and careful rose to his feet and tried to run deeper into the forest, but quickly stopped as Boomer still stood near the box of rotten produce, barking at the peggies.

"Come on B, time to go!" He yelled as he carefully nudged Boomer with his foot.

Boomer growled once before turning and taking off into the woods, Rook tried his best to follow Boomer, but with each running stride sent a shock of pain into his side, causing him to slow down a little, it made Rook mentally curse as he tried to keep a decent speed but could not. Every now and again, a tree near him was struck with a bullet.

Suddenly Jess appeared a few meters ahead of him at his one O'clock, running at a faster pace then him but tried to stay with him, bow ready to be fired.

"Come on dude, pick it up!" Jess ordered while in one quick movement she rotated at the hip and fired an arrow behind her.

"I'm trying!" Rook huffed, as he stretched his arm behind him and fired twice.

The shots caused the peggies to stop firing momentarily before the gunshots started up again.

"Where's Sharky?!" Rook asked through ragged breathing.

"Somewhere up ahead, the dude can hustle!" Jess replied.

"I don't know if I can make it, it hurts too much to run" Rook declared.

"Come on! You can do it, put your back into it!" Jess yelled, trying to motivate him.

Rook tried to do what Jess had said, but struggled and couldn't gain any speed, gunshots and yelling still close behind him.

"Jess… my side…" Rook gasped through ragged breath.

"Aguhh fine! just don't stop running!" Jess yelled as he carefully reloaded her bow be for breaking hard right, disappearing from Rook's view.

Rook was breathing to hard to complain or tell Jess anything, as much as he hated it, all he could do was run away. Again.

And that's what Rook did, he did his best to run towards the car, bobbing and weaving through the trees, he wasn't sure how far away the car was, all he did know was that the car was in front of him. Boomer was long gone; Rook could only assume he and Sharky had safely to the car.

Huffing and puffing, Rook could still hear the gunfire and yelling behind him, not only that but the crackling of fire, Rook could only assume the fire had spread and threatened to consume the woods, after what felt like a few minutes of pained running, the gunfire slowed and a different type of yelling could be heard, angry yelling became ones of fear and pain, whatever Jess was doing, it was working. Rook didn't dare look back, he felt if he did he would fall, not only that but the forest ahead seemed to thin out, the prospect of making it to the end gave Rook the willpower to charge forward, with an extra big breath, Rook surged forward, moving faster through the woods that slowly thinned out more and more, and before he knew it, he was back on the dirt road, and across from it was the car, still parked on the side of the road, Sharky was hiding behind the hood of the car, his head and shotgun poking up over the hood, trained on the treeline, ready to shoot anyone that looked like a peggie. Boomer stood by the front bumper ready to jump at anyone that smelled like trouble.

"Dep!" Sharky yelled as he stood up and pulled open passenger door.

For once, Rook was happy he didn't lock the doors.

Rook did his best to run to his car and hastily pulled open both doors on the left side of the car before spinning around and faced the woods, one hand kept his revolver trained on the treeline while the other desperately dug around in his pocket to find the car key.

With the back door now open, Boomer quickly leapt inside and watched the woods from the open door, the two men and dog watched the woods intently guns at the ready for anything that didn't look like Jess. The crackling of fire could be heard in the distance, the gunshots and yelling had gone quiet.

"So, is she coming or what?" Sharky muttered nervously.

"Yeah, she can do anything" Rook replied confidently.

"Then where is she?" Sharky asked.

"Just wait" Rook ordered.

Sharky didn't reply after that, he remained silent and nervously watched the treeline as Boomer growled at nothing.

Rook could hear his heartbeat in his ears as he waited, it was like the bunker all over again, but before he could dwell on the thought any further, Jess suddenly burst out of the brush and sprinted to the car, the sudden appearance caused Sharky to squeak in fear.

"Let's go!" Jess yelled as she ran for the open car door.

Rook didn't need to be told twice, the second he heard her, he spun around and jumped into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. Sharky did likewise and jumped into the passenger seat and shut the door behind him. He heard Boomer yip if fear as he saw Jess slide across the seats in the rear view mirror, Jess had most likely shoved Boomer to quickly enter the car, as Jess slammed the door shut, Rook slammed the key into the ignition and started the car.

"Go!" She ordered.

Rook stomped on the gas and the car shot forward down the road, as they put some distance from the woods, Rook could see a column of black smoke rise from the woods, he felt a little bad knowing he had indirectly caused a forest fire, it was just another thing to fix once the cult was gone. All he could do now is return to Falls End and report to Jerome, then tear out Sharky for his callous planning and idea execution skills.

As the car finally got to a safe distance, Rook finally slowed the car to a responsible speed, causing everyone to relax a little bit, after a few minutes of silent driving home, Sharky finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

"So… uh, things didn't go according to plan, huh?" Sharky shrugged sheepishly.

His suggestion heard a very audible and pained groan from both Deputy and Huntress.


	27. Chapter 27

Rook pulled the car up against the sidewalk next to the Spread-Eagle Bar and Sharky, Jess and Boomer hopped out and moved for the bar's front door as Sharky offered to buy Rook and Jess lunch to apologize for his shenanigans and getting in the way of their task, after dropping of his friends at the bar, Rook slowly let off the brakes and rolled forward a few meters before pulling into the auto shop's driveway to return the Honda Civic to the small auto shop team. The gruff, large man, happy accepted the keys back from Rook and gave him his thanks as his three employees carefully inspected the car, with that out of the way, Rook made his way to the church across the street and quickly tracked down Jerome and apologized he couldn't check all the places he was asked too, but Jerome quickly waved it off and told him it was no big deal as he wasn't expecting Rook to compete it with no complications. Still, Rook felt bad as he could not do what was asked of him, but still Jerome told him nothing to worry about it before telling him to take the rest of the day off to further promote the healing of his wounds, and the town seeing their hero stroll around town would be good for morale. As much as Rook wanted to do something to make up for his failure, he could see Jerome's point and his friends waited for him at the bar, Rook unenthusiastically agreed before bidding the pastor farewell and left the church.

As he slowly walked back to the bar, his walkie talkie crackled to life, Rook assumed it would be Nick or Hurk asking to hang out, or even the Sheriff; Whitehorse who had oddly remained silent after declaring to the county he had disappeared days ago, but Rook was dead wrong, the second he heard the first syllable of the speakers voice, he knew who it was, and they did not sound happy.

"Your soul is poisoned, diseased, riddled with cancer and it must be cut out, but you still refuse my help by refusing to say yes" John's voice seethed from the walkie's speaker.

John's sudden vocalization hade made Rook jump as his heart skipped a beat, he had completely forgotten John would just occasionally call him to taunt and insult him for causing so much trouble for him and his peggies. If Rook wanted to respond to John's call out, he needed a solid response as the last time they were face to face, he was helplessly tied to a chair deep in the heart of John's bunker. He needed to be verbally strong and couldn't let on that he was getting to him in any way.

Rook sharply inhaled before unclipping his walkie and bringing it to his mouth.

"What do you want John?" Rook asked, trying to sound brave.

"You know you've been so quiet these past few days I was sort of hoping you were injured in your escape from my bunker and you succumbed to the injuries and just died out in the woods, I was just starting to believe that's what actually happened, and the best part about that would have been Joseph couldn't come down here and blame me for it, he would have denied me Eden if I actually killed you, oh how I wish you stayed gone, but here you are… causing problems for everyone" John said, quiet anger built building as he spoke but quickly dissipated into a sigh.

"John, we both know I'm not going to stop trying until Joseph is arrested, you will be arrested too in time, so listen… if you come forward and give yourself up I'll make sure your not harmed by the resistance and I'm sure the judge will give you a plea deal or something for willingly surrendering to the law and giving up anything that will wipe away whatever is left of the cult" Rook offered, he knew John would say no, but he had to offer anyways, as much as John was a huge sack of shit, he couldn't just give in to John's provocations and yell at him just as he did to him like two angry children, he had a job to do after all.

John laughed heartily at Rook's offer for a few moments before continuing.

"Now, Now Benjamin, why would I do something like that, we both know even if I agreed with you for some asinine reason, you'd shoot me in the back, if not you then one of your little hooligan thugs" John said.

"Why would we kill someone who has so much information about the enemy" Rook offered.

"Ahhh, there it is, that's what this was all building towards, baseless torture, allow me to save you the trouble Deputy, as I tried to tell you before, days ago, my foster parents were religious, highly religious and for no good reason believed my soul was tainted with sin and they decided to absolve me any way they could, be it seeing multiple fundamentalist pastors and nightly beatings, even if I had nothing to confess I had to make something up to appease them, I experienced pain after pain after pain after pain before finally saying yes, so I can promise you, if you ever have me tied up in one of your dingy backrooms or meat lockers there is nothing you can do to ever get me to breathe a word about the Father" John said, just by the way he spoke, Rook could tell there was that conniving, shitty grin he usually had when he felt himself to be right.

"No one will torture you; you will be locked in a room until we arrest the rest of your family, then you will be tried for your crimes" Rook said, trying to reprise his role as a deputy.

"To be frank; I don't really care what you say much less think because we both know your never going to get anywhere near me of my siblings, your just going to struggle and flail as you try to hurt our project, but I'll let you in on a secret, the longer you go without saying yes the more pain and suffering will befall you, but I can save you, I can lift you up out of your sins and put you back on the path to atonement, you just need to say… Yes, so until you do, every pain you inflict on this project will be visited with a thousand times on your friends, and I'm not sure how much more Hudson here can endure, but for now I think I'll remind you and your little town that Eden's Gate holds the key to your survival, now and in the future…. Choose your next actions wisely Deputy" John seethed again before the line clicked dead.

Rook was left in relative silence as he held his walkie near his mouth, he was used to being abruptly hung up on thanks to Jess, it still bugged him that John could and would just call him at a moments notice, with a confused sigh, Rook brought his walkie to his hip and reclipped it to his belt. He didn't know

what John meant about Eden's Gate holding the key to their survival, well, he did sort of know what he meant, John believed his and his siblings bunkers would preserve everyone from the end of the world, but in the present, who knows what that meant.

But until it reared its ugly head, Rook didn't have to deal with it, worrying about things he had zero control over would do him no good, Rook tried his best to mentally put it aside until the time being and made his way back to the bar to regroup with his friends.

* * *

As he stepped into the bar, everything was as it always was, a few regulars hung around a few tables, the jukebox near the stairs faintly played some songs, Mary, as always worked thoroughly on something behind the counter, a few feet away from Sharky and Jess sitting at the bar's counter, Boomer sat by their feet, happily gnawing on a large bone, most likely a gift from the chef; Casey. Jess's arm was propped up on the bar's counter and supported her head as Sharky prattled on about something that meant a lot to him, he didn't need to investigate to guess Jess had absolutely no interest in what Sharky was saying. As Rook approached his friends and sat down on an empty stool next to Jess, she turned to look at him, she didn't need to say anything to let Rook know she clearly wanted to tag out and let him deal with the pyromaniac, Rook gave her a quick nod and in response Jess shot out of her seat and quickly walked to the woman's washroom, before Sharky could say anything about her abrupt departure, Rook slid over to the now empty stool with a grunt and carefully turned to Sharky.

"So, what's up dude?" he asked casually.

"Oh, nothing much dude, I was just talkin' to her about this one time I got trapped in a porta potty for a few hours while tripping on some molly" Sharky smirked.

"You and Hurk are just full of adventures, huh?" Rook asked.

"Yeah no kidding man, whenever Hurk ain't traveling the world, doing his thing, fighting evil regimes and whatnot, me and him are kicking it ol' school, y'know" Sharky answered.

"To be honest with you Shark, I can't imagine what either of you consider; kicking it old school" Rook replied as Mary May move toward the section of the counter the two men sat at.

"Well look who it is, if it isn't Mister Boshaw, I trust you won't start any fires while you're here" Mary asked, eyeing Sharky.

"Scout's honor" Sharky declared as he brought two fingers to his brow and gave a small salute.

Mary mad a hum of agreement before turning to Rook.

"Deputy" Mary said, giving Rook a disapproving looking.

"What?" Rook shrugged.

"You know what Mister, you're supposed to be resting up, not running around the Valley looking for peggie resources" Mary said, crossing her arms and gave him the stink eye.

"Come on, I can't just sit around and do nothing, so what if I went for a little drive?" Rook asked.

"And you didn't stop to think maybe there would be some peggies keeping an eye on their goods?" Mary questioned.

"Well yeah but I didn't just go in unprotected, I have a gun" Rook answered.

"No Ben, that's not the point here" Mary said, sounding a little annoyed.

"You are injured, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it, even Jerome but yet for some reason he just gave you a dangerous job" Mary growled.

"Ok look, I'm sorry, I won't do it again" Rook said, trying to appease the barkeep.

"Your damn right you won't be, I'm going to be having a long conversation with our dear Pastor about just handing out jobs to our more wounded members of town" Mary said sternly as she leaned against the counter's edge.

"Hey, hey, hey, let's not get to hasty here" Rook nervously said, as he patted the air in front of him.

"Uh huh, that's what I thought" Mary said, unsurprised.

Before the conversation could go any further, the all lights in the bar suddenly clicked off, the air conditioner switched off, the jukebox near the stairs turned off mid song, by the confused swear that emitted from the kitchen, one could assume the appliances in the kitchen turned off as well.

A few patrons looked up at the ceiling full of dead lights, confused as to what just happened, both men and Mary also looked up at the now dead ceiling, equally confused.

"Uhhh, forget to pay the electrical bill?" Sharky asked. Looking up at the ceiling as well.

"I'm sure a breaker just tripped" Mary said casually as she turned away from the two men and walked towards the kitchen doorway.

By the doorway to the kitchen was a small metal panel embedded in the wall, a small handle on the side, Mary grabbed it and pulled it open to reveal a circuit breaker box, she flipped a few switches a few times before staring at it in puzzlement as flipping said switches had no apparent effect.

"Is everything ok back there?" Rook called, noticing Mary's hesitation.

Mary remained silent for a few seconds before answering.

"I don't think it's the breaker" she said nervously.

As Rook began questioning her as to what could possibly be going on, the front door opened and The burly man from the auto shop Rook had spoken too when he had returned the car he borrowed came into the bar and quickly marched up to the bar's counter next to Rook and addressed Mary, several beads of sweat lined his brow, as he looked concerned

"Hey Fairgrave, I don't suppose your just trying to save some power in here?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked as she closed the breaker panel and returned to the counter.

"Did you lose power too?" He asked, his voice carrying great concern.

"Yea, just a few minutes ago" Mary replied.

"So did my auto shop, all the lights and tools just up and died on us" the man said solemnly.

"I was afraid you were going to say that" Mary muttered uneasily.

"Hey, what's going on, the lights in the washroom went dark" Jess complained as she sudden appeared next to Sharky, making the man jump.

"We lost power and by the sounds of thing, it sounds like the whole block lost it as well" Mary replied.

"What the fuck happened then; this shit doesn't happen" Jess groaned.

"I honestly don't know, but I pray it's not peggies" Mary grimaced before turning to Rook.

"Ben I know we were just talking about you not doing but I need you to do something, I need you to go around town and find out if anyone lost power, if they did, send them back here" Mary asked.

"You think it could be that bad?" Rook asked hesitantly.

"I hope it's nothing major, but we can't be to careful" Mary replied.

"Is there anything I can do?" Sharky asked, butting in by waving a hand in the air.

Mary stared at the easily excitable pyromaniac for a few seconds before answering.

"Can you walk around a few times and keep an eye out for anything suspicious, if you do… make a lot of noise or something that doesn't involve fire" Mary asked.

"I'm real good at making a lot of noise" Sharky grinned.

"That works for me, come on Sharky let's get going" Rook said, elbowing Sharky before standing up with a grunt.

Sharky stood up with Rook and the two men moved for the door, Rook staggered forward a few feet before remembering Jess had reappeared

"You want to lend a hand?" he asked.

"Meh, I really don't care if we have electricity or not, not like we have any out in the woods" Jess shrugged indifferently.

"Fair enough" rook nodded before turning back around and followed Sharky out the door.

With both men now gone, Mary and Jess stood near the counter and the mechanic standing awkwardly nearby, Jess took the initiative and took a seat in a near by table and propped her feet up on the table, Boomer who quietly watched everything, picked up his bone and carried it under the table Jess was at and lay back down and chewed on his bone, leaving Mary alone with the mechanic.

"So, what can I get you while everything is still cold?" Mary asked the mechanic as she took her position by the few beer taps.

* * *

Sharky and rook quickly separated to fulfill their assigned roles, Sharky went off to the edge of town as Rook did his loop around town, his first stop was the Falls End Church, but Rook had forgotten that the church had abandoned electricity and used candles at night, regardless of the fact he still dropped by and informed Jerome and the few people that hung around and they all quickly agreed to reconvening at the bar, with that out of the way, he worked his way across the street to the two story general store, the second he stepped into the bar Rook knew right away the power had been cut here too as all the lights were off, George; the shop owner tucked behind the counter had begun asking Rook what had happened to the electricity as soon as he saw him was also a good indication something was amiss. Rook explained to him what the plan was and also quickly agreed to meet up with the rest of the affected at the bar, as the two slowly left the store a grumpy voice called out to Rook from the back of the store.

"What the hell is goin' on around here?!" an angry voice called out.

Rook inwardly sighed, he knew exactly who it was, it was the one and only Mister Pracker; a middle aged, heavy set, balding man who always had a problem with something, he was the type of man that complained about every little thing he found annoying, the threat of the cult had increased his annoyance ten fold, he lived in one of the room's above general store as George rented it out years go, the last time Rook had seen him was right before he and Jess had brought down John's large, obnoxious YES sign, Jess had almost accidently walked into the man, causing Pracker to go off on a tangent about how kids her age had no respect for anyone.

The man stood in the far-right corner of the general store; a door that led to a lone staircase that carried one up to the second floor was behind him.

Hey there Mister Pracker" Rook said, turning around to face the man, and sure enough, he looked quite grumpy.

"What the hell is going on around here, I pay good money every month to live here in peace, so why the hell can't I turn on my lights or anything like that?" Pracker groused.

"That's what we're trying to find out, I think half the town has lost power, we're gathering everyone down at the bar to come up with a solution I think, why don't you come with?" Rook offered but regretted it as he knew it would just cause more problems.

"Why the hell would I do that? Why would I cram myself in a stuffy old bar with no A.C. with a bunch of scared people who all want someone else to take care of it?" Pracker grumpily complained.

"Well we'll get things done faster as a team, there is no I in resistance… oh wait there is, listen what I'm trying to say is as one of the few points of pushback to the cult and we need to stick together if we want a chance to win" Rook tried to explain.

"Look at me boy, I ain't no fighter, those days are long gone, there ain't anything I can do anymore, so why should I have to go down there and listen to you all bitch and moan about bullets and guns and what not, but speaking of which, why are you doing anything?" Pracker demanded as he pointed an accusing finger at Rook.

"A few days ago you had the whole town in a big turnover looking for you and now here you are sauntering up and down town like you ain't got nothing better to do, get back to fighting these damn cultist, how can I get any of my business done if I'm going to get shot up by a bunch of hoodlums when I leave town" Pracker complained grouchily.

"Ok Mister Pracker, you don't have to come, it was just an offer, you can do as you like" Rook offered, hoping the man would take the offer and promptly leave him and George alone.

Mister Pracker didn't reply, instead he turned around and stomped back up the stairs in the stairs, mumbling angrily all the way.

"That was a close one" Rook heard George mumble behind him.

"Yeah, no kidding, as much as I want to get everyone to the bar, I feel like he'd just get under everyone's skin" Rook replied, just as quiet.

With the disgruntled man properly gone, George gave Rook his regards before leaving for the bar, Rook continued his circuit around the town, stopping at all the residential houses and knocked on the doors, but it was more then he feared, everyone who answered the door all said the same thing, they had lost power minutes ago and it made the extremely nervous as it powered many things such as refrigerators, air conditioners and non mobile communication devices, Rook gave all of them the information to meet at the bar and all hastily agreed before leaving their homes and hurrying to the bar. With the last house checked off his mental list, Rook took one quick look around to make sure everything was still normal, sure Mary had asked Sharky to do a quick look around on the town's perimeter but that in it of itself was the rub, it was Sharky, on lookout, his attention span and easily excitedness rivaled his cousin. But from where he stood Rook couldn't see anything that looked suspicious nor did he see the pyromaniac, with nothing out of the norm, Rook quickly returned to the bar to see what Mary was orchestrating.

As Rook entered the bar, he was taken aback by just how many people had gathered in the bar despite directing them here individually, from his count there had to be around thirty people from every house all packed into the bar, all nervously chattering among each other, as the loss of electricity could have been caused by anything and unnerved everyone. Mary stood at the far end from the bar's entrance, she stood on the second step on the staircase that led to the second floor so she could project her voice over the crowd when she was ready, off to the side a few feet away was Jerome, slightly fidgeting on the spot slightly as he seem uncomfortable, Sharky was easy to spot as he sat at the bar counter, watching the crowd casually with glass of beer in his hand, Rook couldn't help but roll his eyes at how quickly he went from verifying the towns safety to enjoying a cold one, but as his mind rested on

Some who was doing something they probably shouldn't, his mind quickly jumped to Jess, Rook looked around to see if he could find the usual green graffitied jacket he had become accustomed too. Thankfully she was easy to find as she was one of the few people separated from the crowd, Jess was against the wall farthest from Mary, watching the nervous crowd in front of her, making note of where his friends were , Rook shuffled around the crowd and towards Mary, as he made it to the far wall, Mary spotted him and gave him a silent nod, Rook returned the nod, causing Mary to face the crowd once more and addressed the them.

"Ok everyone, listen up, step one is remain calm, if this is John then he is counting on us getting all scared, but we ain't gonna give him the satisfaction, now are we?" Mary yelled as she waved an arm in the air to get everyone's attention.

"This ain't nothing, we dealt with worse before, let's just plan this out and take it one step at a time" Mary ordered.

But pulling all attention onto herself merely focused the crowds scared chatter onto her.

"A lot of what little food we have left is refrigerable, what are we going to do?" a scared woman called out from the crowd.

"We have no lights, we won't see anything at night, the peggies will come and kills us all!" a scared man announced.

"Are we even safe here anymore? Where's the Deputy, what's he doing about this?" another woman asked.

Before Mary could answer any questions that were being dumped into her, the crowd was slowly breaking down into a full blown panic, Mary and Jerome had seen this group mentally before, it was right when the peggies first hit, a bunch of brave souls all over the county had jumped on their CB radios and desperately relayed the info that Joseph had finally gone off the deep end and given his followers the orders to loot and kill to their hearts content, a few people of Falls End heard the broadcasts and quickly shared it with the rest of town, sure it helped hem prepare for what was about to hit them but it still whipped people into a terrified frenzy much like what was happening now, the only thing that kept them together was the prospect of knowledge and guns, but when the sun set and dark swallowed the town they would have no knowledge or proper light to use said guns, things were going to dissolve into chaos, Mary had to do something to keep her town from crumbling from within.

Mary stuck her thumb and index finger in her mouth and blew, causing a sharp whistling to blow through the room, it caused everyone to shut up and turn their undivided attention to the bartender.

"Ok everyone listen up, we the people of Falls End have endured a lot long before Joseph and his pack of clowns showed up, and there's no way in hell this is going to be our last stand, we got half a day worth of daylight left, more then enough to get the lights back on, people, it's clear that this power outage is not caused from our end, it appears something may have happened to the electrical transformers near by, most likely it was the peggies up to no good, but what they don't know is we have backup generators, but that in it of itself is a problem, they don't have any gas so if we want to get them going, and as all of you know, we are dangerously low on gas as is, so... If we want lights on through the night, were going to someone to go out and steal some gas from the peggies" Mary said before falling silent.

But the silence was quickly replaced with more scared chatter, no one wanted to walk right into a Peggie camp and take all the gas they could carry, fighting the peggies to keep them off resistance territory was one thing, but this was suicide.

"I volunteer as tribute" Sharky loudly declared from his seat as he forced on a brave face and stiffly raised an arm over his head so everyone can see him.

But many of the people in the bar recognized Sharky and knew him for his antics, causing more nervous chatter and a little bit of depressed swearing to echo around the room.

"Err, I'm sure we all appreciate your willingness to help Sharky, but we need someone who can be... Quick and quiet" Mary said, pausing briefly to choose her words.

"Oh thank Jimmy Ellis" Sharky exhaled in relief as he would not be needed before looking around, grinning at the people around him as if looking for someone to share his newfound freedom from responsibility with, but was met with people giving him dirty looks.

"So, is anyone willing to go out and take the risk?" Mary asked.

The crowd remained silent again as no one wanted to go.

"People, I know your all scared, you have every right to be, but if no one is willing, we will all perish" Jerome said, taking a step forward.

The whispering and muttering picked up slightly as still no one stepped forward.

Rook let out a sigh, perhaps it was his fault this was happening as he had shouldered the brunt of the war in Falls End allowing everyone to grow lazy since the peggie grasp on the region was lessening, but a part of him decided against it as he was in the Henbane for a while and Falls End had to fend for itself, but regardless of why no one would step forward to attempt to save the town before nightfall, someone needed to step up, if not them, then he would have to.

"If no one is going to do it I will" Rook declared as he took a few steps forward, almost in between Mary and the crowd.

"Absolutely not, that's out of the question" Mary said sternly.

"What other choice do we got, no one else wants to do it, hell how many can do it, just sneak in a place and take a bunch of gas?" Rook asked.

"Benjamin, you are still injured, you going shouldn't even be a suggestion" Mary scolded.

"Then who will go, we just can't force anyone to go" Rook retorted.

Mary seemed to hesitate for a second before turning back to the crowd.

"Are none of you going to say anything, are you all willing to let an injured man go and save a town full of able people?" Mary demanded.

Everyone was silent, eyes downcast, ashamed of their cowardice aside from Sharky who reassert that he had made the offer moments ago.

"Mary, we can't blame them for not wanting to go, we've all seen what John and his guys do, so of course no one's going to willingly walk into that" Rook offered.

"But someone has to be willing to do something to save the town, if no does anything the peggies will most likely come and finish the job!" Mary retorted.

"Fuck, I can't take this anymore!" Jess's voice could be heard within the crowd.

There was movement in the crowd, something was happening in the center, seconds later Jess emerged from the front of the crowd, she had pushed her way to through the herd.

"This is fucking killing me, why can't anyone make a decision around here, I'm a god damn woman and I have more balls then all you pussies like for fuck sakes, I'll go with the Boy Scout, if it will make everyone grow a pair" Jess loudly complained.

Her comment had made a few people mumble again, some for different reasons.

"Mary" Rook said, turning back to the woman on staircase.

"Jess, and I are the only ones willing and able, sure she could do it by herself, but I can't just send my friend in there all by herself, let me go with her, the more hands to carry gas cans the better" Rook said.

"No Ben, it doesn't matter how many people we send one of my main issues is sending you at all, you are forbidden from getting any gas" Mary said sternly, looking down at Rook.

"What, you his fucking mom or something" Jess complained, taking a step towards Mary.

"He's a big fucking boy, you won't believe the shit I've seen him do, if he says he can get the gas then he can get that gas, not unless you want come with us and get your hands dirty for once" Jess challenged.

"I can't I need to keep the peace around here, if I leave these people will be too disorganized, regardless Ben can't fight" Mary retorted taking a step down the stairs.

"That's why we'll be quiet about it and get in and out without anyone knowing" Jess moaned.

"Ladies!" Rook interrupted, moving to stand between them and faced Mary May.

"I appreciate your concern but it's not like you can just lock me away until I'm all better, I need to do something, and that something is stealing that gas, I'm going to weather you like it or not" Rook spoke.

Mary's hung open slightly as she stared disapprovingly at Rook, wanting to stay something but nothing came to mind, her eyes flicked from Rook to Jess to the silent, watching crowd.

"Fine… go… talk to Jerome about places to check" Mary huffed in frustration as she turned away from Rook.

As Mary spoke Rook could see Jerome leave his post and move towards what looked like where Sharky was at the counter.

"We'll be back before you know it" Rook nodded before turning to track down Jerome with Jess close behind.

As Rook and Jess moved, the crowd of people split down the middle and allowed the two to make to the back of the counter where Jerome and Sharky looked over a map. As they closed the distance to them, Rook could hear Mary behind him.

"While he's gone, we all need to talk brainstorm some ideas, John is stepping up his plans to take us all out, we need to step up what we're doing if we want to survive" Mary ordered.

As Rook and Jess approached Jerome and Sharky, the two men looked up at the two.

"Thank you for taking on this task in your current state, Ben, and you to Miss Black" Jerome said looking up from the map.

"No problem, someone had to do something" Rook shrugged, but Jess remained silent.

"So, what are we looking, exactly?" Rook asked as he stepped forward and moved a counter stool over a few inches to peer at the map.

"Well… on the bright side we have our work cut out for us" Jerome replied as he smoothed out the wrinkles in the map as Jess silently took her place next to Rook.

"We've been trying to keep an eye on possible places on where the peggies are hiding out, we think they may have set something up in the Copperhead Railyard, it's not exactly defendable but the railyard has been long abandoned so no one would have any business poking around there as nothing of value is there" Jerome explained as he pointed to the railyard on the map.

"So, you think there's gas there?" Rook asked, taking note of the Railyard's location.

The railyard was far east, quite close to the river the split the valley from the henbane, Rook had a fairly good idea where the place was.

"I would think so, if they plan to stay overnight there, they will need something to power their lights and vehicles" Jerome answered.

"I doubt there's anything is there" Jess grumbled.

"Let's say there is none there, what do you want me to do?" Rook asked.

"Well that brings us to the bad news" Jerome said somberly as his eyes from the map to Rook.

"If there is none there, there might be another outpost by the packing plant to the north, and if there is nothing there also… then we are out of luck" Jerome grimaced.

"Shit… so you think we'll even find any?" Rook asked nervously.

"I honestly don't know" Jerome said somberly.

"Aw shit man, this is getting pretty dire" Sharky said in awe, finally speaking up.

"Sharky right, things could get pretty rough, we need to get moving sooner then later, we're going to head out now" Rook said.

"God's speed Deputy" Jerome nodded.

"I believe on you dude, do your best" Sharky offered.

Rook silently nodded at their words of support before turning to leave, again Jess silently followed him towards the front door, as they did Rook couldn't help but quickly glance back over to Mary May who still held the crowds attention, come up with something to defend the town regardless of what Rook would come back with, but in the few seconds Rook had stared at the woman, she had stared back at him. She looked at him with this look on her face, Rook didn't know how to describe it, it was like some mixture of worry, hurt and hope, Rook wasn't sure why she looked at him like that, she knew he could take care of himself and he did have Jess with him, they were an unstoppable team, as Rook and Jess left the bar, Rook hoped he could smooth things over with her when everything was far less stressful.

Rook and Jess headed over to the auto shop next door and borrowed the Honda Civic once more, thankfully one of the auto shop members stayed behind to keep an eye on the place, Rook explained to him what was going on and the man gladly handed over the keys, with keys in hand, the Junior Deputy and the huntress now traveled across the valley, aside from the radio that softly played, they drove in relative silence, Rook had picked up that Jess was acting different since they last talked on the ride to the first silo, he didn't want to test his luck further and verbal prod her to see what would happen, he thought about finding where they stood once the worry of gas was gone, but who knows how long that would be, so until then, Rook and Jess sailed down the lonely roads of the Holland Valley towards a possibly abandoned railyard.

* * *

The car came to a slow top on the dirt road the crunched beneath it before the engine clicked off, Rook and Jess slowly climbed out afterwards and examined the area, Rook had rarely been to this end of the valley, but the map Jerome used was lining up with the one in his head, there was a rocky hill to his three O'clock, if he was right the railyard should be on the other side.

"I think it's up there" Rook guessed, point towards a rocky hill.

"Then let's get going" Jess replied as she pulled the bow off her back as she moved towards the hill.

Rook silently agreed and followed her to the hill as he pulled the revolver out of his waistband, as much as he wanted to crouch down and be sneaky, he couldn't as his wound would not allow it. but the hill was to steep to go up crouched, so instead he just walked up, but what was more then that, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward air between them, as the slowly began the assent up the hill, Rook opened his mouth.

"Hey thanks for jumping in when you did back at the bar, who knows what would have happened if you didn't?" Rook said.

"It was fuckin' agony listening to it" Jess sighed.

"Sure but still, you really helped me out" Rook replied.

Jess hummed in acknowledgement as she slowly lowered herself to a lowered stance as they gradually worked their way up to the hill's apex. Rook also noticed they were approaching the hill's top and silenced himself as they climbed, when they finally made it to the stony peak, they were able to peak down at what was below them, and sure enough, there was the railyard. It was this old, decrepit thing, a dozen or so rusted boxcars sat on long rows of abandoned tracks, a single neglected building that was most likely a train station sat in the far corner, a dull blue water tower stood at the opposite end of the lot. And as per usual to all locations throughout the county, peggies wandered the area, keeping undesirables out, for once Rook felt happy to see peggies as they either patrolled in between the boxcars or even better yet, fueled up their pickup trucks from a larger tanker truck that was parked on the edge of the yard, a few pick up trucks were parked around a tanker truck parked on the far side of the yard, on a dirt road.

"Oh shit, they have gas" Rook squeaked.

"Yeah they do, so how you wanna place this?" Jess asked.

"Aw shit, I don't know, give me a minute" Rook whined as he ran his hand through his hair.

Rook's response earned a sigh from Jess, it was obvious he didn't have a clue how to go about swindling the tanker truck away without being noticed, sure she could just go down there any pick them off one by one without being seen, but the bodies on the other had were a problem, she couldn't move that many bodies that fast without being noticed, the Boy Scout couldn't crouch, there was no way he could move a body, something would surely be seen and the tanker truck would surely depart to protect the fuel.

Jess examined the railyard along side Rook, looking for any weaknesses to exploit, but she couldn't see anything that looked half decent, and by the nervous whines that escaped from Rook, he was coming to the same conclusion.

"I'm struggling here" Rook admitted.

"Yeah so am I" Jess replied.

"Ok, from what I see there's about fifteen guys, all patrolling or refilling, probably preparing to move out somewhere, so I guess we got some sort of timer" Rook guessed.

"They are probably going to head to Falls End after this" Jess surmised.

"Exactly, so we need a plan" Rook replied, crossing his arms and stared at the railyard further.

Jess also stared at the railyard, analyzing any and all advantages. The two stood behind the rocky peak, hoping to see something, anything, and after a few minutes Jess finally spoke up.

"What if we just took the tanker?" Jess asked.

"Well I mean that's why we're here, so yeah" Rook replied.

"No smartass" Jess snorted.

"I mean what if we just sneak around the whole fuckin' place and just walk up to the tanker and just take the thing, I mean look at it" Jess said pointing at the truck.

Rook could still see the truck, it was on the far side of the railyard, so far that it was barely on the plot as it was parked on a dirt road, a few trucks were parked along side the visible side to fuel up, four peggies hung around the truck for an unseen reason, but other then that the peggies in the railyard itself were quite separated from the tanker, a few boxcars blocked the tanker from the yard itself, almost obscuring it, the peggies patrolling the yard couldn't see the others at the tanker.

"I see what you mean, we go down there, kill the dudes, take the truck and just go" Rook supposed.

"Yeah but their gonna hear us just take off so we gotta be ready for a few bullets hitting the tank" Jess said.

"Crap, I didn't think about that bit, yeah… I don't suppose you carry any duct tape on you?" Rook asked half heartily.

"Nope, we're just going to have to be fast about it" Jess replied.

"OK before we even be fast about it, we need a plan first" Rook insisted.

Jess remained silent as she still surveyed the railyard and all it's contents before resting the warehouse looking building in the corner of the railyard.

"What if I set fire to the building?" Jess asked pointing to the large wooden building in the corner of the railyard.

"They would all freak out that there is a fire so close to their gas and rush to put it out, we pick off the shit heels still hanging around and run" she supposed.

"Yeah that could work" Rook replied as he examined the building and its distance from the tanker.

"I go around the far left, towards the front end and wait for the yelling to start then I'll move in and start shooting I guess" Rook said, looking at his revolver.

"Oh no" Jess said taking a step towards the Junior Deputy.

"We all saw the shit fit Fairgrave threw when you volunteered to come out here, the las thing we need is for me to carry you home with yet another hole in you" Jess said sternly as she poked a finger into his chest a few times.

"And besides, we lose our element of surprise if you fire off a fuckin' revolver" she said, her tone of voice dropping.

"Then what do you want me to do?" Rook asked.

"Go down far left near the front of the tanker and wait for me, if and only if the truck is taking off, then shoot" Jess ordered.

"Yes ma'am" rook half smiled.

Jess didn't respond, instead she turned around and scampered off down the hill towards the building, he watched her go for a few seconds before turning to walk back down the hill, the way he came so no one would see him. Once he made it to the bottom, he placed a hand upon the wound on his side before bending his knees slightly, bending down at all hurt a lot, but for some reason applying light pressure made it hurt just a little less. Feeling a little better, Rook carefully walked a long loop around the hill and around to the railyard, Rook felt building trepidation as he stepped within view of the railyard as he could be easily seen, but he had come at an angle where he couldn't see any of the peggies tending to the tanker. Rook tightened his grip on the revolver as he changed his course and began moving towards the tanker truck, ever so slowly he moved himself until he was forty feet from the tanker's two O'clock, as he still slowly moved in with his sorry excuse for a crouch, he could see a woman in the driver's seat, she was looking down at something, most likely look at a clipboard or magazine. Ready to start shooting at a moments notice, Rook crept ever closer, as he did he could see a thin line of black smoke rose over the boxcars with each passing second it grew thicker and thicker until a few moments later he could hear a peggie yell about a fire which in turn caused another frantic yelp about investigation and extinguishing whatever was happening.

As Rook was thirty feet away, the woman took notice of the yelling and tried to look out her window the best she could to see what was going on for a few seconds before giving up and fastening her seatbelt before turning on the truck.

"Oh shit" Rook scarily whispered.

It was quite clear the tanker was about to take off, if Rook didn't do something then and there the tanker would be gone, in the few seconds of think time he had, all he could come up with was run to the tanker, as the tanker let out a drawn out squeak to signify the emergency brakes were released, Rook jogged towards the tankers passenger door, if not for getting as close as he did before the driver prepared to leave, he would have missed it all together, as Rook put his hand on the passenger door handle, the driver honked the horn twice, signalling a departure, but before the driver could do anything else, Rook pulled open the passenger door and grabbed a hold of the lift bar while placing a foot on a step rung and stuck his gun into the cabin, pointing at her.

"No sudden movements or I'll shoot" Rook said quietly yet firmly.

The woman gasped and jumped in her seat as she looked at the gun and the man the held it, she stared at Rook like a deer in the headlights.

"Slowly slid over to me and climb out, don't make any attempts to harm me or alert your buddies or I will shoot" Rook firmly said.

The woman stared at Rook for a few seconds before slowly bring up a hand to undo her seatbelt before slowly sliding over towards Rook, his gun trained on her head all the while, as she slowly shifted to the passenger seat, Rook took a step back to allow the woman to climb out. The woman placed a hand on the dashboard as carefully eased herself out of the cabin, her eyes still glued to the gun, Rook took a few more steps back to allow the woman to step away from the tanker.

"So what happens now?" the woman whimpered, pulling her arm tightly across her body.

"Now we wait" Rook replied.

And the two stood there in awkward silence, Rook watched her as he kept his gun trained on her and she nervously stared at the gun as the other peggies in the area hollered and worried over the increasing fire, by the sounds of what they were saying, it sounded like it was getting worse by the minute. But after a few minutes of waiting, Rook began looking around briefly, hoping to see Jess stealthily approaching but she was no where to be seen.

"So what's going to happen to me?" The woman quietly asked.

Rook quickly looked back that the peggie, surprised she spoke up again.

"Uhh, if you play your cards right and do what I say, you will most likely live" Rook replied.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

"We need the fuel to get through the night" Rook answered.

"No… why are you doing all of this, killing my brothers and sisters… take our resources… prevent us from preparing for the end" the woman whimpered.

"The end of the world is not coming, come on, why would god just tell one guy, why not the whole world?" Rook asked.

"It's a test of faith, the Father is the prophet that will spread the word, only the most faithful will follow the Father to the new world" the woman preached.

"I'm not going to argue beliefs with you… just keep it down and don't do anything" Rook ordered.

The woman didn't say anything after that, leaving the two in awkward silence, the woman continued to stare at the gun pointed at her head while Rook occasionally looked around. Eventually the snapping of a twig could be heard somewhere behind Rook, it made him look over his shoulder to see if he could caused it, fearful it was peggie, Rook analyzed the area behind him, but nothing was there, unsure of what happened, Rook was about to dismiss it as nothing and turn back around, but before he could he heard a whizzing noise followed by some sort of gargling noise which was quickly accompanied with dull thump. Frightened, thinking the woman was attacking him or something along those lines, Rook quickly turned back around and leveled his gun, ready to fire, but as he did he quickly discovered the woman was on the ground gurgling and clawing at an archery arrow that pierced her throat, she choked and struggled against the blood and pain that filled her throat, drowning in it for a few moments before going rigid then limp, clearly dead. All Rook could do was watch in silent horror and shock as the woman suddenly died in front him, it all happened so fast he could barely process what had happened, before it all the pieces clicked in his head, Jess suddenly materialized next to him.

"Shit, good job keeping her still for me" Jess said casually, snapping Rook out of his head.

Jess's voice made rook flinch, he lowered his gun and back stepped once from Jess as he looked at her.

"You, you, you didn't have to k-kill her!" Rook stuttered, trying his best to keep his voice down

"Who cares, let's go" Jess groaned as she slung her bow over her shoulder and stood next to the open tanker cabin door.

Rook stood there in silence, staring at Jess for a few seconds, mouth slightly agape, he wanted to argue with her but he knew this was not the time or place to do so, instead he shook his head lightly before moving to the open door and climbed in, he shifted over to the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt. Jess climbed in after him and sat in the passenger seat before closing the door behind her. The tanker's emergency brakes were still off and the tanker was left in park, Rook took a few breaths before moving the stick shift into drive and slowly pushed down on the gas pedal, causing the truck to jerk forward before the engine began buzzing louder and louder and the truck built up speed, Rook's window was down slightly and could hear a few peggies that hung around the other side of the tanker, they sounded confused to why the tanker was moving at all, the fire was being contained and there was no immediate threat. They yelled out for her to stop the tanker, but Rook paid them no mind and continued to accelerate, but that made the remaining peggies more confused, they even started yelling as Rook took off down the road, he had his foot firmly pressed upon the gas and built up speed and was quickly leaving the area.

As the railyard slowly became smaller and smaller in the side view mirror, Jess finally spoke up.

"Holy shit, I can't believe we got away" she said.

"They could still chase after us, they have a few trucks back there" Rook replied.

"Naah" Jess said casually.

"I take it you did something?" Rook asked.

"Some badass and talented huntress may or may not have sunk a few arrows into a few tires" Jess smirked.

"Well that certainly makes things a lot easier, then" Rook offered as he focused on the road.

"Fuck yeah it does, now Fairgrave can't bitch and moan about either of us not doing nothing" Jess said, still smirking.

"I'm pretty sure her problem was that I was the one doing something" rook offered.

"You know what I mean" Jess said, fluttering a hand at him.

"So now that all this shit is done, what are you doing after this?" Jess asked.

"I don't know, go home and rest I guess" Rook pondered.

"That place is like yours, now right?" Jess asked.

"Yeah… Crazy right?" Rook replied.

"Shit, you got a house now, look at you Mister high roller" Jess said.

"Yeah… I know, I uh, never had my own place before" Rook admitted.

Jess didn't respond for a few seconds, probably thinking about what he said.

"Hey you ok?" Jess asked.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, briefly looking at Jess.

"You seem a little funny again" Jess said.

"Well we did just risk our lives to steal a tanker of gas like we're Mad Max or something" Rook said.

"You know what I mean dude" Jess said.

"I'm fine… honest" rook responded.

"You better be, if I find out your lying, I'll kick your ass" Jess said as she poked a finger in his ribs as she spoke.

"C'mon, I'm driving" Rook pouted as he swatted at the finger in his side.

Jess made some unruly comment about how easy he was to bug before settling down back into her seat.

As the tanker barreled down the lonely valley roads, Rook was still tense, the road they were on was still on was still considered to be peggie territory as the edges of the valley were still in their control, Rook was half expecting a truck to try to run him off the road and drag him to John's bunker again. But nothing ever came, not even radioed reinforcements, as much as Rook wanted to relax, he couldn't, even with a friend at his side, little did she know it but that friend was right on her mark, he did feel a little funny again, the sudden death of the driver left a bad taste in his mouth, he had promised her relative safety if she cooperated, but yet she was struck down in a violent death, Rook wished he could have done better by her.

Rook tried to take his mind off the driver by focusing on the road, but after a few minutes of driving, he saw something that made his stomach roll, a lone body hung from a tree, a dead man, shirtless, was suspended in the air from several ropes tied to tree branches like a horrific marionette, instead of knots that affixed the man to the ropes, it was metal hooks tied to the rope and punctured his flesh that hung him there like meat in a walk in freezer. The word _WRATH_ was carved into his chest and long dried blood ran down the harsh carvings. Another warning sign of John's sick will was still being enforced upon the region.

It made Rook's skin crawl to think that very well could have happened to him if he didn't escape John's bunker when he didn't escape, this could even be Hudson's fate if he waited to long to try to save her. Rook knew he had been dragging his feet in the fight against the cult, only ever making dents in the beast, never fighting it directly, if he wanted to free Hudson and the Valley, he would need to arrest John, and to do that, he needed to get back into the heavily fortified bunker. The whole conundrum made Rook want to grind his teeth, from his perspective there was nothing he could do, even more so with the line of stitches in his side, how could he possibly rest and take it easy while John had planes in the air, shooting at anyone and anything that wasn't attached to the Project, and it drove Rook crazy, inaction would be the death of them all, Rook knew when he got back and the whole gas problem was fixed, he needed to have a serious discussion with Mary May and Jerome about a long-term game plan on taking down John.


	28. Chapter 28

After a long and nerve raking drive, Falls End came into view in the distance from the tanker truck's windshield, upon seeing the town, Rook let out a long sigh of relief as his anxiety had grown with each passing moment he cautiously drove the truck, it was fairly evident that when the truck in question belonged to the peggies, at least one peggie radioed to who knows who to let them know a tanker full of gas was being stolen, in turn, they would have notified the pilots in the planes that occasionally circled the valley which Rook had forgotten about. It was a tanker full of gasoline after all, one errant bullet and the whole thing would go up in flames, the peggies did have a; If I can't have it, no one can mentality when it came to certain things, and it scared Rook to no end.

"Fuckin' finally, that took so long I thought you were going in circles just for shits and grins" Jess groaned casually as if it was just another ride for her.

"Yeah, no kidding, I'm getting a little antsy, we're a powder keg on wheels, I just want to get out of this thing as soon as possible" Rook replied.

"It's fine, they ain't gonna blow this shit up, there's only so much gas in the county or whatever, so why would they just throw it away" Jess supposed, trying to blow off his anxieties.

"I don't know, I've seen these guys kamikaze style kill themselves to complete Joseph's or John's goals or whatever they're planning to prepare for the end" Rook replied.

"Sure, but that's my point, these fuck faces will throw themselves away for their oh so righteous cause, but let's say Joseph is right and the world is going to go tits up, what's worth more? A few dozen talentless nobodies, or a tanker truck full of gas?" Jess asked.

'Alright, I see what you mean" Rook said, taking a hand off the wheel and brought it to his chin as if it helped him ponder the upper limits of the idea Jess had put forth.

But whatever Rook was thinking about was quickly dismissed as they quickly rolled closer to town, as they did, they could see the edges of town was different from when they left.

Rook quickly put his hand back on the wheel and slowed their speed to analyze what had happened to the town, he and Jess were coming into town from the east, that meant as they came in, on the left side of the road would be Mary's bar and, on the right, would be a residential building but what was in between the two buildings was the big change. Two rows of vehicles lined the road horizontally across the street blocking any traffic from leaving or entering, the vehicles were broken, rusted things that looked like they've been through hell and back, they were all missing one or two doors, wheels and bumpers, almost all of them had some sort of bullet holes in them, it was quite clear these cars and trucks saw the first few waves of the initial attack from Eden's Gate.

"Shit, good luck getting in, I guess" Jess offered.

"No kidding let's take it slow, just in case" Rook responded as he coasted the tanker truck towards the towards the town before slowing down again as they closed in.

* * *

The truck rolled to a halt a few meters away from the barricade, Rook pushed on the horn a few times, he hoped someone would come out and tell him what to do as he had no idea where to leave the fireball waiting to happen, but after a few moments of waiting, just about everyone who had piled into the bar hours before all came pouring out to see if the honking was the signification of John's next attack or the Junior Deputy returning. It was clear they were apprehensive as they exited, guns in hand and at the ready, and quickly saw the truck sitting on the edge, motionless and nonthreatening, still they approached the tanker, ready for anything. But even from the truck's cabin, Rook could tell many people were wary and unsure what to expect, not wanting to scare anyone else more then he already had, he rolled down his window and stuck his head out the window.

"Hey, we found a little gas!" Rook called out nonchalantly.

Doing so caused a buzz within the crowd, everyone was alight with awe and amazement as the injured Junior Deputy and the intimidating bow and arrow woman had most likely saved the town, while they were gone everyone had come to the consensus that only a few gas cans would be brought back, not a whole tanker. As the crowd was still amazed of what was in front of them, Mary May pushed through the crowd to speak to the Junior Deputy.

"Holy shit Ben… I think you just saved all our lives" she called out, also taken aback to the sheer volume of gasoline that was brought to the town's collective doorstep.

"Jess helped to you know, without her I'm ninety-three percent certain I wouldn't have done it without her" Rook replied.

Upon saying that Rook felt an impact on his shoulder followed by a dull pain, somehow, he knew what it was, Jess had thumped him on the shoulder. Curious to know why she did, he looked over at her.

"What?" Rook asked.

"Ninety-three percent my ass, you couldn't have done it without me at all dipshit, you may be occasionally be hot shit, but with those stitches in you, there's no way you can kill peggies without me" Jess smirked, sticking a thumb at herself.

"I didn't see you kill any peggies aside from the one I had under wraps" Rook retorted quickly before poking out the window again.

"So anyways, where should I park this thing?" Rook asked as Jess was giving a very cranky response to what he just said to her.

"We'll open up a path so you can enter, park it between the auto shop and the church" Mary instructed.

"Sounds good, take your time I guess, don't hurt yourselves" Rook said as he put the truck into park and relaxed.

From within the cabin Rook could here Mary giving orders to the townsfolk.

"Ok people, let's get a move on!" Mary said loudly as she clapped her hands a few times to get the town's attention.

"Let's get some people moving the blockage, everyone else, get something to carry gas to the generators!" She ordered as she stepped back from the barricade.

As she did, a few strong looking men approached the blockade and pushed and pulled on the trucks and cars that lined the road and after a few minutes, they slowly moved the final vehicle off the asphalt and onto the sidewalk just enough for the tanker truck to squeeze through.

"Thank you!" Rook called out to the men as he gently pressed on the gas pedal and slowly pushed forwards into town.

"Ugh, finally" Jess groaned like a bored child on a long road trip.

"Your just to inpatient" Rook supposed.

"And you're just a pain in the ass" Jess countered quickly.

Rook made a hum to let her know he heard him, but in reality he wasn't paying attention, he was too focused on keeping the truck straight as it went down the road. Despite keeping his eyes firmly on the road, he could see on the far side of town, just after the only intersection in town and immediately after the church was a single line broken-down vehicles lined the road, preventing westward traffic.

"Looks like they actually did something while we were gone" Jess muttered.

"Well yeah, John's guys are probably going to attack tonight, we need to be ready" Rook said gently as he pulled the steering wheel to the left, pulling the truck down the road Mary had specified, and as the truck did, both Rook and Jess could clearly see the road ahead was just as the two previous routes out of town, past Rook's house was another residential house, immediately past that was yet another two lines of damaged vehicles. With three of four ways out of town blocked, Rook could only assume the fourth was also blocked.

"Looks like we're boxed in" Jess sighed.

Rook slowed the truck down and came to a stop as soon as the truck evened out from the turn, leaving the tanker's rear barely sticking out into the intersection, satisfied with his parking job, Rook killed the engine and disembarked the cabin, he could see the first wave of citizens approaching the parked tanker truck, all carrying buckets, gas cans and whatever else they could find to carry gas in, meanwhile, Jess had also disembarked the truck and walked around the front end and regrouped with Rook, she took a few more steps forward and faced the approaching townsfolk.

"Read it a weep, bitches!" Jess sneered loudly at the crowd.

"You see that?!" she said tauntingly as banged on the side of the tanker a few times.

"We did this, me and the Boy Scout got up, did the thing, and did what was need to be done, and what did all of you do" she continued, mockingly.

"Alright, come on, knock it off" Rook said as he moved towards her and walked a few steps past her to address the crowd regarding the gas.

"Ok everyone, let's do this by the book!" Rook instructed in a raised voice.

"Let's get a line going, and fill up your containers in an orderly fashion" Rook instructed.

The crowd didn't complain or mutter to each other, this time they did just what was asked of them as the mob slowly formed into a line, a few faster members of town hurried to the front of the crowd as the line solidified so they could get a better place in line.

As the line was properly made, it was stretched along the length of the tanker, before turning at a ninety degrees angle so people could stand on the sidewalk rather in the intersection.

"Why though, if you got it then flaunt it, we did all the work here" Jess asked, stepping up next to the Junior Deputy.

"We shouldn't Lord it over them, they contributed to keeping the town safe, and I mean more then the barricades, or just today even" Rook said.

"Ugh, whatever dude, job's done and I'm out" Jess ground before breaking of from Rook and saunter off towards the plot of land in between Rook's house and the auto shop.

Rook wanted to stop her, he wanted to catch up to her and find out if she wanted to do something together to prepare for tonight if anything did happen, like she said earlier, with the stitches in his side there was no way he would kill peggies so if another assault on the town was coming what could he do by himself, but before he could call out to her, he could she Mary approaching him, not wanting to be rude, he turned to address her.

"Hey Mary, so what you think?" Rook grinned.

"I don't know how the hell you did it... But you saved us again" Mary smiled as she closed the distance between them.

"It wasn't all me, Jerome pointed me in the right direction and Jess help me out" Rook replied.

"For once Deputy, just take the damn compliment, but all the aside, come on... Say it" Mary said, slightly smiling sheepishly.

"Say what?" Rook asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.

"I said you going out there was a terrible idea, but... Here you are, with more gas then anyone thought you'd find" Mary said as she lightly gestured to the tanker truck Jerome and a few auto shop members were now helping people siphon the gas out of the tanker's safely.

"So come on, I do believe you owe me an I told you so" Mary nodded.

"Eh, it's fine, you know me, I'm not that petty" Rook shrugged casually.

"Even so, I still doubted you after everything you've done for us, for the county, and you haven't even asked for any kind of reward for your service" Mary admitted.

"Well now that you mention…" Rook said, grinning slightly.

"When the cult is finally stopped, it would be really weird if my bar tab just disappeared, huh?" Rook said, feinting puzzlement.

"That's all you really want?" Mary gulped, dumbfounded over the sheer simplicity of the request for such an arduous task.

"You want me to lose your bar tab… for stopping probably the most dangerous cult in the world" she said in awe, her mouth slight agape.

"Well yeah, I mean, I've been thinking about it and I gotta start saving up all the pennies I can, I doubt I'll get any money from the government or whoever for arresting Joseph, if anything I'll get a medal or some sort of medallion, my only hope is that I'll maybe get like, mega ultra hyper overtime pay or something, my sense of time is pretty messed up these days but I'm pretty sure I'm really behind on rent pay, if not flat out evicted" Rook rambled on.

It wasn't until Rook finished his sentence did he realize he was rambling on about his inner thoughts, not only that but his eyes had wandered down to his open palms for some reason, unsure why, he brought his eyes back up to the woman in front of him, but for some reason Mary May was looking at him with these big warm eyes, the look was accompanied by a small smile, it was like she was looking at someone she cared about that she hadn't seen in a long time.

"What?" Rook asked, perplexed about the look.

"You're a real saint you know that?" she beamed.

"I am?" Rook asked again, feeling something was going over his head.

"Tell you what, give me some time and I'll find a way to show thanks for everything you've done, besides losing your bar tab" Mary gleamed.

"Well if you really want, you don't have to if you don't want to" Rook offered.

"Benjamin" Mary said, placing a hand on his shoulder, still smiling at him.

"It won't kill you to not be so humble all the time" she said.

"But listen, I got to get going, I want to make sure that fuel is going to good use, I'm afraid of Boshaw trying to use the fuel for something stupid" Mary admitted, taking her hand off his shoulder.

"That's probably for the best" Rook nodded understandably.

"But if he gets a little to out of control, just let me know" he said.

"You got it Dep, see you around" Mary replied before turning and leaving, presumably headed back to the bar.

With Rook alone again, he hung around for a few minutes and watched the line slowly collect gas to make sure everything was ok. With how desperate everyone was, he was expecting some pushing and shoving from some of the less patient members of town, with a quick scan of the lineup, Rook was able to deduce the resident pain in the ass; Pracker was nowhere to be seen, thankfully with him cooped up inside, he wouldn't make things harder then they already were. The lineup was moving as fast as to be expected, Jerome and a few auto shop members helped people siphon the gas from a hose coming out of the side of the truck. Those who got their gas scurried off to the generators Mary had talked about.

As Rook stood on the sidewalk, watching the line to keep the peace, he heard a voice behind him.

"E-excuse me, Mister Rook" the voice said.

The voice was new to him, he had no idea who it belonged too, curious, Rook turned around to examine the man before him.

The man was tall and lean, his face was almost hidden beneath an uneven and scraggly beard and head of hair, it looked like an attempt was made to trim and tame the hair but for some reason it was not finished, the clothes he wore were mismatched and ill fitting clothes, he looked uncomfortable almost as if he was embarrassed.

"I uhm, just wanted to thank you for saving me life" the man said uncomfortably.

"Hey no problem man, just doing my job" Rook said awkwardly.

As much as he was glad to see his efforts were not in vain, but he couldn't help but feel bad that he had no idea who this man was.

"I uh, get the feeling you don't remember me, I'm not surprised, I don't blame you really, but you did save me a long time ago" the man said, scratching the back of his head, eyes downcast.

"I am... Well I mean I was a" the man said before pausing and looking over his shoulders for something, he checked his surroundings before speaking in a buses tone.

"A Peggie" he said quietly.

Rook instinctively took one step back, he had no memory of saving, let alone actually helping a Peggie, even so, how the hell did he get into Falls End and blend in so well, by the unkempt hair and odd clothes he stuck out, even in this wartime climate.

"I'm that defector you rescued from that trailer park weeks ago, after I told them everything, they were going to kill me after I told them everything on account of everything my fellow members did and lumped me in with them but the pastor guy said you didn't want me to be killed, so instead they put me to work, making repairs on stuff around town, and well I'd be dead right now if you didn't lay down the law, so thank you Deputy" the man said.

"Oh wow, your that guy" Rook said, surprised he was actually walking around in town.

"Yeah, me… so anyways I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life, from the trailer park and from not letting them kill me, I really owe you, if you need anything, and I mean anything, I; Charlie Matthews will be there to assist however I can, even if at the cost of life or limb" Charlie said sincerely raising his right hand as if he was giving an oath.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's all good, no need to make these pact things with me, you got away from a cult leader, you don't need to serve me now, it doesn't look good for either of us" Rook said as he patted the air in front of him as he looked at the lineup nervously.

Who knows how many people knew Charlie was a peggies, anyone who knew that and saw him making the pledge to Rook with his hand raised, it wouldn't do the former cultist any favors.

"Oh yeah uh, right sorry, the cult engrains that kind of stuff in you" Charlie said self-consciously as he lowered his hand back to his side.

"So uh, what have you been up too?" Rook asked.

"I've been fixing things mostly, nailing things to other things, attaching this to that, keeping the place in relative shape, it's all I can do really, without your friends getting suspicious of me" Charlie said.

"But uh, speaking of which, I gotta get back to work, someone is going to start giving me a hard time if I'm idle for to long" Charlie continued, scratching his arm before quickly turning around and hurrying off somewhere before Rook could even say anything.

"Yeah... Catch you later" Rook said as Charlie left.

With Charlie gone, off to do who knows what to keep people from thinking he was the enemy, Rook was left alone yet again, a look back at the lineup revealed that it moved just the same as before, this time the line was a third of its original length, with Jerome and team still manning the siphon tube, everything looked like everything was going smoothly. So smoothly Rook began to think he wasn't needed to stand around and watch, after all the tanker was parked right in front of his house, he could react to anything if something happened from the reclining chair in the living room. With his mind made up, Rook quickly turned to face his house and quickly approached as he reached into his pocket for the key, it was quick jaunt up the front lawn and to the front door, he pulled the key from his pocket and inserted the key into the lock and unlocked the door before opening it and entering, locking the door behind him, Rook shuffled into the living room. The reclining chair in the corner of the room looked inviting, just the thought of sitting down seemed very desirable to Rook, it wasn't until know did he realize just how tired he was.

It wasn't like something was going to happen in the middle of the day anyways, so why not take a few minutes to sit back and catch his breath, with his mind made up, he removed the walkie talkie and handgun from his person and placed them on the coffee table near before sitting down in the chair with a grunt, the reclining chair was much comfort then he anticipated, if he wasn't careful, he could fall asleep in the chair. But that didn't stop him from leaning back in the chair, it was much comfier then the car seats, he couldn't help but close his eyes for a few minutes, despite the usual aches and pains he felt oddly at peace, it was nice, it was like nothing was wrong with the county, but whatever normality was built up was quickly lost as a few minutes later his walkie crackled to life.

"Test, test one two three, test, test" Faith Seed's voice came from the walkie.

Rook's eyes shot open as he lurched for the walkie on the table, his side disagreeing with the sudden action, fearful that someone would hear her voice though a possibly open window and start to ask questions, he scooped up the walkie and brought it to his mouth.

"Heya Faith... What's up?" Rook asked nervously.

"Aha, I knew it was right!" Faith said cheerfully.

"Hello Benjamin, I'm so glad to hear your voice, I was afraid something may have happened to you, but John had sent down the grapevine that he was able to contact you to reprimand you for your actions a few hours ago, and I just so happened to know someone who knows someone who would was present when he did" she continued.

"And well I wanted to find out if you are alright, the last time we spoke was on the lookout tower I invited you to days ago, you ran off somewhere claiming something important had come up, then hours later John starts gloating he has you in his custody, then he loses you hours later and now after days of silence, your still in the valley drawing on John's ire… and well if John had you in his personal clutches and that means he intended to pull out your sins and I know his methods of confession and atonement can be well... A little sinister" Faith finished.

Just thinking about how John planned to tattoo and flay the tattooed skin of his trembling body sent shivers up Rook's spine, to call his techniques sinister was an understatement.

"Well uh… yeah, sorry for being so quiet I guess, I have a lot on my plate, it's a long story really, so uh, that thing that pulled me away from the tower was a real good friend of mine's wife needed my help, turned out she was going into labor" Rook explained but before he could continue, Faith cut in.

"A baby?!" Faith gasped.

"Yeah I know, crazy right, she's only a few days old now, four or five I think, time is kind of hard to track these days" Rook guessed.

"I'm absolutely shocked to hears there was a pregnant woman still here in the county, did everything go ok though, is the wife and baby ok?" Faith asked, her voice full of concern.

"Oh yeah, everything turned out ok, as far as I could tell, both mother and daughter were healthy that night" Rook replied.

"That's a relief to here, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose your child in birth, I love babies, they are the symbol of our future as a species, their so precious and tiny, I just want to hold their soft little hands, I haven't seen an actual baby in years, I wish I could see this little angel's adorable face, what is her name?" Faith asked.

"Carmina, Carmina Rye" Rook answered.

"Aw, that's a cute little name, you said you helped this Missus Rye, did they let you hold Carmina for your efforts?" Faith asked.

"Well not at that moment in time exactly, instead they uh, they named me Carmina's godfather" Rook admitted.

"You're a godfather?! That must be exciting!" Faith gasped excitedly.

"To be honest it's kind of scary" Rook admitted.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked.

"Well I'm honored that the chose me of all people but, I don't know anything about god fathering, if anything is to happen to Nick and Kim, I pray nothing does but if it happens I wouldn't know how to raise Carmina, specially in this environment" Rook admitted.

"Hm, I see what you mean, to properly raise a child requires a safe and nurturing environment, nothing like the current state the county is in" Faith supposed.

"Right, that's why I think I need to make sure the family is ok" Rook said, think of the infernal airstrip attached to John's ranch.

"Speaking of such brings me to my next subject, I know we got off topic with my love of infants but I would like to get back on subject... Ben, are you ok?" Faith asked, her voice dropping to a one of sincerity.

All the aches and pains he had felt since John's bunker quickly flashed through Rook's mind.

"I'm fine" Rook squeaked, trying to feint casualness.

"Would you tell me if you weren't?" Faith asked.

By the way she asked it sounded almost as if she didn't completely believe him.

"Uh yeah, why not... We're friends, right?" Rook asked.

Faith remained silent for a few seconds.

"Yes, of course we are, I'm glad you see us that way" Faith replied cheerfully.

"So uh, what's been up with you?" Rook asked, hoping to change the subject.

"To be honest I've been putting everything on pause for a little bit, your Sheriff was on the radio a few days ago saying how worried he was that something had happened to you and needed help finding you, so as your friend I may have handed out a few wild goose chases to keep my flock busy to allow your Sheriff search more thoroughly, but then John notified the Father he had you and I had to set everything right again… other then that, it's been business as usual" Faith explained.

"Wow… you did that for me?" Rook asked, shocked that the enemy would go out on a limb for him.

"Yes, that's what friends do" Faith beamed.

"I'm not going to get you in trouble, am I?" Rook asked.

Seconds after Rook asked his question, there was silence, more seconds ticked by and Faith did not respond.

"Uh… Faith, you still there?" Rook asked.

More silence followed for a few more seconds.

"My apologies, did you say something, sorry, something came up" Faith finally said.

"Is everything ok?" rook asked.

"Yes… everything is fine, hey if you don't mind me asking, but where are you right now?" Faith asked, sounding a little uncomfortable.

Rook picked up on the unease in her voice, who could blame her, she was his enemy and him hers, to ask such a question could be used for anything, but the angel on Rook's shoulder said Faith was miles away and outside her jurisdiction so to speak, it was painfully clear she was the gentlest of the Seed family so could there really be any danger to it.

"I uh, I'm in Falls End right now" Rook said nervously.

"Oh… really, ok that's… that's fine, I, I hope your ok there…" Faith said nervously.

It was clear there was something up with Faith has her attitude had suddenly changed, something was definitely wrong with her, Rook wanted to ask her what was up, but she quickly cut him off.

"Listen, Benjamin, I need to go some thing came up, I'm sorry this has been very brief, but I need to go, I'll call you later, we can catch up then" she said very quickly.

"What? is everything ok?" Rook asked.

But it was to late, the connection was already cut off, leaving Rook to talk to himself, he found himself staring at his walkie, for some reason Rook couldn't help but worry for Faith and what could have possibly came up to cause her such vocal distress, he had never heard her like that, the only other time she didn't sound like the usual cheery self was when she opened up to him about her past on top of the Taft Lookout tower. Regardless, there was nothing he could do about it now, he limply tossed the walkie back onto the table, it skidded to a halt next to the gun, and leaned back into the chair and shut his eyes again, a lot had happened to him today, the silos, the power out, the tanker truck, more people talking to him then usual, Faith in it of herself was a whole other can of worms, it was a long day and Rook had a feeling today was going to be a whole lot longer, who knows what could come with the setting sun, but as Rook relaxed into the reclining chair, feeling exhausted, he couldn't help but drift into sleep.

* * *

Rook was awoken by a serious of loud bangs, one right after the other, it startled him awake causing to stagger out of the chair.

The flurry of bangs sounded like gunshots, fearing the worst, Rook hastily shot up from his seat much to the disagreement to his side and lurched for the gun on the table, if he was to guess what the noise was, it was either peggies or something was happening with the fuel tanker.

"Yo Boy Scout, if your in there, wake the fuck up!" He could hear Jess's muffled voice through the door, followed by more bangs.

Upon hearing Jess's voice Rook stopped reaching for the gun and sighed in relief, the banging was just Jess banging on the door.

After a few unsteady breaths, he picked up the gun and holstered it in his waistband, then called out to the woman banging on the door.

"I'll be there in a minute" he said before standing up straight to compose himself and hurried to the door, and unlocked it.

"Where's the fire?" Rook asked as he opened the door.

"All around us!" Jess hissed, looking angrier than usual.

"Wait what?" Rook asked, thrown slightly off guard by the response.

"Fairgrave was right, fuckin' peggies have surrounded the town, there just sitting there in their cars, watching us" Jess angrily explained.

"Oh shit" Rook muttered as he stared at Jess wide eyed.

Rook knew this could have very well happen, but even with prep time, it was hard to come to terms that people will die tonight.

"Oh shit is right, now come on, the Pastor guy thinks shit's going to kick off any minute now from the road we enter town on this morning" Jess commanded as she took a few steps back so Rook may exit.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, let's go" Rook nodded and stepped through the door frame.

Jess didn't respond, instead she simply turned around and walked down the front yard, Rook quickly locked the door behind him before hurrying to catch up to Jess.

As Rook and Jess walked down the street towards the bar, his surrounds were drastically different from the last time he was outside, making him regret falling asleep, the lineup by the truck was gone and tanker presumably empty, the sun was long since setting, what little orange and red that accompanied the sunset was replaced with the black of night, it would have almost hard to see as the streetlights that lit the town's main drag, a few lights from indoors leaked out onto the street from windows, a few people were pressed up against the front end of buildings, guns in hand and clearly terrified over what was happening, Rook couldn't blame them, he was feeling something similar, never had the peggies hit this close to home. A few people hurriedly crossed the street occasionally, also carrying weapons, at the far end of the main drag Rook could see Jerome, wielding a shotgun standing by the blockade by the bar with a several other people also wielding guns, watching the other side of the barrier intently.

Rook marched towards Jerome and the few people against the barricade, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Jess break off from him and venture off in between the bar and auto shop, confused to what she was doing, he called out to her.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Jess stopped and turned to face her friend.

"When shit it's the fan, you think I wanna be out there with all the other gun? Fuck that I'll find a place to pick them off like rabbits" Jess said before walking off again.

"Uh yeah, sounds good… carry on" Rook said to no one as Jess had walked away.

With Jess gone, Rook quickly got back to the task at hand and hurried to the barricade.

As Rook made it to the wall of cars, Jerome was speaking to a rather fearful looking young man who clutched a rifle, most likely trying to give him words of encouragement or at the very least comfort.

"Hey guys" Rook greeted them as he took his place between to men.

"Hello Deputy, glad to have you here" Jerome said, turning from the man to address Rook.

The few other men at the barricade also made noises of acknowledgment at Rook's appearance.

"So, what are we dealing with?" Rook asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Well, to make a long story short, them" Jerome responded, pointing out over the barricade and into the distance outside of town.

Rook followed where Jerome was pointing out of town and a few hundred feet away where a few cars parked in a group with a few people around the cars, obviously peggies, a dozen more clusters of cars were sparsely spread apart a few hundred feet away from each other, just like the first cluster, some peggies hung around the cars, watching the town, there had to be fifty of them, maybe even one hundred all along the fields that surrounded the town.

"Oh" Rook muttered; he could only assume this was around the entire town.

"My thoughts exactly, we're in a dire situation" Jerome grimaced.

"But it's ok now right? We got the deputy here, right?" the man Jerome was previously talking to said nervously, nodding towards Rook.

"I don't know friend, regardless things will be worse before they get better" Jerome said gravely, it was clear he was quite afraid of what was to come, even with his experience from his time in the military.

"But this isn't it is it?" the man asked, scared.

Jerome didn't say anything for a few moments, Rook wanted to comment upon the depth's of Jerome's lack of response was, but before he could, a yellow flare shot into the sky, it rose high into the sky before exploding, emitting a bright yellow light, it almost looked like a bright star before it slowly descended back down to the ground, moments later another flare went up a kilometer away, directly underneath another cluster of pickup trucks, a purple flare shot into the sky before gently falling back down like leaves in the wind. This caused a few of the surrounding trucks to break of from their respective herds and drove off into the distance but a majority still hung around, by Rook's guess the peggies weren't expecting the barricades and the active lights, they were unsure of what to do, and those who stayed, most likely still couldn't believe the resistance got power back up but was still determined to attack to appease John and were still looking for some sort way in, but with the roadblocks and waiting gunmen, any attempt would be staggered and messy.

"W-what do you think that meant?" one of the men at the barricade asked.

"Hell if I know" another responded.

Rook didn't respond in any way as a few men quietly asked each other questions, he was to afraid to say anything, his heart skipped a beat when either flare went up, he truly thought that was the signal to attack, and so did the rest of the town, when the flare went up, the whole town went dead silent, everyone was motionless and soundless as the flares went up, everyone expected gunshots to echo in the distance as a few more rambunctious peggies tried to take pot shots, sure the barricades were up, but it looked like the peggies outnumbered them two to one, if not three to one, an attack would leave them with heavy losses regardless who won, and all Rook and the rest of the town could do was wait for inevitable.

"So, is that it?" The man next to Rook asked.

"I don't know, let's keep an eye on them just to be sure" Rook replied.

"Well a bunch just left, I think it's all clear, li-" the man said but was quickly cut off as a thick spray of blood leapt from the side of his head, causing him to fall to the ground, lifeless.

"Sniper!" Rook heard someone yell followed by a few more panicked voices and screams.

But for some reason Rook didn't move away, instead he looked downwards at the man at his feet, he was too transfixed on the dead man in next to him, blood leaking from his head, one second he was there, alive and talking to him, the next, dead on the floor, a crumpled body like a doll fallen to the floor. Rook watched the blood leak from the man's head in some sort of state of shock, many thoughts ran through his head, some were terrified yelps that the peggies were finally attacking, some were shocked chokes that if the bullet was a few feet to the right and he would have been the one to die. The next thing Rook knew, he himself was on the ground, a weight on top of him and his side roaring in pain, then the weight removed itself off the confused and dazed deputy and reached down to shake him lightly.

"Benjamin, are you ok?!" Jerome cried, as he was crouched over him, shaking his arm.

"Wha-?" Rook mumbled as he panted lightly, feeling dizzy as he felt the world was spinning, Jerome must have pushed him to the ground to avoid the sniper's sight.

Rook looked up to see Jerome crouched over him, his hand clasped on his arm, Jerome was frantically saying something to him, but he struggled to focus on the words that came from his mouth, but struggled as there was this high pitched ringing that seemed to eternally ring from somewhere, it sounded like it was everywhere and nowhere, it made his head ache.

Despite the horrible ringing that surrounded his brain, he needed to move, he needed to be ready to fight, he tried his best to fight the pain in his side and fought his way onto his knees, but whatever Jerome was saying now, it might had something to do with the fact that the hand clasped to his arm moved to his shoulder, a weight was on it and pushed Rook down, for some reason Jerome was trying to keep him from standing up. He looked up again at Jerome who was know on both knees just like him, both his hands on his shoulders, the look on his face was one of great concern and fear, he was yelling something but still his words were a muffled over the ringing, whatever was happening, it was not good by any means, not only that, but now his stomach was twisting and roaring just as his wounded side was, any attempt to rise to his feet was gone as the pains in his stomach grew, it made him curl up slightly his hands wrapped around his stomach as Jerome was most likely yelling something important at him, whatever was happening now, Jerome was pulling on him, trying to pull him away from the barricade, Rook wanted to move with him, but the pains and dizziness made hard to rise. With Jerome desperately pulling on him, trying to move him to no avail, Rook was firmly stuck on his knees dazed and disoriented, before Jerome could attempt to say anything else, Rook began coughing, he started coughing and coughing and before either man could do anything the coughing became retching, then the retching became gagging and the next thing Rook knew he was throwing up.

He hadn't eaten anything in the short term, all that Rook's stomach produced was bile, Rook coughed and spat what little was in his mouth and breathed, Rook wasn't sure what was happening to him but as he stared down at the bile that splattered the pavement and his knees the high pitched ringing suddenly stopped and all the noise came rushing back, there was so much screaming all around him, from inside the town and out, many people yelled in fear, scared out of their minds the peggies were attacking again and how they were afraid to die or about whatever hell awaited them if they were to be dragged back to John's bunker, others tried to yell over the fear and tried to give orders and coordinate a proper attack and trying to relay the movements of the peggies to prepare for when they finally made it over the barricades, peggies were yelling about their usual doomsday cult nonsense as gunshots exploded on either side of the barricade, booming like hundreds of fireworks of the fourth of July.

"Benjamin! Benjamin! We need to go!" Jerome screamed; his voice now audible.

"Wha-?" Rook slurred as he looked back up at the man.

"Come on, we need to go!" he screamed again as he pulled Rook again, this time Jerome was able to pull to Rook to his unsteady feet.

As Rook found his balance again, Jerome pulled his arm again, quickly pulling him deeper into town, Jerome pulled him as fast as he could which caused Rook to struggle to keep up, his legs felt like rubber and breathing was still difficult, but as he felt that his balance come back to him, Jerome jerked him to the left, causing him to lose his balance all over again, Rook wanted to say something, anything to let Jerome know he was struggling so badly, but before he could Jerome quickly spun around and pushed him back, Rook expected to fall back and it the ground, but instead his back was met with a cold wall, making him cough once again as the wall held him up.

"Benjamin, are you ok?!" Jerome cried again, grabbing both his shoulders.

"What?" Rook said yet again, still disoriented.

"The peggies are finally pushing for the town, we need to fight back!" Jerome cried.

"Yeah" Rook hiccuped as he limply pulled his revolver from his waistband.

"No, no, no" Jerome said quickly as he pushed Rook's arm down.

"You need to stay here, you are in no condition to fight, Ben, please stay here" Jerome replied nervously as he kept looking to his left a few times.

"Where are we?" Rook asked.

"In between the bar and auto shop, against the bar's wall, Ben I need you to say here!" Jerome said again, taking a few more looks to the left, to the main street of the town.

Rook followed the Pastor's gaze to the main street, there he could see a few bodies laying lifeless in the street, pools of blood coming out of them, occasionally he saw someone run to or from the barrier, terrified or something else entirely.

"What are we doing?" Rook asked, trying to refocus on the situation at hand.

"We as in the town and myself are going to try to protect ourselves the best we can, you are going to rest here for a bit, I'll find someone to move you somewhere safer" Jerome said.

Jerome then took a step back, he pulled the shotgun that he slung over his shoulder off his back and cocked it before taking a step towards the main street, but before he could make any distance, Rook's free arm shot out and grabbed Jerome's arm, pulling Jerome's attention again.

"I need to help" Rook said, still panting lightly.

"Benjamin, you're in shock right now, you're not capable of doing anything" Jerome said, returning to Rook.

"But I need to help, people are dying" Rook tried to argue.

"You will join them if you try, please, just wait here and I'll get you to safety" Jerome argued again before quickly pulling away from Rook again before jogging down the alley to re join the fight.

Rook watched Jerome make it to the lip of the building as he called out to the Pastor to come back and help him, but Jerome ignored it, instead he poked out of the corner and fired his shotgun a few times before sprinting out of the alley and towards the center of the small town.

With Jerome gone, Rook couldn't help but feel hopeless, people were dying around him and he could barely walk, his heartbeat thumping like a jackhammer, terrified he was going to die soon as well, he could feel his whole body shake with fear, and there was nothing he could do, besides keep himself up against the wall, all he could think about what John said hours ago, about how he held the key to their survival, and he was right, he had ordered the town's execution on a whim, finally sick of the Junior Deputy's shenanigans. Rook felt in his bones he could have done something more to stop this, he could be doing something now to stop this, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his legs to stop shaking and take a step forward towards the threat that was killing innocent people, all he really could do was stand there, pushed up against a wall, listen to everyone in town scream and die around him.


	29. Chapter 29

Gunshots and yelling boomed all throughout Falls End, Rook, still positioned in the alley Jerome left him in, had no choice but to listen to the cacophonous noise, he didn't know what an active war-zone was like, but this must have been what it was like, gunshots popped off like never ending firecrackers that echoed into the encroaching night, the various yelling accompanied the bangs into the distance, it was either peggies yelling orders or religious mumbo jumbo and the resistance trying to coordinate and dying, and Rook wasn't sure which one was worse, the gunshots were dangerous as it meant people were dying, but the yelling could be his friends yelling in terror as they were murdered, the voices could very well belong too; Mary May, Jerome, Sharky, Jess, the guy who runs the general store, even Boomer, they could have all been shot by now and there was nothing he could do about it, and that was nauseating to think about, which didn't help his current state, he still wasn't sure what was happening to him, ever since that man was taken out by the sniper it was all down hill, the vomiting, the ringing, the struggle to breathe and walk, it was like a wave of weakness had suddenly washed over him, Jerome had told him he was merely going through the effects of emotional shock, but that made no sense, after all the bullshit he had been through and he had never felt anything like this, sure he got scared a lot and sure he was downright terrified other times, but he never succumb to some sort of emotional shock.

As Rook stood there, pressed up against the bar's wall, his legs shaking relentlessly, his throat feeling tight and swollen, listening to the shooting and yell, he tried to come up with some half backed plan to do something, anything that would make a lick of difference, a rough pair of hands suddenly grabbed his left arm, the sudden contact of another person made Rook flinch so hard he practically jerked to his right, hoping it would keep him safe, even for a few seconds, but as he fell away, his back scraping across the wall, the hands had a grip on his arm and pulled him back towards the stranger.

"Hey it's me! It's me!" Jess's voice came.

Rook's head snapped to the source of Jess's voice, it came from the left, just like the person holding him, but it made the sudden spike of adrenaline and fear drop slightly, it was just enough for him to see that the voice belonged to the person holding him, it was Jess, Jess had somehow found him and grabbed him.

"Christ Jess" Rook coughed as his body felt even more limp as he struggled to stand up straight again.

"Are you ok?" She asked, as she pulled on his arm and yanked him upright before intently analyzing his body, looking for something.

"Yeah... I'm ok" Rook hiccuped before taking slow, deep breaths, examining the woman who had suddenly appeared next to him.

Somehow, she appeared perfectly fine, no bullet wounds, no scraps or bruises, she was completely fine even though the massive firefight mere meters away.

"Ok good" Jess said quickly before tightening her grip on his arm and began pulling on him, trying to pull him down the alley, away from town, but the sudden jerking motions made Rook stumble as she pulled him.

"What are you doing?" Rook hiccuped again, as he struggled to catch his breath and keep his feet under him.

"We're getting out of here" Jess said bluntly, as she tried to move quickly down the alley but at a even pace as she could feel the Junior Deputy stumbling.

"What?" Rook asked for the umpteenth time, feeling his voice return to him.

"We're getting the fuck out of Dodge, this place and everyone in it is fucked" Jess stated.

"But what about the people?" Rook asked, feeling his legs slowly come back under his control as he was being tugged around.

"They're all dead, now come on, we'll join them if we don't hurry" she said grimly as she tried to pick up there pace, but couldn't as she could feel Rook struggling.

"I can't do that" Rook said, trying to find his balance and pull back.

"I can't just go, people need me" he retorted as he pulled on his arm, trying to pull himself free from Jess's iron grip but couldn't as his balance eluded him.  
Rook's ceaseless struggling was getting on Jess's nerves fast, she couldn't deal with him writhing like a fussy toddler and deal with any peggies if they were seen, she needed to stop and let him know just how bad things had gotten in the past few minutes. She stopped moving down the alley and faced the Junior Deputy in her grip.

"What? What the fuck are you possibly going to do?" She demanded.

"I'm going fight, just like everyone else" Rook said, trying his best to put on a brave face.

"You're just going to get yourself killed!" Jess argued.

"Well I can't just abandon a whole town to die!" Rook cried.

"Yes you can, it's either you die here, or you come with me and live!" Jess returned.

"Then I guess I'll die!" Rook countered as he finally wrenched his arm free from Jess's grip and hastily spun around and carefully took a few tentative steps forward.

He didn't care if he died, sure he was downright terrified of dying but he had to do something, he was a Junior Deputy of Montana after all, his job was to protect and serve, not cower and run, he couldn't live with himself if he just turned his back on his friends and the other townsfolk and ran as they fought for their homes and slaughtered for their non conformity, his only solace in any chance of victory was that he had done some pretty amazing stuff since he arrived in this damned county, maybe he could squeeze out one more lucky break, then and only then, after this whole atrocity was over, would he take that pseudo vacation Mary was scolding him about.

"I'm not going to let you kill yourself" Jess commanded as she took a challenging step forward and grabbing his upper arm again.

"Jess, I need to do this, it's my job" Rook argued as he tried to use his free hand to pull hers off his person.

"No fuck you" Jess groaned as she struggled to jeep his arm in her grip.

"Jessica just stop" Rook barked suddenly, shifting his stance.

Rook's sudden shift in tone almost surprised Jess, but given the circumstance they were in, she didn't care, the firefight that threatened to engulf the town was clearly more important.

"The fuck you mean stop? we need to go!" Jess ordered.

"This is my fault ok!" Rook declared expressively, turning around to face Jess.

When he turned around, Jess could see him properly again, his eyes were big and sad, full of regret, like a child who was caught doing something they knew full well they shouldn't do, but his face was a serious and tough, a look she rarely saw, it was a far cry from the usual awkward and casual Boy Scout.

"I've been messing with John's operation for weeks and now he's sick of my shit and now he's taking it out on the town and everyone it, I could have stopped this, I should have stopped this, I was in John's bunker a few days ago, I saw him in the flesh minutes before I was able to free myself, instead of running away, I could have arrested him and used him as a hostage to escape, then we'd have a well of info and a bargaining chip on Joseph, AND…" Rook fervently explained before finishing loudly to punctuated his next point.

"And none of this would be happening and people would still be alive!" Rook proclaimed, placing his hands on his chest, panting lightly, his regret getting to him.

Jess examined the Boy Scout, ready to verbally tear him apart for being so stupid yet again, but before she could, he carried on with his little tirade.

"I understand you want to protect your friend but come on, I'm not your responsibility, you don't have to be my shield, like you said, we're partners, you have the choice to go without me, please Jess, don't let me slow you down from you killing every peggie you come across, but if you wanna stay and help kill all of the ones here, I would really appreciate it!" Rook implored her, he couldn't make her stay, but he couldn't make her leave either.

Jess didn't say anything, she just stared at him with that same stern, brooding looking she always had when she was deciding what to do with the bad hand life had dealt her. It was clear he wasn't going to back off on this one, unless she knocked him out, she couldn't get him out of town, but she knew that wouldn't be good in the long run, it was just has he said, she was either in or out on this one, after a few moments of intense staring and weighing her options, she looked over her shoulder, down the alley and towards the small building behind the bar and beyond that; endless Montana landscape, their escape route, peggie free and a clear shoot, she looked at it for a few seconds before looking forward again, this time over Rook's shoulder and at the large scale shootout that was happening a handful of meters away, also peggie free somehow. But her hesitation was all Rook needed to make his own decision, he didn't have time for her indecision, he needed to jump in and help save the day as soon as possible, so instead of waiting for her to make up her mind, he turned away from her and hurried down the wide alleyway, and towards it's mouth, pressing himself up against the bar's wall. As he reached the end of the alley, he didn't hear anything behind him, no sound of running feet fleeing the area, no rough hand to pull him back to let him know they were very reluctantly joining them on this death wish or second attempt to drag him to safety.

He really was on his own on this one.

Rook didn't bother looking back to she if Jess was still there or not, he had more important things on his plate, he inched closer to the edge of the bar's wall and took in landscape that was once the town. Dozen peggies lined the vehicle barrier and fired at the general store, some fired some, for some reason fired upwards, up at something that that was possibly on a roof or something, several peggie bodies lay unmoving in between the to lines of vehicles, blood leaking from them, painting the tops red, a dozen more peggie lay on the road, they had somehow made it over the barrier and cleared a few feet before being cut down like those tangled up in the vehicles, the road itself that ran deeper into town was littered with bullet casings, from the covered retreat the resistance made as they fell back, a many bodies of said resistance members were sprawled along the street, the bulk of the bodies lay in front of the auto shop and lessened the closer one got to the church, but what made Rook's stomach roll and flip, and bile rise to his throat was the bodies in front of the Mary's bar, rocky divots within scorch marks with asphalt chips surrounding them in a ten foot radius sparsely stained the asphalt road, clear indications that explosives were thrown by the peggies, a few of said explosions had taken lives, a few unarmed and armed people lay on the road, cracked bones sticking out of them and organs and blood leaking out, limbs detached and feet away from their owners.

Rook would have thrown up again if not for emptying what little was in his stomach what felt like hours ago, so instead he reeled and shuttered in horror, he had promised those same people not even sixteen hours go he'd make sure they would be safe; albeit in just getting the lights on for the night, but looked what good that did them, gunned down and ripped open in the very town they lived in while the man they depended on was dazed and disoriented mere meters away. Rook didn't know exactly what to do to stop the peggies from clearing out the town aside from shooting them before they shot him, but what he did know, from the bottom of his heart was he was going to make John pay for what was happening, he had ordered this, by extension John was killing them and he was going to make Joseph pay, by extension Joseph was killing them as well.

Pushing back the raw horror and shivering fear just long enough to focus back on the road to find something that will help him push back the scourge that was at his doorstep, his eyes, guided to whatever the peggies were shooting at by the general store quickly locked on to their target, tucked against the general store wall left of the front door was Jerome, Sharky and a dozen or so petrified looking people, clutching their guns like their lives depended on it, but then again, it did. Jerome was pushed up on the lip of the wall and occasionally poked the barrel of his shotgun around the corner and fired at the peggies gunning for him, one man was crouched, down one knee placed right up against Jerome and leaned out and fired his automatic rifle whenever Jerome wasn't and the two men appeared to be keeping the peggies out. The people up against the wall appeared to be firing at something from the other end of the wall, in the same position as Jerome and the other man. Sharky was also on the ground, near Jerome, furiously fiddling with something in his hands, whatever it was, Jerome didn't care for it as he would sporadically yell at him for it, but it appeared Sharky didn't care as he acted like he didn't even hear whatever the pastor had yelled. If Rook wanted to work with them, he needed to get their attention, tightening his grip on his revolver, Rook brought his hands to his mouth and yelled.

"Jerome!" Rook shouted.

But his voice was lost to the gunfire and Jerome did not hear.

"Jerome!" Rook shouted again.

Again, his voice was lost to rampant noise that swallowed the town.

"Oh, son of a- Jerome!" Rook yelled yet again, and still to no avail.

It was clear he couldn't reach the pastor vocally, he needed something more direct if he wanted to get their attention, franticly Rook looked around his immediate surroundings for something to help him, maybe he could throw something but quickly realized that even if he did, there was no way he could clear the entire road, feeling like he was out of ideas and time, Rook gaze eventually turned to the revolver in his grasp, he stared at it for a few seconds before turning his gaze back to Jerome and company and how they were pushed up against the wooden beam the supported the second floor and what was left of the large window that showed off the goods inside. The mental map in his head was slowly growing and an idea was coming together, if his words couldn't reach the pastor then maybe a bullet would, maybe he would notice revolver round bury itself into his cover. Rook thought about any other possibilities for a few seconds, but it was clearly the best thing he could come up with, he half-heartedly raised his gun to the wooden beam across the street and carefully trained the gun on the beam, a little to far to the left and he'd hit the Pastor, accounting for wind, he aimed or around head level for Jerome to see the impact, and began inhaling and exhaling slowly a few times before finally squeezing the trigger, the gun let out a loud bang and the bullet sailed through the air and lodged itself into what was left of the building's corner, causing splinters to leap from their resting place, and in turn making Jerome jump, scared he was almost within firing range, he leapt back from the edge, and caught his breath before investigating.

Jerome nervously scanned the area, trying to find the source of the stray shot for a few moments before his eyes locked onto the Junior Deputy waving to him from where he left him.

"Deputy? What the hell are you doing?!" Jerome yelled, bewildered, his voice almost lost to the gunshots.

"Getting your attention! Let's get a game plan together!" Rook yelled back.

"Yo, I got you, Amigo!" Sharky suddenly shouted, jumping up from his spot, holding something over his head with both hands.

Whatever Sharky was going to propose was quickly shot down as Jerome turned to him and it looked like he scolded him for whatever it was, as he did, a few more bullets fired by the peggies embedded into Jerome's cover again, making him jump, seeing as he couldn't scold the pyromaniac, provide cover fire and converse with the Junior Deputy, Jerome stepped away from the lip of the wall and tapped in one of the scared people at the wall with him, the citizen nervously nodded and anxiously stepped towards the wall's lip and began firing sporadically. With another person giving suppressing fire, Jerome could properly speak with Rook.

"Ben, you need to stay down and out of sight, you're in no condition to fight!" he yelled.

"I can't stand by and watch this massacre!" Rook retorted.

"If you really want to help… get to the church and help evacuate people!" Jerome ordered.

"We can't run away; we need to hold our ground!" Rook returned.

"I am open to any suggestions!" Jerome shouted as he stuck the barrel of his shotgun and fired a few times.

"What was Sharky suggesting?!" Rook asked.

"The peggies were throwing some explosives a few minutes ago, Charlemagne somehow found one that didn't go off and he picked it up, he's convinced he can get it working!" Jerome loudly explained.

"I can totally do it!" Sharky cut in again, holding out the object in his hands again for Rook to see.

Now that Sharky was showing off what he was holding, Rook could properly see it; it looked like a soft plastic pot with what looked like one of those old Nokia phones ducted taped to it, Rook's police training allowed him to identify the object Sharky was waving around, he was certain it was an I.E.D. an improvised explosive device, it made sense why it didn't go off; most of the peggies where everyday Joes, of course they had no explosive device knowledge, but it was still painfully clear that some of the I.E.D's were more active then others, the bomb Sharky was holding was could go off at any moment.

"Charlemagne! Please be quiet!" Jerome scolded again.

"But I got this dude, I've been fiddlin' with th' bomb, this is kindergarten level stuff here, but I think I got it working.

"That thing could go off at any moment! The longer you hold onto it the more of a threat it becomes!" Jerome yelled.

The few people that clung to the general store wall were slowly piecing together that Sharky had one of the very bombs that killed their allies, and slowly began voicing their disgust and vitriol that he had done such a thing.

"You think you can get it to go off?!" Rook yelled.

"Is the Pope Catholic, my guy?!" Sharky returned.

"Then let's use it!" Rook yelled.

"This can go horribly wrong!" Jerome argued.

"Everything is already horrible!" Rook quickly countered.

"Sharky, throw the bomb!" he ordered.

"You got it, Rookageddon!" Sharky smiled wickedly before tinkering with the phone taped to the plastic pot.

Once he was done, Sharky eyed the lip of the wall and slowly approached it, I.E.D tucked under his arm, one of the men giving suppressing fire, heard the whole conversation, backed off from his spot and Sharky easily slipped in, arm curled around the bomb, ready to throw.

"So, when should I throw?!" Sharky asked.

Rook peeked out of his cover and peered at the peggie threat that fired at them, from what he could see, a lot of the enemy trucks had rolled closer to the town, all arranged in an order to provide what looked like fifty of so peggies the cover they need to make a staggered up to roadblock safely, the bulk of the visible horde was trying to congregate against the blockade and make one concentrated push over it and into the town proper, all armed with various firearms and fired at the general store and whatever was on the roof of the auto shop, a few peggies stood on the roofs of the trucks, looking down the scopes of their sniper rifles, looking into the town, by Rook's count there was four snipers, any of them could have been the one to almost killed him minutes ago. And for some reason the peggies were only trying to push up from the side they were on. With all the threats against them, there was no way Sharky could safety throw the bomb, he needed a diversion.

Rook took his eyes off the enemies down the road and back at his friend, he could feel his chest tightening up again, he had one idea to pull a bunch of attention onto himself, and it was quite dangerous.

"Get ready to throw!" Rook yelled before he sucked in one last lung full of air before fully jumping out from the alley.

"Hey, I'm still alive, look over here, the Junior Deputy is right here, I almost got John a few days ago!" Rook yelled at the top of his lungs as he waved his hands in the air and squeezed the revolver's trigger twice, shooting into the air.

And just like that one peggie noticed and remarked the damned sinner was to their immediate one O'clock, yelling about how he almost killed the Father's gracious lieutenant, and then another noticed, and another noticed and another noticed, and within seconds all of the peggies knew the man who had been systematically killing as many peggies as he could from the Valley to the Henbane was in their presence, and just like that they all seemed to lose interest in the towns inhabitants and began uttering curses at the Junior Deputy who had caused so much pain and hardship to their blessed cause.

With all eyes on him, Rook felt his job was so perfectly done that it was time for him to make his exit, as the peggies who could see the Junior Deputy raised their guns and fire at him, he dipped back behind the wall again, but Rook was a lot slower then he thought as when he retreated back into cover, the brick corner of Mary's bar practically exploded into a small dust cloud as the peggies bombarded it with bullets in an attempt to hit the accursed sinner, but there salvo was short lived as they all stopped when the Junior Deputy fell away, if they wanted to get him, they needed to be patient, alert and ready.

* * *

Rook staggered backwards as the bullets pulverized the brickwork, silently gasping over how he was feet away from the impacts, with a trembling inhale, he looked up at the pyromaniac across the street, staring frightened at Rook, unmoving.

"Throw the damn thing!" Rook yelled.

Sharky opened his mouth and said something quickly and gingerly stepped out from around the corner, looking quite scared and examined the flock of peggies completely unaware of him as they watched were Rook had been, a few of them even shouted orders at each other to get to drop on the Junior Deputy. Still nervous Sharky stepped out before winding back his arm, ready to throw.

"Yeet!" Sharky hollered as he threw the I.E.D. as hard as he could.

The bomb spun through the air like a fat frisbee and hit the ground with a loud thud before skidding along the road towards the roadblock and came to a stop ten feet away from the roadblock, as soon as it the ground, the few peggies heard it and quickly stole a glimpse, and in one quick seconds, all their angry and hate melted into fear, seeing their own explosive being used against them made the ones who saw it yelp in fear, causing those around them to notice and do the same until the first wave to quickly retreat before covering their ears and yelling for everyone to get down, the snipers jumped off the trucks and dove for cover. Rook, Sharky and Jerome did likewise, Rook covered his ears and watched Sharky run back behind the general store and also covered his ears and for five whole seconds, all noise in the town disappeared, leaving it deathly silent, everyone close enough to see the bomb braced themselves for the coming explosion, but as the sixth second ticked by, people began to doubt it's arrival.

Rook was also unsure of what was happening, curious and nervously, he poked back out around the corner to examine what was going on.

The bomb lay on the ground just as it was when Sharky held it, in one piece and not exploding, the peggies had also noticed that the bomb had not gone off and slowly poked up over the barricade to investigate. A few of them stared at it for a few seconds before deciding the bomb was still inactive then began yelling to begin the attack again. And just like that the yelling and shooting started up again, this time they came in force, the sudden break in the fight was what they needed to swell their numbers and pushed forward, stronger than before.

"You said you had this!" Rook yelled, frustrated at the outcome as he pulled his head back into cover.

"It should have gone off, it's ready to go!" Sharky hollered.

"We got a problem here! we're running out of ammo" one of the men shooting the peggies yelled.

"You could say that again!" Sharky loudly replied.

"Charlemagne, Stop talking!" Jerome angrily ordered as he stepped forward and stuck his shotgun out and fired a few times.

Sharky stared at Rook how frustratingly stared at him for a few seconds before the light bulb over his head clicked on.

"Shoot the thing!" Sharky yelled.

"What?!" Rook yelled over the gunfire.

"Shoot the bomb!" Sharky yelled again.

Rook heard what he had said but struggled to comprehend as now that the peggies knew he was here; he was their prime target.

"How!?" Rook loudly asked.

"With your gun!" Sharky replied.

"No, I mean I- th- screw it" Rook hissed, waving him off.

Rook looked at his gun, unsure how he could possibly it the bomb, the revolver held six shots, he fired his gun twice already, leaving him with four, four possible chances, but after that what would he do with an empty gun in an alleyway.

He looked back up at the group of people hiding behind the general store across the street, Sharky still stared at him expectantly as Jerome and a few other fired off their guns from either side of their wall, hoping they could push back the enemy. He had to do something, he couldn't just sit there and watch these people struggle and fight before being gunned down, if Sharky said he needed to shoot the bomb, then shoot the bomb he shall.

In one quick motion he swept out of the alley and crouched slightly as he raised his gun in the bomb's direction, there he could see three peggies, two men and a woman had made it over the barricade and practically stood atop the bomb, they stood their firing their guns, keeping those behind the general store pinned down, a few more peggies were slowly climbing over the lineup of vehicles, they must have lost interest in him as they began shooting at Jerome and company again.

Despite all that, the shot was relatively clear, sure there were a few legs in the way, but the bomb was still visible, with his heart beating in his ears and throat tightening up, Rook raised his gun at the bomb with trembling hands, terrified he would be seen and shot, so much so he was beginning to have second thoughts about the whole thing, maybe this was a bad idea, this could very well ruin the barricade, it was the only thing from keeping the peggies from swarming in, maybe the bomb wouldn't blow up when shot, Sharky did botch the initial detonation.

"Come on dude, take the shot!" he heard Sharky yell from his left.

Sharky's vocalization added just a little more pressure to Rook's already stressed mentality. Trying his best to steady his shaking gun, Rook used his free hand and clamped down on the wrist that held the revolver and gained a little more stability before finally squeezing the trigger. The revolver jerked up as a loud pop and a flash emitted from its barrel and in an instant one of the men over the bomb dropped to the floor, screaming bloody murder that he was shoot in the leg, Rook was ready to run back to cover again as he expected the other two peggies to try to help the down man or turn to shoot back but instead, they simply moved away from the downed man and ignored him, both surprised and relived that the two chose their mission over helping their downed and wailing friend, they just continued to shoot at the general store, still out of cover Rook stared at the bomb, thankfully as the wounded man fell, he fell away from the bomb, leaving it still within his shooting range. Rook trained his gun on the bomb again, this time breathing slowly a few times before even thinking about squeezing the trigger but as he did his little breathing exercises, out of the corner of his eye, he could see one of the peggie climbing over the barricade pointing an accusing finger in his general direction.

"It's the deputy! He's back again!" an angry voice suddenly came.

Rook could only assume it was the one who was coming over the barricade, but it didn't matter, the peggies now knew he was out again and now he needed to shoot the damned bomb before they decided to start shooting at him.

"Somebody shoot that son bitch!" another angry voice called out.

Rook could feel his heart skip a beat upon hearing that, his breathing became more erratic again, desperate to get it under control again, he began breathing in gasped inhales and lined up his shot on the bomb, as the barrel of the gun dipped on and off the bomb causing him to hesitate even more but he needed to shoot, for the good of himself and the town, with one final gasping breath, he held his breath and lined up the end of the barrel on the bomb and readied himself to fire and whatever would come next.

"There he is, shoot now!" A woman screamed.

And that's when Rook fired his gun.

* * *

The ground shook as the bomb went off, the ensuing explosion digging into the peggies and barricade and shrouding them in thick black smoke as the sound of the blast rang out, any yells or screams were buried under the explosion. Dust, metal and asphalt skipped away from the explosion in all directions, carried away by the shockwave.

As the smoke cleared everyone could see the damage had been done, a few of the cars in the roadblock were twisted and warped from the explosion, paint peeling off in some areas and singed black, the peggies that were within the blast rang were another story, cooked and cut corpses lined the road barricade's top, limbs contorted and frozen in the pose they were in before they died. A few peggies that were on the edge of the explosion they lay on the ground writhing in pain, crying and wailing over the horrible burns and wounds they had just sustained. Those behind them fell backward a few feet, ready for anymore explosions.

Rook staggered back slightly and shielded his eyes, he was clear of danger as he was nowhere near the detonation but still, he unwillingly backpedaled a few steps, feeling the harmless debris and heat wafted in his direction, through squinted eyelids, Rook inspected the road ahead of him and saw all the dead and damage. He stood there for a few seconds looking and listening anything that would denote the peggies pushing up again.

"Ok everyone, here's are chance!" Jerome's voice yelled from Rook's right.

Unsure of what was going on or what he what he possibly meant, Rook looked over at Jerome and his troupe of survivors to see they were no longer at their cover, instead they were running, running deeper into town.

"Come on Dep, we're makin' a break for it!" Sharky hollered as he ran down the road.

Caught off guard by the boldness and abruptness of the what Jerome had put into motion, Rook watched them in awe for a few seconds before realizing how viable it was, it didn't matter if the peggies heavily outnumbered them, they had them pinned down in their own town, if they wanted to have a chance of victory, they needed to regroup and really fight back. Watching the group run deeper into town, Rook pulled himself out of his head and broke into a jog, chasing after the group.

"Where are we even going!" Rook called out.

"To the auto shop!" Jerome hollered back.

Rook couldn't help but mentally disagree, the auto shop was essentially a big brick and mortar box, trapping themselves inside wouldn't be any better than the alleyway of behind the store. But it didn't matter now as he was already running, chasing the group towards the auto shop. Rook looked ahead of the group to see the shutter door that protected the garage bay was wide open with an auto shop member on either side, guns in hand as hastily ushered everyone inside.

"Come on, come on, come on, let's go, let's go" the burly man from this morning shouted as he waved everyone in.

Nobody wasted any time and ran as everyone beelined inside, with Rook huffing and puffing behind them, trying to catch with the group.

"Come on Dep, your almost there, don't give up!" Sharky called from inside as he watched Rook jog up to the auto shop door.

Rook responded with an annoyed grunt as ran through the large opening, and into the garage bay proper, the large shutter door quickly behind him. The second Rook considered himself somewhat safe, he practically collapsed in on himself, placing his hands on his knees and breathed heavily to catch his breath, he had not been able to run properly ever since he was injured at John's bunker.

As Rook stood there, hunched on himself, trying to catch his breath a pair of legs walked up next to him, then Rook could feel a hand on his shoulder.

"You ok Deputy?" Jerome's voice, his voice calm yet raw from all the yelling.

"Yeah, just give me a second" Rook swallowed before standing back up.

"Ok… what's the plan?" he asked.

"I'll let you know when I come up with something solid" Jerome replied grimly, his face mimicking his tone of voice.

Afraid, Rook examined the auto shop interior briefly before turning back to Jerome.

The auto shop was small, no bigger then a normal, residential garage, a single pickup truck sat in the middle of the room, resting on a lift, the walls were lined with various tools and pictures of cars and scantily clad woman, a metal door was on the left most wall, presumably leading into the commercial end of the building the twelve people the pastor had brought and the two auto shop members all practically stood shoulder to shoulder in the garage all clearly scared and ready to be attacked once more.

"So, we have nothing to go on?" Rook asked.

"Nothing other then shoot back when they finally come for us" Jerome grimaced.

"Shit" Rook muttered, looking at the floor.

"But what about the roof?" Sharky asked as he pushed through the scared people in the room, pulling all attention to himself.

"There's that big fuckin' gun on the roof" Sharky said, causing a swell of murmuring to wash across the room.

"Wait there is?" Rook said, feeling some semblance of hope return to him.

"Yes, there's a fifty caliber machine gun mounted on a stand on the roof, we had it installed up there after the very first time the peggies attacked us, I think one of the snipers hit the poor soul who was manning it minutes ago" Jerome explained.

"If we get up there, we can use that and really push them back" Rook purposed.

"There's snipers out there, they'll most likely get you before can make a proper dent in their number" Jerome said sadly.

Rook wanted to say more, but there was more rustling within the group of people before the burly auto shop employee appeared before them.

"This is my fault I suppose" he sighed.

"What do you mean?" Jerome asked.

"I've been meaning to take that gun down and mount it to a pickup for a little while now, if I did it sooner, then maybe less people would be dead" he supposed, rubbing the back of his head.

"He can't go playing the blame game, all we can do now is keep fighting now, and we need to do it soon, the peggies haven't attacked yet because they probably think we have more explosives or something, we need to do something now" Jerome said, starting to sound concerned.

"That's why we got to get on the roof!" Sharky cried.

"To get up there, we'd have to be very subtle about it" Jerome theorized.

"Well what about her, I bet she could do it," Sharky said, pointing to someone behind Rook.

"Who?" Rook said as he turned around to see who Sharky was pointing too.

As Rook turned around to see who was behind him, he was met with a woman, slightly shorter then him, clad and a green jacket, marred in white graffiti, a hood was pulled up over her head, a bow and quiver full of arrows hung from her shoulder. Rook didn't need to look under the hood to know who he was looking at, somehow, it was Jess who stood before him.

"Sup" she said nonchalantly.

"Jess!?" Rook said, shocked she was somehow in the building.

"Yo" she replied, just as calmly.

"H-how are you here?" Rook asked, still in awe.

"I followed you dude; I ran when you did" Jess said.

"I-I thought you bailed on me" Rook cried.

"Did you see me leave?" Jess asked, sounding annoyed.

"Well no, but I-" Rook stuttered, before being cut off.

"Exactly, there's your answer, I never left, I watched Boshaw throw the bomb and you shoot it, then we ran, so come on are we going to fuck up these assholes or what?" Jess asked, still sounding annoyed.

"Ugh yeah, I'm down but like Jerome said, it could be real tough getting up there" Rook said.

"There's a ladder out back, so come on, let's go before they come and kill us" Jess said, her aggravation becoming worrisome.

"Ok, ok, but we need a distraction first" Rook said quickly, hoping to calm her down.

"I think I can help there" the burly man said, stepping forward once.

"What do you got?" Jerome asked.

"This truck here" he said, tapping the pickup truck.

"We could roll this girl outside and we can use it for cover and shoot back while whoever goes up to the roof" the man said.

"Ok yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds good, can we fucking go now, any second now their going to shoot through the shutter thing!" Jess said frantically, making a rolling motion with her hands.

"Alright fine girl, calm down, before you go Deputy, here, you might need this" the mechanic said as he held out his automatic rifle to the Junior Deputy.

Rook quickly holstered his revolver in his waistband and hastily took the rifle.

"Thanks man" Rook replied as he looked at the rifle before slinging the rifle's strap over his shoulder.

Ok, let's go right fucking now!" Jess loudly declared much to the behest of the nervous people who shuffled about the garage.

"Alright, get a move on, we'll get everything ready down here, but please Deputy, be quick please, the peggies could be upon us and minute now" Jerome said, trying to appease they increasingly upset woman.

"Fuck" Jess growled as she grabbed Rook's arm and pulled him towards the metal door.

"Hey, come on, easy" Rook pouted as he barely kept his feet under him.

"Stop whining, we got to save the day, _again" _Jess growled as she pushed open the door and pulled Rook through.

"Alright people we got a plan of action" Rook heard Jerome declare as he and Jess left the garage and entered the main section of the store.

Now that the two of them were alone, Jess released Rook and let him re balance himself.

"Alright, so I take it you have a plan?" Rook asked as he stood up straight, clutching his newly acquired rifle and looking around.

The room was small, a few waiting chairs were up against the wall next to the front door, the walls were lined with glass cases showing off some car part, most likely to show off different modifications one could purchase for ones car, a lone counter was towards the back of the room, a old cash register sat atop the counter, accompanied by a few lonely look hunting magazines, beyond that was another metal door, this time the words _Emergency Exit Only_ stenciled on it in red.

"Kill them all" Jess hissed as she walked into the center of the small room and walked around the receptionist counter, towards a door in the back.

"Ok so like, is there more detail to that or what?" Rook asked nervously.

"You get on that gun; I'll use my arrows" she commanded as she jimmied the handle on the door.

"But I mean before that" Rook said as he quickly walked around the counter and stood next to the woman as she tried to push the door open.

But Jess didn't respond, instead she continued to fiddle and shove the unmoving door, Rook watched her try for a few seconds before opening his mouth.

"Man, that's a real safety hazard, huh?" Rook noted, noticing Jess's struggle to open the door.

Jess still didn't respond, she just growled and shook the door handle before completely giving up and taking a step back, Rook wanted to make a comment about the door but before he could, Jess lift a leg and kicked the door as hard as she could, the second her boot hit the door with a loud bang and the door swung open, the dim lights of the store's interior leaked out into the dark wilderness that was the overrun town and weakly illuminated the immediate area around the doorstep, the two stood there in silence, aside from light angry panting from Jess.

"Nice kick" Rook said, not knowing what else to say.

"Wait till you see what I'm going to those shit heel motherfuckers" Jess seethed.

"So, uh… you ready to go then?" Rook asked.

Jess didn't respond, instead she looked up at the Junior Deputy, who still looked at her, she nodded at him before staring back at the open door.

Then two reluctantly stepped through the door and into danger once more.


	30. Chapter 30

The evening was quiet, to quiet for Rook's liking. Mere minutes ago the town was alight with gunfire and yelling of all kinds, peggies had invaded the town for a second time all in the name of their holy cause and it sounded like all hell was breaking loose but now it was near silent aside from the gentle chirpings of the occasional cricket and the cawing of birds of prey, perched high upon the edge of a roof, eyeing the corpses that were scattered in and around the town.

"So where's this ladder at?" Rook asked, his voice barely above a whisper and his ears perked up, listening for anything that could denote trouble as he stepped through the door.

"It's right here" Jess replied in monotone as she turned to her immediate right as soon as she stepped out the door.

Rook quickly turned his head to the right to see what Jess meant and sure enough, a few feet from the door, a service ladder was bolted to the side of the wall.

"How'd you know this was here?" Rook asked, watching Jess approach the ladder.

"I would come up here every now and again, it's a good place to crash" she explained as she took her few steps up towards the base of the ladder.

Rook wanted to scold her for the borderline trespassing she had committed who knows how many times, but he had a feeling she wouldn't care nor was it a good time, instead he waited for Jess to climb up the ladder enough before approaching the ladder and climbed up right behind his friend, and the two ascended to the roof.

As Rook's head poked up over the lip of the building, he could see Jess, crouched down so low she might as well be on all fours, watching him intently.

"Stay low, don't give away" she hissed.

Rook slightly agreed with her, he looked just above her head to see how much room he was working with as for all along the perimeter of the roof was a waist high white brick wall, Rook couldn't figure out what use the lining brick wall could possibly serve other than to conceal one's self, it was almost as if the buildings maker had some foresight in the coming fights that would take place in the town, and for that Rook was grateful.

"I'll try, but low isn't exactly easy for me these days" Rook whispered as he slowly climbed that ladder.

As he did, Jess slowly scuttled towards him, unbeknownst to him, as Rook made it up the ladder to the point where his waist was flush to the edge of the building, he bent inwards, taking his hands off the ladders sides and onto the roof's surface so he could push himself up, but as he did, he felt hands press down on his shoulders, and pushed him downwards, not letting him rise any further then he already had.

"What? What are you doing?" Rook asked as he looked up at his friend.

"Stay low" she quietly commanded.

"I'm trying, but you pushing on me isn't helping" Rook replied.

"Yes, it is, you said it hurts to bend over and stuff so it you don't stand up then you don't have to crouch, just crawl up" Jess explained.

"Ok fine, whatever gets me up faster, how about giving me a hand instead of pushing me down?" Rook offered, holding out an open palm for Jess to pull him up.

Jess stared at the outstretched hand for a few seconds before grasping his hand and began pulling him up, and with minimal grunting and Jess's help, Rook slowly shimmied up the ladder and onto all fours as he made it onto the roof.

"There now come on, they could still see you up here so crawl to gun and fuck them up" Jess commanded sternly, pointing to her immediate right.

"Yeah, yeah" Rook breathed as he craned his head up and looked left to the aforementioned gun.

Upon doing so revealed the gun, it was a large, elongated gun, such as an fifty caliber gun should be, it was mounted upon a thick black pole that was embedded into the ground and kept the gun at an appropriate level, the gun itself was positioned almost directly over the auto shop garage shutter, it stood on the far corner, an ideal spot for the gun to cover, but directly behind the gun, laying in the ground was another dead man, laying on his back, blood leaking out of him and staining the rooftop, then night may have been setting in but the dim lights of the town allowed just enough light for Rook to see what had happened to the man, a single bullet would was in the center of his collar bone, most likely the inflicted by one of the snipers below. Rook made a mental note to keep an eye out for any snipers hanging around it the back of peggie horde. But much to Rook's anguish the dead man was not the only corpse on the roof, all around the roof that covered the garage itself was lined with five other corpses of men and woman, a few bullet wounds decorating their torsos, and shirts stained with dark red crimson and leaked onto the area around them, these people must have been what the peggies were shooting at as Jerome and his group hid behind the general store.

Rook shuttered upon looking at the bodies before looking back to Jess who had silently worked her way to the side of the building opposite of the fifty Cal, she was sitting on the brick wall lining the wall that faced the alley Rook once hid in and leaned back slightly, in her hands was her bow, the drawstring pulled back with an arrow loaded and pointed over the edge of the roof, down into the streets and presumably trained on a peggie below, she stared intently at her target briefly before turning back to the motionless Junior Deputy.

"Come on, get going" she ordered quietly before turning back to stare down her soon to be prey.

Rook made a noncommittal grunt before turning back to the gun and the dead bodies and begun crawling towards them.

Rook pushed down any feeling that may have sprung forth from being so close to the bodies and begrudgingly crawled to the large gun in the corner of the roof, as he went it wasn't as bad as he thought it would. Besides the bodies in such close proximity to him and the layer of gravel that coated the roof digging into his palms and the automatic rifle strapped to his back, it wasn't to hard, but that not bad feeling was quickly whisked away as he got closer to the gun and subsequently the bodies, the dry rocky gravel surface suddenly became wet and sticky, Rook didn't need to look down to know that he had started crawling through blood, it was a small price to pay to get to the gun, he forced back the cold, shuttering feeling that was developing in his core and pushed forward towards the gun. But as he got close to the gun, Rook quickly came to terms that standing up would be challenging, he would need something to help him up, the stand that held the gun didn't seem to offer much assistance as it already supported a rather large gun, how could it hold the weight, instead he crawled past the gun and crawled towards the short white wall next to it and reached a hand upward and gripped the edge before pulling himself up, slowly and shakily, he was able to push himself to his knees then used his other hand and unsteadily lifted himself to his feet with soft grunts, he kept himself at a slight crouch and slowly turned to the gun.

As Rook approached the large gun, he reached out with both hands and gripped the guns handles, and gently shook the gun, it felt as if it was on a swivel, upon further manipulation, he was able to determine that the gun could spin three hundred and sixty degrees and one hundred and thirty degrees vertically, more then enough to point it now at the road. The Junior Deputy took one small step closer to the gun, to step over the poor soul that was previously using the gun and to give himself more stability when he finally opened fire, very slowly, Rook turned and positioned the gun downwards and peered down the long barrel, there he could see the dimly light street below. There, he could see the peggies had formed up into two groups, each group was a single line and slowly crept down through town along the shoulders of the road, almost against the building fronts, as they went they peered into any and all windows they could, looking for anyone. The front of both lines moved in unison and moved slowly into town, from Rook's view he could guess that the leader on his side of the road had just reached the corner of the auto shop closest to the bar but it was difficult to see as the roof's lining made it difficult to see, but what was easy to see was the four snipers that still stood just beyond the edge of town, still, they stood on top of their truck roofs, and slowly scanned the street, looking for someone to shoot.

Rook looked up to Jess who stared at him, she gave him a single nod before focusing back on the road. Rook swallowed the lump in his throat and refocused on the below, tightening his grip on the gun's handles, he trained the small notch on the tip of the barrel on the body of a peggie across the street, he didn't know just how much ammo was stored in the gun, but if it had more then five seconds of bullets he would wrench the gun two the right and hit as many as he could.

He exhaled slowly once, hoping to clear the building pain in his head, but he had a feeling it was going to get a lot worse before getting better, ready to start shooting, he double checked his aim, still it was trained on one of the men moving in the slow line, with baited breath and a braced stance, he pulled the trigger.

* * *

The fifty Cal kicked back with the force of a shotgun, and it kicked back over and over and over again, it was a machine gun after all, the most powerful gun Rook had ever used, every discharge pushed him slightly, causing a ripple of pain to flow through him and the jerks and immense vibration stung the stitches in his side. The noise the gun emitted was the loudest thing in the world to him, in his youth he would blast his rock and roll music much louder then he probably should have, but that was still nothing to the perpetual explosions that came from the gun. Down below, the peggies who were hit by the fifty caliber bullets were just about cut in half, the bullets hit so hard they passed right through the hapless cultists and slammed into the building behind them, spraying blood and dust against the store front, if there was any yelling, Rook couldn't hear it, it was just the roar of the machine gun. As Rook pulled the large gun to the right, the peggies broke formation and fled in every direction, for anything that looked like cover. He continued to pull it to the right, towards the snipers, upon doings so the snipers hastily jumped from their positions and hid behind their trucks. Rook knew he wasn't going to hit them, but he had to give them reason to disappear from their perches, even just for a few moments. With the sniper's pseudo gone, Rook dragged the gun back down to the street and the people in them, the peggies hung out of a few alleyways and fired at something below him, at the auto shop, he could only assume the people directly below him had reopened the shutter door and rolled the old truck out for cover and begun the counterattack. Speaking of counter attacks, a quick glance towards Jess revealed she was relentlessly firing arrow after arrow down into the street and presumably the alley below.

The peggies were clearly disoriented and throw off guard by the large gun firing away at them, it was also clear that they weren't expecting the people in the auto shop to wheel out an busted up pickup truck and used it as cover to shoot from, to compensate for the plan John had given them going out the window, they fled to the alleyways along the main drag of town, those who couldn't make it in time were practically cut in half from the large gun and lined the sides of the road. A couple peggies occasionally tried to jump out and get a lucky hit on the Junior Deputy, but no such luck came to them as they were quickly gunned down by the people behind the truck in front of the auto shop, but as quick as Rook started firing the gun, the ferocious battle that had erupted in town had sizzled down into a loud stalemate, no one wanted to push forward and instead waited for the opposition to come for them, that stalemate was so evident Rook finally stopped firing the powerful gun and took a single step back, his body still ringing from the intense vibration, his ears aching from the noise it made, he quickly stole a glace to his right to see if the snipers had taken up their posts but thankfully they were still gone, feeling a modicum of safety, he removed the rifle from his back and held it close to his person tightly with both hands, he didn't bother checking the clip, in this state of panic, it would be insane to not keep it locked and loaded, ready to face whatever came next, he tentatively stepped around the bodies that littered the roof and stood against the half wall that over looked the main drag to get a better look at the deadlock before him, now that that booming of the fifty caliber was gone, noise had returned to the town, the people below him worryingly shouted to each other, loudly terrified that yet another ambush was about to come forth as they shot at the peggies who poked out from around almost every building and fired back at those at the auto shop, it didn't matter how many peggies were shot and killed, when they fell from their hiding spot, another quickly took their place, Rook wasn't sure what the peggies who went shooting were doing aside from skittered about in the alleyways. Rook wasn't sure how many peggies were left, many peggie bodies littered the road and barricade but the alleyways were quiet wide, so wide they barely could be considered as such, one could fit a small house within that space, and that meant a lot of peggies could be there as well, as he carefully studied the ends of the alleys for anything useful, a dim light suddenly shone in the corner of Rook's vision to his right, the light was accompanied by horrible screaming, throw off guard, scared and curious, Rook snapped his head in the direction of the screaming and easily spotted its source. Two snipers were standing back on the roof's of their trucks, but this time they weren't aiming down their rifles, instead they were bizarrely on fire, their entire bodies were engulfed in flames, they jumped up and down slightly as they tried to pat themselves down, but it was a futile attempt as their entire bodies were ablaze, it looked as if Sharky had blasted them with his flamethrower, baffled to what could have possibly transpired, he intently examined the area the snipers were in but couldn't identify what could have even been the fire's ignition, completely stumped, Rook quickly gave up as the lethal stalemate below him was much more important then a fire.

As the screams of the burning men slowly tapered off, they were finally succumbing to their fate, Rook turned back to the battlefield before him and analyzed what had transpired in his mental absence but for better or for worse, it was still the same, the resistance still kept themselves in the garage and the peggies hid in the alleys, nobody made a move. Rook tighten his grip on the rifle in his hands and scanned the town for any possible movement, but any examination was quickly but on hold as he could hear angry yelling coming from where the two men had just burned to death, reluctant to see what else could possibly be going on, Rook slowly looked back over to the other side of the barricade. There, another peggie had climbed up onto another truck roof and aimed his sniper rifle at something, it was off to the side, towards Mary's bar, before the man could fire the rifle some small object was thrown at him, a part of it was also on fire. Rook wouldn't have seen the object sail through the air if not for the little orange light. The sniper freaked out momentarily and tried to jump off the truck's roof but before he could the thing that soared through the air collided with the man, the second it did, the little orange light flicked then spread all along his body and erupted into a fire and just like the last two snipers, the man flailed and screamed as he burned. That's when it clicked in Rook's mind that the three snipers had been hit with Molotov's, Rook turned away to leave the burning man to his fate, but as soon as he did he quickly turned back to the burning man with a single burning question on his mind.

Who through the Molotov's?

The beginning of the peggies assault had thoroughly pushed the resistance back towards the center of town, so who could have thrown the Molotov's. Very carefully Rook leaned over the half wall and peer down onto the road, hopeful to see someone, anyone standing below. And sure, enough there was, he could see a three very brave looking people standing just outside of Mary's bar, what looked like a small milk crate sat at their feet, Rook could only assume hand made Molotov's rested inside. Just seeing the people made Rook's memory click, around the time the peggies hit, Jerome had said that Mary and a bunch of other people had hid away within the bar.

"Holy shit" Rook thought.

"This could be how we win, we have them at both sides" he thought.

As much as Rook was in awe and relishing over the idea of a town wide pincer attack, he needed a way to signal them to attack without alerting the peggies below, a series of ideas ran through varying from dumb ideas that could very well get him killed to ideas that could probably work but with great danger. But none of these ideas resonated with him, none except the most simplest one; go down the access ladder and walk over to the bar, as much as he hated to admit it, it sounded the safest, after going down the ladder, which was going to suck, just walk down the alley he had cowered in previously, not only that but Jess appeared to be picking off those who would come near the building so the journey would be a stone's throw away, but he couldn't go alone, like usual, he planned to have Jess accompany him to the bar, he looked over to where Jess was, or rather should have been as upon looking over, she was not there, she had disappeared without a trace, Rook let out a sigh before parting from the wall and carefully hurried over to the access ladder and with minimal struggling and pained grunting, he slowly descended down the ladder.

As Rook made it to the bottom of the ladder, grunting and groaning, he pulled the automatic rifle off his back again and slowly made his way over to the clearing between the auto shop and the bar, there he saw just about a dozen peggie corpses up next to the auto shops wall, perhaps they were trying to kick in the shop's front door and storm the place, but it didn't matter, Jess had killed them and carved a path to his destination.

As he hurried over the bodies of the dead men and woman, he noticed small, bloody divots rested in the heads, necks and collars of their bodies, they weren't bullet wounds as it looked like the missing swathe of flesh was pulled away rather the pushed inward, it made sense as Jess killed them with her arrows and pulled them out of their bodies, Rook couldn't help but feel a little miffed that during the whole shitshow that was this invasion Jess had climbed down off the building and took the time to pull every arrow from every body, sure she had a limited amount of ammo but not only did she run off to who knows where, she didn't bother to tell him what she was doing, perhaps it was payback for this morning.

As Rook stepped over the bodies and hurried over the small grass and dirt field in between the two buildings and pushed himself up against the bar's side and slide alongside it, making his way towards the front end, he kept his eyes on the ongoing firefight in case someone spotted him, but thankfully no one spotted him, letting him easily get around the bar's corner and could properly see the three people who had bravely stepped out of the bar, Molotov's in hand, they were two men and a woman, the woman carried a shotgun while the other two clutched Molotov's, Rook tentatively stepped towards them, they weren't looking in his general direction, as they peered over the barricade for that last sniper, so he didn't want to accidentally scare them, but once he got within earshot of them, he called out to them.

"Hey" Rook shouted gently, over the gunfire.

On instinct, the woman let out a small yelp causing the two men to flinch as she nervously pointed their gun at the source of the voice, at Rook, but before anything else could happen, one of them men next to her quickly pushed the gun back down as the two men saw it was the Junior Deputy.

"Deputy? What the hell are you doing out here?!" one of the men asked frantically.

"I'm here for you guys, how many are in the bar?" Rook asked.

"Thirteen including us, what do you plan to do?" the woman questioned.

"We round everyone up and pincer attack the peggies" Rook instructed.

"What are you kidding? We are outnumbered, there's no way he could get 'em all" the second man commented

"Your right, but when they see us boxing them in on both sides, they'll either surrender or run away" Rook offered as he quickly stole a glance over his shoulder, at the fire fight behind him.

"But if we stay here and do nothing, we will die, we need to do something" Rook cried.

"No way man, fuck that, that's a death sentence" the first man said.

"Standing around and hiding in the bar _is_ a death sentence Rook cried, getting annoyed at the trio's unwillingness to make a difference.

"The only way we're going to get out of this one is if we try, and I mean actually try, right now people are fighting for their lives right now to keep the peggies from kicking in all the doors and killing us all" Rook huffed.

"Then maybe we should just pick up and go, this place is fucked" the second man cried.

"No!" Rook barked, making the three of them flinch.

"People have died! Hell, people are dying, your neighbors, trying their best to keep their home safe, _your _homes safe, and you just want to bail on them?!" Rook cried.

The three of them stared at the frustrated Junior Deputy for a few seconds as they listened to the yelling and gunfire behind him.

"Guys… what if he's right?" The woman finally spoke, her voice timid and nervous.

The man who had stopped the woman from shooting Rook turned to her with a stern look.

"What no, Lisa we need to get the fu-" the man said before a chunk of the man's head just about exploded.

Rook, the other man and the woman all jumped away from the falling corpse in fear with scared helps, the woman screamed again as she hurriedly backpedaled even further away from the body, so much so that she fell onto her but, the shotgun skidded across the pavement

Rook knew exactly what happened, he has seen it before up close, it was that last sniper, in the time he spent telling them what to do, the sniper climbed back up onto the trucks roof and blew the man's brains out, Rook knew he should have paid more attention, but now it was to late, it was all just more blood on his hands.

"God damn it, son of a bitch, crap!" Rook barked to himself angrily as he smoothly and confidently raised his automatic rifle up over the barricade.

And sure enough, there was the sniper, lining up a shot on Rook himself. Before the sniper could fire, Rook fired a quick spray of bullets, the bullets in turn, quickly found their way into the sniper's chest, causing him to emit a death rattle before the rifle slide from his hands and fell off the truck's roof with a series of thuds.

"See, this is what I'm talking about!" Rook cried angrily, looking back to the man and woman, cowering by the bar's entrance.

"We stand around doing nothing, we die, listen to me, if we want to survive, for the town survive, you two need to get over the barricade and grab those sniper rifles and give them to someone competent in the bar!" Rook ordered.

"But what abo-" the woman tried to ask through hiccups and tears but was quickly cut off by Rook.

"All the peggies are in town, the rest are dead, you will be fine" Rook declared sternly.

"Please, go and get the guns before anyone else dies" Rook commanded, gesturing towards the barricade meters away from them.

The two people stared at Rook for a few seconds, fear and hesitation deep in their eyes, the woman still just about sat on the ground, looking up at the daunting sounding Junior Deputy as the man stood a few feet from her, knees shaking.

"Come on!" Rook hollered, hoping it would jump start the duo into action.

But upon doing so, it made the pair flinch yet again, the woman merely flinched but the man flinched then hurried over to the woman on the floor and bent down to grab her by the shoulders and helped her to her feet, once she found her footing, she stole a glance at the Junior Deputy before the two scurried over towards the roadblock.

With the duo out of the way, Rook turned his attention the bar before him, through the windows he could see the lights were all off, probably some attempt to dissuade a peggie from entering the establishment, regardless if the people inside wanted visitors or not, Rook quickly moved towards the front door and clasped the doorknob and lightly jiggled the door knob and found it was unlocked. Rook wasn't expecting it to be so with everything that was going on in town, regardless, he quickly twisted the knob, promptly pushed the door open and took one large step inside before pulling the door shut behind him.

As he came into the establishment, he could see the ten people including Mary herself the three outside spoke of, they all stood around the bar's interior, standing over tables, looking at something, guns and other objects clutched in hand, their eyes wide at the person who had sudden barged in like a herd of deer in a truck's headlights, they stood unmoving and silent as they were frozen in fear, probably thinking the worst, it was clear they were doing something other then hiding prior to Rook's arrival. Seconds ticked by everyone still remained frozen and silent as the grave, under different circumstances Rook would have felt a little anxious with so many eyes on him, but this was different, much different, Rook knew deep down he would have to handle what he was about to do just like how he handled the two outside, with a quick inhale, Rook took advantage of the relative silence and addressed the group.

"Already everyone, listen up! We got a golden opportunity, we can get the jump on the peggies and deal with them and chase 'em out of town, but our window of opportunity is small so we ain't got time for arguments or back talk, I'm only going to say this once folks, we gotta act now, seeing as your all armed this will make things a lot easier, we are all going to walk out there and walk right towards the peggies, I got to two people outside retrieving four sniper rifles and will be here any minute, with those and us on either end of them, it should help them make a decision faster as we are going to tell them to surrender, if they don't, we shoot, if they do anything other then surrender, we shoot… sound good?" Rook finished by bringing his hands together, looking at the people expectantly.

the group of people stared at Rook for a few seconds before they finally reanimated, but not in the way Rook wanted, the group broke out into a wave of scared muttering and scared doubting, upon hearing all of it, Rook let out a despairing sigh, the best chance of the town's survival hinged on Rook's ability to rally the troops, but it was clear he was failing, despite all that the gears in his head spun unrelentingly, desperate to come up with something, as he did, Mary finally broke from the group and walked up to him, with the look on her face, she most likely to talk to him about what he just proposed.

"Dep are you sure this is our best option" she asked, giving him a pained expression.

"Mary, it's real bad out there, a lot of dead people on both sides, I don't think they're here to drag anyone off, they're here for blood, Mary… there's people blow apart out there" Rook said in dismayed.

"Jesus" Mary muttered, her voice barely above a whisper, taking a small step away from Rook, her eyes downcast.

"They're all hiding in the spaces in between all the building, shooting at the few people fighting back pushed up against auto shop, the rest are in the church" Rook explained.

"We have to do something, the longer we waste here, the more people will die, we have to try something" Rook quietly begged her, shaking slightly.

"I don't know what to say Ben, I can't just force these people to fight, I don't think this passive approach won't work, if they're out for blood, then so should we" Mary suggested.

"Ok fine, let's say we go in guns blazing, will that help us get people out there?" Rook asked.

"Maybe, I don't know" Mary replied.

Rook cursed at Mary's response, as he did the door behind quickly creaked open and two people scurried in, it caused everyone save for Rook and Mary to lock up yet again, but everyone was able to calm down much faster then before as they realized it was two people Rook spoke of before, they came hurrying into the building, panting as they struggled to keep the two large sniper rifles in hand, they looked at Rook briefly before quickly moving deeper into the bar and placed the guns on a bare table.

After placing down the guns, they quickly rejoined the group of scared people and the quiet murmuring continued once more, leaving Rook to continue to appease Mary enough to help him rally everyone to save the town, as he did he could feel some sort of soft tugging sensation against his leg, curious to what could be causing said feeling he quickly looked down to discover the origin of the feeling was Boomer, he sat at his foot and gently pressing up against his leg as he looked up at the Junior Deputy, softly whining.

"Hey boy" Rook said gently as he reached down and softly patted Boomer's head.

The patting was enough to quell the soft whining coming from the canine, but still Boomer looked up at him with big wet eyes.

Rook could tell Boomer was scared as well, he didn't have to much experience with dogs but he could tell something was wrong, as Rook continued to pat and rub Boomer's head, he wished soothing the worries of those around him as easy as it was to ease Boomer's. he looked back up at Mary for a few seconds who returned his gaze with a worried look before he turned his view over to the group of worried people as they restlessly talked among each other trying to calculate what their best course of action would be, Rook could sympathize with their fear, he would run to if he was them, hell he'd run right now if there was no innocent people in town. With a dejected sigh he gently shook off Boomer and calmly walked around Mary and stepped towards the group of people. The gears still spinning in his head, fresh half ideas slowly building and connecting.

"Ok everyone listen I get it, your afraid, I don't blame you, I am too, but if we just sit around here then we really will die, we need to do something" he said, grabbing everyone's attention.

"I mean come on, in the time I've spent in the county one of the first things I learned was that it's people are proud, resilient and stubborn, so stubborn that they would rather stay and fight for their homes from cultists believing the end of the world is coming rather than just packing up and leaving, you all chose to stay, because this is your home, you stood up for what is yours, and that's why I'm here, I'm here to help keep what yours is yours, but I'm not a superman and I'm going to need a little help, I can't do this alone, that's why we need to fight, we need to push back and show Joseph and his band of weirdos that they can't just roll into someone's home and doing what he's pleases, this is your home not his, let's show him what happens what happens when you push Hope County!" Rook voiced, his confidence raising as he went on, he could see the shifting hesitation in a few people slowly begin to make up their minds, one way or the other.

"If we don't do anything then everyone outside is dying for nothing the people, we lost over these past few weeks will have died for nothing, the more we just hide out and do nothing the more the lost will have died in vain, we can't just let this go on, it will just give the peggies more reason to come in and do this more and more until nothing is left and they have won, we can't just give them the win just like that, if we, the people of Hope County are really going to lose this, why should we go out with a whimper, instead let's go with a defiant roar that says; we were here, he refused to move!" Rook cried before staring at the group anxiously, he wasn't sure if his words were resonating with anyone aside from stirring up their emotions.

The crowd looked at each other, Rook and Mary as the muttered and thought together, going over what the Junior Deputy had just said, as they did, Rook looked at Mary nervously who returned his nervous look as there was truly no other means of survival other than fighting and running away. After half a minute of indecisiveness, Rook anxiety and impatience's was coming to a head, the longer he stood around, not getting people to help the closer Jerome, Sharky and everyone else was closer to deal and it would be all his fault, he wanted to snap at the group of people yet again but he had a feeling that would do nothing, that just left Rook with the building frustration as he stared at the people around him, but then he heard a depressed sigh come from someone then, a single man with a rifle stepped forward.

"What do you need me to do, Dep?" he asked, crestfallen.

"We go right up to the peggies and shoot as many as we can" Rook replied bluntly.

The man didn't say anything, he just stood there, trying to look brave but almost failing.

Rook looked at the clearly terrified man, he wanted to ask if anyone would join them but felt like it would be pointless.

But his doubts were quickly dashed as another man stepped forward and stood next to the first man.

"Reporting for duty, Deputy" the man said, his composure like the man next to him.

"Thank you" Rook muttered nodding at the man.

Then a woman stepped up next to the two men.

"You really think we can win this?" she asked timidly.

"Only if we act fast and work together" Rook replied.

"If we can survive up to now, I'm sure we can get more win, right?" she asked.

"Hold on to those positive thoughts" Rook nodded.

As Rook spoke to the woman, he could see out of the corner of his eye he could see four people move across the room, his flicked up to track them and saw that the four people had walked right up to the table with the sniper rifles laying on it and promptly picked up the firearms, one or two of them ejected the magazine inserted into the gun and checked how much ammo was inside before loading it back into the gun, trying to put on brave faces. Then one of them and looked directly at Rook and gave him a small nod, Rook promptly returned the nod

"Well I guess that's it then, eight people, that might be enough to get the job done but who knows, I don't know how many peggies are out there" Rook said out loud.

As he did, he heard some kind of grunt come from Mary May who still stood next to him as she glared at the four people who still refused to partake in the attempt to save the town.

"Come on you chickens, the Deputy here puts himself one the line everyday so we don't have to, even now he got the lights on and was just fighting with that nasty gash and stitch job in him, so if he does it for us, I'm sure we can do it for him, we can't rely on him for everything!" Mary suddenly jeered.

"Jes- Mary come on, if they don't want to fight, we can't make them, as much as it would hep.

"Still, you can't just go out there!" Mary scolded as she turned to face Rook.

"It's dangerous out there, I don't want you getting even more hurt" She cried.

"Someone's going to get hurt regardless" Rook admitted.

"But you shouldn't be doing this, your already wounded as is, you need to say here!" Mary pleaded.

"Mary… we both know I can't just sit around and do nothing" Rook said gently before turning to the four remaining people, shame ridden on their faces.

"I can't make you fight, it's up too you if you want make a difference" he said.

Upon saying that one of the four remaining people began fidgeting relentlessly in was obvious he was being consumed by inner turmoil, after a few moments of silent panic he jump forward frantically.

"Fuck it, fine I'm in, let's do it, fuck!" he cried as he fell scampered up the three people in front of Rook.

"Thank you, I know this isn't easy for you, but every person counts" Rook offered.

The man didn't respond, he just quietly gasped and shook, still scared. Rook watched the man for a few seconds, he wasn't sure if the man would be a liability or not, as he watched the man, the last three people walked right up and joined the lineup of scared people.

"Fuck it, like you said, let's die with a roar then a whimper" one of the sighed despondently.

Rook was surprised that everyone had finally decided to join the fight, better late then never, but Rook had a feeling he'd regret thinking that when the body count was tally up.

"Thank you… everyone" Rook muttered as he stared at the twelve people, all armed with various guns, stood at the ready, all clearly terrified but ready to fight for their home.

"OK… plan is still the same, we go out and pincer attack them" Rook said.

His plan earned a few groans and mumbles from the group.

Rook made a similar noise himself, as much as he pushed for the plan, he wasn't feeling to excited about the whole thing.

"Alright then, let's get going" Rook ordered before turning to Mary May.

"Stay here Mary, we'll take care of this" Rook said, turning back to Mary.

"Yeah… sure" Mary muttered as she stared at Rook.

Rook nodded before he turned away from her and head for the door he was stopped, Mary had reached out and grabbed his arm and gently pulled him back, Rook stopped and turned back to the woman, curious to what she could need.

"Please… come back safe ok… for me?" she practically begged the Junior Deputy, as she stared at him desperately, a look Rook rarely saw on the woman.

"I'll be back before you know it" Rook said gently trying to reassure the woman.

"Yeah" Mary replied softly with a nod before slowly letting him go while trying to put on a brave face.

Rook gave her silent nod before turning back to the front door and slowly moved towards it, as he did he could hear the footfalls of all the people behind him, reluctantly ready to join him in the fight, as he approached the door, he could feel Boomer push up against him yet again, he looked down at the dog again to see this time he wasn't whimpering, instead he looked up at Rook calmly and ready for anything, Rook reached down and scratched the top of his head.

"We got this boy, don't worry just stay close to me" Rook said gently.

He walked towards the door, the fragment of the town's population behind him as he got closer to the door, he could hear the gunshots and screaming that was coming from outside. Rook steeled himself and reached for the door handle, as he did he could hear more scared murmurs from behind him, Rook silently prayed for them, he knew not everyone was not going to survive, all he could do was hope some of them did, and with one final breath, the Junior Deputy held as breath as he grabbed the door handle and wrenched open the door before storming outside, the resistance in tow.


	31. Chapter 31

The second Rook stepped outside, he regretted it.

The landscape was just as bad as he expected, the peggies slowly began pushing out of the large gaps between the buildings and tried their best to get the angle on the few resistance members that cowered behind a bullet riddled truck that sat directly next to the auto shop garage shutter door, they were trying their best to repel the peggies that were trying to come in from all angles. Rook didn't need to look twice to know they were all going to die soon if he didn't step in.

As Rook stepped away from the bar's entrance and onto the road in front, the twelve resistance members stepped out single file through the doorway as Boomer threaded around them, trying to catch up to the Junior Deputy. When the resistance members stepped outside they also took in what was happening around them and saw the state their town was in, they saw the countless bullet holes lining almost every building, the many corpses and bullet casings scattered the road, the dismembered and splattered bodies from the explosives, the yelling and screaming from both side of the fight.

It was like a war zone; it _was_ a war zone.

Rook quickly glanced back to make sure no one was daring enough to try to run away or do anything that might jeopardize themselves or the group, but to his relative surprise no one did, instead Rook witnessed the team take in the horror and disgust around them, in those few seconds Rook glanced behind him he saw twelve people either gasp, gag, vomit, fight back tears, stagger in some capacity or some combination of those actions.

A part of Rook's mind was surprised by their actions, he was almost confused to why they were reacting so strongly but then he remembered he had become used to this kind of thing, he had been looking at things like this ever since he had arrived to this god forsaken county, he endured it all in those first few weeks so the townsfolk didn't have to, and when he left for the Henbane, the resistance on the edges of their reach did all the fighting, the town was the brain of the regional operation, they hadn't seen any action since the night Joseph declared war. He wanted to say something to them, but whatever came to mind didn't feel right, as he briefly pondered it, he felt Boomer press up against him again, he looked down to see the dog leaning up against him as he stared intently at the firefight down the road, his ears standing straight up and motionless as a painting, a low growl emitted from the hound.

"Alright boy, let's get to work huh, you think you can be a good boy and get the bad men?" Rook said to the dog as he reached down and scratched his head.

The scratching elected a hum of enjoyment from the dog, before falling silent, this time no low growling followed.

Rook eyed the peggies again to make sure no one had noticed him and the people behind him, and sure enough the peggies were too preoccupied by the firefight they were currently in, the two groups had separated even further then they had before, the group that was once on the far side of the road, the group he had cut down with the fifty caliber gun had scattered to the side of the general store, the farthest side of where Jerome and company once hid, on the other side of the road, further into town, the other, larger group of peggie were pressed up against the side of the auto shop, as they tried to move along the wall, they stumbled on the plethora of bodies Jess made as she sat on the edge of the roof, it didn't help that there was a healthy pile of bodies building on the edge of the building that connected to the front of the building and faced the truck the resistance hid behind, a few of them had an arrow sticking out of them. That obliviousness was exactly what they needed to win this fight, as ready as he would ever be, Rook turned back to the traumatized people behind him.

"Ok everyone, here's the game plan, we stay spread out and keep each other covered!" Rook ordered, trying to give the people something to take their minds off the horror in front of them.

They all made some sort of conformation, be it a noise or a nod.

"Alright, stay low and follow my lead" Rook ordered as he turned back around and walked around Boomer before slouching down slightly.

With that Rook slowly moved down the road towards the peggies pushed up against the general store, some may have seen it as bad move, but he disagreed, outnumbered or not, they had the drop on the peggies, and when he and his troupe opened fire, bodies would drop and cover would be blown and those who take notice would most likely shoot at them, at that point they would need cover, the only cover available would be the general store they just cleared out. It was their only option really, and Rook was reluctantly ready to take that risk, there made to be thirty of them, maybe forty, any possible advantage was greatly welcomed.

As he quickly crept down the road, he kept his rifle firmly trained on a few peggies against the store wall, Boomer who crept along with him, he kept himself low to the ground and growled lightly as they drew closer, the Junior Deputy would occasionally steal a cursory peek at his team mates who trailed behind him, and he saw they were true to their word, they had slowly followed behind him, all the while they spread along the road, at various distances from each other, guns pointed forward at the ready, still clearly scared. The four people who carried the sniper rifles hung back a dozen meters, keeping an eye on everything from their scopes.

* * *

Quickly moving down the middle of the road, eight people scattered along his left and right, canine companion at his side, Rook stood parallel to the wall of the residential across from the general store, he brought a hand up to signal everyone to stop, and sure enough the resistance members stopped on a dime, and guns pointed directly at those who his behind the general store, Rook carefully studied the enemy for a few seconds before concluding they were truly unaware of their presence, and with that, Rook dropped his hand down in front on him in a chopping motion.

And as soon as he did gunshots boomed from either side of the Junior Deputy, his cohorts opened fire on the peggies, the peggies themselves were completely unaware of what was happening in those first few seconds but they caught on quickly, they were being ambushed.

Surprised and unsure of what to do, they fled from the general store in any direction they could and desperately ran to cover, for some reason a few tried to make it to the residential building on the other side of the large gap they were hiding in, very close to where they were being shot from, the majority ran towards the back end of the building.

Those who tries to make it to the residential building were obviously gunned down and there was no cover for them at any point, those who ran for the back end of the store made it for the most part, the majority successfully made it, the few stragglers were either shot down or were about to be.

As Rook and his troupe terminated the cultist who ran from them, they were unaware of one Peggie, a shirtless man with a shotgun who had sudden sprinted at Rook and his team, bellowing some war cry as he ran, most likely an attempt to buy his allies time to escape as he threw his life away, but the poor soul was so focused on all the threats in front of him and wary of them auto shop behind him, he was completely unaware of the dog that also charged like a hunting dog at a rabbit.

As Boomer closed in on a shirtless man, he finally noticed the charging canine, it was to late. Before he could raise his shotgun at Boomer, the dog jumped up at the peggie and bit down on an arm that supported the barrel of his gun and swiftly pulled the man down, the peggie tried to kick and squirm away from the vicious animal as he fell down but all that did was make him fall onto his back, that was all Boomer needed to finish the job, the second the peggie's back hit the ground, Boomer released the arm and clambered onto the man's torso and began trying to bite the man's face area, all this caused this caused the man to begin screaming out of raw fear as he released the gun from his grasp and brought his arms up in an attempt to push the hound off his person, he had expected many things going into the town this evening, being brought to the ground by a dog was not one of them. But after a few moments of struggling, the dog finally overpowered him, and Boomer sunk his teeth into his neck and pulled.

When Boomer was done, he climbed off the dead man and galloped back towards Rook who still shot at the few stragglers who couldn't make it to the back of the store in time, leaving him with the side of the store staring back at him.

When the faithful canine companion arrived at Rook's feet, the Junior Deputy couldn't help take his eyes off the wall and look at the panting dog. Seeing Boomer with his name soaked in blood, he couldn't help but be reminded of an adventure with Nick and Hurk that involved a red wolf, it felt like a lifetime ago.

"Good boy, very good boy" Rook praised the dog before looking back up at the general store and slowly approached it, giving his troupe the signal to follow.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air, and you won't be harmed!" Rook commanded loudly as he inched closer to the general store's side, gun trained on the back corner.

His ordered elicited no response, only gunfire and yelling from across the street could be heard.

"This is your first and only warning!" Rook declared as he crept ever closer to the store, stepping over a few bodies of the peggies who tried to run for the residential building.

But still the peggies hiding behind the store remained silent, Rook wasn't sure if they could hear him in the first place

The Junior Deputy and his team slowly moved in towards the general store, moving in with a large arc and wide birth to keep anyone from jumping out at them, Rook obviously lead the charge as the rest hung back at his five O'clock, eyes anxiously darting from store to auto shop, the four sniper still hung back by the residential building, two of them kept their rifles trained on the store's rear, and the other two kept an eye on the peggies at the auto shop.

It was fairly obvious the peggies were going to try something desperate as they had nowhere to go other than run away from town or loop around the building, there was twenty-ish of them after all, at least one of them had to have had problem with getting ambushed like the just were, and by the accursed Junior Deputy no less, it was like a slap in the face, and Rook himself anticipated the blow back. Rook looked over his shoulder to see his teammate feet five feet away from him, staring at the corner, sweating bullets, Rook gaze him a nod that he didn't see and began pushing forward again.

"If I see anyone holding guns, I'll shoot them!" Rook loudly declared again.

But somehow, someway it didn't matter, with twenty feet in between him and the corner of the store, Rook was about to become parallel with the store's rear, a hand quickly poked out for a few seconds, barely a glimpse in Rook's eyes as he was to distracted by what the hand had done, the hand had overhand threw a small round object, Rook had been in this very scenario more then enough times to know what was thrown.

"Grenade!" he shouted as he backpedaled as hard as he could while holding an arm back instinctively, trying to push back someone who wasn't there.

A few people cried in fear as Rook's eyes were firmly locked onto the grenade as it was sailing through the air towards him, his mind spun like wind turbine, the grenade was thrown directly at him and was most likely going to land right in front of him, this wouldn't have been a big deal if he had some sort of sufficient cover to protect himself with but he was standing in an empty grassy lot with nothing around him other then his teammates.

The second the grenade hit the ground ten feet away from Rook he was knocked to the ground, landing on his back, he wasn't knocked over by the blast of the grenade, but by something more physical, something warm and moist, it pushed him to the ground and pinned him there, blocking his sight and weighing him down.

Then the grenade exploded, despite it being a standard fragmentation grenade, Rook still felt the vibrations through the ground and traveling up his spine, the thing on top of him jerked slightly before any tautness in it dissipated, then gunfire rang out, not from the auto shop, it sounded mere meters away from him, it sounded like the people he came out here with had opened fire on something then the pops of sniper rifles sounded, Rook swore as yet again his inaction was most likely costing him.

With one large push, he heaved the thing off him, and it flopped over to his side, leaving him looking up at the thousands and thousands of stars that covered the night sky, catching his breath, Rook carefully sat up and looked over to what had suddenly bowled him over, but doing so made it hard for him to breath.

It was the guy who was having the breakdown when he volunteered to come out here with him, blood pooling out from underneath him, Rook's mind pieced together that the man had pushed him to the ground and used his own body as a shield to the grenade.

Rook couldn't help but stare down at the dead man, it made his skin crawl and blood freeze to know someone just through their life away for him like that, no words spoken, no signal, no anything, just the loss of life.

"Shit! shit! shit!" Rook cried in fear as he pushed himself away from the corpse with hands and feet, still staring at the corpse, pushing himself away from the store.

"Deputy get up!" he heard a voice yell.

Rook looked forward to see what was probably causing the abrupt firefight, and sure enough, six peggies came running out from behind the store, various guns in hand and yelling wildly, stepping over a few bodies that had not been there moments before. Scared to see the men and woman running out at them so brazenly like that, Rook instinctively reached out for his rifle that was knocked from his grip when he was tackled, he patting the ground for it as his eyes were locked on the people coming from around the corner for a few seconds only to realize it was not near him, before he could scan the ground around him for his gun, hands suddenly clamped down on Rook's upper arms, causing him to gasp and jerk forward, trying to escape for the grabber.

But the person tightened his grip on the Junior Deputy and pulled him back.

"Easy! Easy! Easy! It's just me!" A voice came as its owner pulled at Rook again, this time trying to lift upwards onto his feet.

As Rook tried to rise on uneasy, shaking legs, he tilted his head back to see who was pulling it up. For some reason it surprised him to see it was, yet another teammate had come to help him, another man had charged in and tried to pull him out as peggies were finally fighting back.

"We got more peggies commin'!" Rook's savior yelled as he jostled the automatic rifle that loosely from his shoulder.

Rook looked forward again, and saw a few more peggies run out, stepping over the previous six who were dropped the snipers and others with them, but as the new wave of peggies came out, one with a shotgun immediately spotted the man struggling to help the Junior Deputy onto his quaking feet, and charged at the two men.

"A little help over here!" he cried desperately evidently terrified that a man with a shotgun was running at him.

Rook too, was also afraid, panting heavily, he practically stomped on the ground with drooping legs, trying to find balance, as the man holding him up pulled him away as quick as he could trying to keep him supported. As he did this, he could feel an odd sensation, a cold presence pressed against the small of his back, confused to what it could possibly.

Rook's mind whirled to figure out what it was, did he get hit by a piece of shrapnel from the grenade and the cold was the blood?

It would justify the lack of lower motor functions as he would be in shock again and wounded more so, but then again, his body still moved with the same fluidity as before, so injury was quickly ruled out, his mind continued to churn as his legs were finally coming back to them. He watched the peggie charge him and listened to the man holding him up yell and beg for someone to take care of the charging man, but the others and the snipers were to busy dealing with the other peggies the swarmed from the store's rear.

As all this happened, Rook's mind finally clicked into place and his mind roared that the cold was the cold metal of the revolver tucked within his waistband, with a single gasp, Rook pulled against his ally's grip and ripped the revolver from his waistband and raised it to the peggie and fired until the gun clicked empty, the first shot sunk into the peggies chest, causing him to trip forward and slam face first into the ground, despite that, Rook fired twice more before the gun clicked empty.

Rook watched the now fallen body, the smell of gunpowder smoked from the barrel of his gun, but movement at the top of his vision drew his attention, he looked up to see another wave of peggies come running around the corner, hollering and shooting as they did, trying to make themselves more threatening then they really were. Feeling his arms feeling normal again, he quickly rose to his full height, causing the man directly behind him to release him, then in one fluid motion, Rook dropped the revolver and rotated his torso towards the man and grabbed the automatic rifle that still hung from his shoulder via a vinyl strap and with one clean tug, pulled it right off his arm, relieving him of his firearm, then Rook quickly turn back around and faced forward again, back at the peggies advancing from the store, as they came around the corner, Rook and those still with firearms, sporadically fired upon the cultists who practically committed suicide just running around the corner, yelling and trying to shoot at whatever moved.

But after dealing with third wave of cultists, nothing came, Rook wanted to believe that was it, but a larger part of him assumed that there was still more, he paused for a few seconds and assessed his surroundings before bring up his hand that supported the barrel of his borrowed gun and flicked two fingers towards the corner of the store.

"Keep the pressure on them!" Rook ordered over the ever-present gunfire across the street.

Then he sped forward, breaking into a jog and pressed onward to the store and hoped his allies had the same sentiment.

The second Rook breached the backside of the store, he raised his gun, a few seconds later a second gun barrel poked up parallel to him, a second person had stood next to him, they were lightly panting, by their panting, Rook could deduce it was a woman.

Despite the darkness of night setting in, both Rook and the woman could plainly see the backdoor of the general store was pulled open, the door hinges extended all the way and the door touched the wall it was bolted too, interior lights dimly light the door frame, Boomer stared into the doorway, growling insistently.

"Shit are they in there?" the woman next to him asked nervously.

"They're in there somewhere" Rook replied bluntly before spinning around and jogged back the way he came.

As he jogged back, he passed by his teammates who had moved in closer to them, looking confused to what was going on, as he passed the man whose gun was borrowed from, Rook pushed the gun back into his hands and carried on past him and towards one of the freshly downed cultist corpses. And with a stifled grunt, he quickly bent down and grabbed a gun that was unfamiliar to him off one of the bodies, it looked like a AK-47 but looked different, the whole gun was tinted black and looked sleeker then what he was accustomed too, he wasn't sure what it was called, but a small voice in the back of his head said he had seen and heard it in passing from some town locals a time ago; a AK-M.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen" Rook said, checking the magazine before reinserting it back into the gun.

"I'm going in there and dealing what's left of them, everyone else find a position to ambush the guys by the auto shop" he continued as he stormed back over to the store's rear entrance.

"Any questions?" he finished, stopping next to the door, looking over the eleven people who tensely stood by the store's wall.

"Are you sure we can still do this?" A woman asked nervously.

"We ain't got any other options" Rook replied before swiftly turning and stepped into the general store.

As soon as he did, he found himself in a very small room, in front of him was another door, a wooden one and kicked open, it clearly lead into the store proper as Rook could see a few shelves lined with goods. To his immediate right was a dimly lit staircase that led upwards to the second floor where the store's owner rented out the two room.

A quick glance up said stairs revealed another wooden door, this one not kicked opened and completely undisturbed, untouched. It was fairly obvious that the survivors were in the store but one could never be to careful.

The Junior Deputy slowly approached the second door frame, staying close to the wall it was attached too, he strained his ears for anything to denote anyone in his immediate proximity, and sure enough he could hear something, under the gunfire he could hear the sounds of items being rummaged through.

"Come on, there has to be something here that has to help us" a hushed but scared voice said.

"There has to be, this is like the only store that sells stuff other then beer" another slightly louder voice said, sounding just as scared.

"Shhh, keep your voices down, sinners are all around us" a third voice said, also scared.

That was all Rook needed to hear, he tightened his grip on his newly acquired gun steeled himself, then in one sweeping motion, he stepped through the door frame and raised his gun at the first person he saw.

"Freeze, no one move!" He ordered fiercely.

And they did just that, the second Rook said that as he came around the corner, he could see three people horribly flinch then stiffen, then raising their hands above their heads.

As Rook came around the corner, he could see the intruders now as pale florescent light shone down on them.

It was two men and a woman, all of various ages and ethnicities, staring at Rook like he was the devil himself, as they stood in front of the shelves .

"Get on your knees, hands behind your heads!" He demanded as he flicked his gun from one person to the other.

But none of them moved, they kept giving him the same look as when he entered.

"I'm not going to ask again!" Rook ordered.

The three were still unmoving for a moment before the left most man slowly began lowering himself onto his knees, watching him intently Rook kept his gun trained on him.

"Let's not do anything hasty now" the man on the far right said.

"On your knees, final warning!" Rook barked his eyes flicked over to the woman in between the two men and the man to her left.

But in that moment of misdirection was all the peggies needed, as if they had planned for it, the second the Junior Deputy's eyes drifted off the slowly kneeling man, the man pushed off his crouching stance and used the moment to sprint at Rook, but the sudden movement pulled his attention back to him. The store's interior was small, but not small enough, if Rook didn't have his rifle trained on the charging man from the get-go, perhaps things would have gone differently. With a quick pull of the trigger, Rook fired his gun and a moment later the rushing man fell, blood pooling out of him and staining the tiled floor.

As the man slightly slid across the floor, the woman turned to a shelf, feet away and practically dove for it, reaching out for something as the man turned and ran towards his friends by the auto shop screaming bloody murder. Not wanting to risk any more threats, Rook trained his gun on the woman who threw herself across the store and fired, dropping her just quick as the first man.

Rook raised his rifle to the running man, but before he could fire, the man started stumbling horribly as was about to reach what was left of the front store windows, his yells were replaced with this odd gargling noise, arms flailing for something to grab onto. As he stumbled and flailed, he staggered forward and his extended arm hit what was left of the store's window panes, he hit it with his left elbow but it still caused him to lose his balance, making him fall forward onto his right shoulder, making him practically spin around as he fell and landed on his back, as the man settled onto the ground, Rook could see the cause for the sudden and inexplicable turn of events; an arrow had embedded itself within the man's neck.

The direction of the arrow would suggest it came from across the street, where the intense fire fight was happening.

"What the?" Rook muttered to himself as he looked at the body and the auto shop a few times.

Then he heard a voice.

"You ok man?" it asked, coming from behind him.

"What?" Rook muttered as he quickly spun around to face the voice, gun raised and ready.

"Woah, woah, easy there, Dep!" the resistance member standing in the back-door door frame said, raising a hand to him, looking quite nervous.

"Oh uh, sorry" Rook said, lowering his gun.

"So now what?" the man asked.

"Is everyone in position?" Rook replied.

"Yeah, everything is good to go, we're just waiting on you" he said.

"Good, you get in position and wait for me to start firing, when I do make sure everyone else does too" Rook ordered.

"You got it" the man nodded before turning and departed from the door frame

Rook stared at the empty doorway for a few seconds before turning back to the front of the store and slowly approached it, stepping around the body and pooling blood, and positioned himself behind a large item self that stood in front of the front window to show off the store's stock, from there he could see across the street and the state of the auto shop.

He could see the few people behind the truck in front of the auto shop, the truck itself was absolutely riddled with bullet holes, it was so shot up it looked impossible if not a waste of time and resources to repair, he could also see a few bodies piled behind the truck, it was a few of the people who hid in the auto shop, with every minute Rook had wasted not dealing with that group of peggies, another person died, Rook forced himself to scan through the bodies to see if he recognized any of the fallen people. For better or for worse, he only recognized one of the several bodies as the burly man who had worked at the shop, a few bullet holes in his collar and torso, Rook let out a dejected sigh as he propped the barrel of the gun against the top of the shelf and aimed it at one of the peggies trying to shoot around the auto shop's corner, he trained it them for a few seconds before squeezing the trigger.

* * *

As soon as Rook squeezed the trigger his gun spat round after round into the group of peggies, dropping some of the enemies, after a few seconds of firing, none of the cultists seemed to notice what was happening, if any of them had indeed noticed what was going on, they most likely attributed it the auto shop team, but whatever they believed was about to change as the front of the general store gave a perfect vantage point on just where the peggies were hiding, and then, the rest of the Junior Deputy's team join in on shooting at the cultists, gunfire exploded from all sides from the store, cutting down many of the peggies, sniper rounds occasionally rang out. Only then did they finally realize something was up, they started yelling in fear and surprisal when they realized that their numbers were halved and dropping.

Unable to deal with both fronts, the peggies retreated from the auto shop and fired back at those in and around the general store.

As Rook vehemently fired back at the cornered cultist who had suddenly focused fired on, he noticed something truly odd, arrows were flying from his left peripheral and sailing towards the peggies, striking down one after another, with a single gasp Rook turned to his left. Hoping to see Jess, and sure enough, there she was, she way astonishingly feet away from him, in standing in the opposite window, hiding behind a shelf like he was, firing arrow after arrow. Shocked at her reappearance he couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds before a little bit of resentment rise about just abandoning him on the auto shop roof.

"Where the hell did you go!?" Rook yelled as he continued to shoot across the street.

"Seriously!? You wanna do this now!?" Jess loudly retorted.

"Yes, you just vanished from an active shootout!" Rook countered.

"Can we do this later, please!" Jess yelled back.

Rook didn't respond, he just grumbled under his breath. He was already enough stress as is the last thing he needed was to argue with the most short tempered woman he had ever met, it didn't help that he could see Sharky timidly wander out of the auto shop and towards the peggies, a few armed resistance members behind him.

"Oh god, Shark no" Rook grumbled angrily as he tried even harder to shoot the peggies, whatever the pyromaniac was doing, it was going to get himself killed.

But no matter how many cultists Rook, Jess and the other resistance members shot at, there was just too many to whittle away before Sharky could approach the bullet riddled truck.

Then, in one hand he held out a lighter in one hand, arm outstretched and what looked like some sort of metal can in his other, held close to his chest and pointed at the lighter.

"For freedom!" Sharky bellowed as he very fearfully stepped next to the truck, spraying hot flames over the vehicle.

A large plume of hot flames sprayed over the trucks hood and licked at the corner of the auto shop. From Rook's perspective, he could barely see the peggies through the flames, from what he could see, they were truly terrified.

It was clear they didn't know what to do, no matter where they hid they were being shot at, despite being cultist who would kill for their holy cause, they were still everyday people who were down on their luck, completely generic in very facet, no military or strategic training to speak of, the combination of having their numbers halved, being cornered on the side of a building and now it looked like a flamethrower was right around the corner, everything had gone so terribly wrong for them since they had begun their attack and they knew it, the mission was a failure, being the down on their luck nobodies, they did the only thing they knew how too; they ran away.

Those in the back of the group turned and ran, into the darkness and into the long stretches of barren land between the town and the nearest woods as those in front, did their best to keep the ones in the back as they ran.

And little by little, the group of peggies slowly diminished, be it from running away or from being shot and killed, and then more and more resistance members started to take notice of what they were doing and where they were going

Instead of chasing after them, they stay and cheered, cheered that they had finally won a big one over Joseph Seed himself.

As the peggies still retreated into the darkness, what was left of the resistance was still shouting and jeering at the fleeing peggies.

"Yeah, get the hell outta here!" one person cheered.

"Eat shit and die!" another yelled.

"Welcome to the thunder dome motherfuckers!" Sharky cried from behind the truck, waving the makeshift flamethrower in the air.

Still watching the peggies flee, Rook stepped around the shelf and stepped out into the street, the crunching of shattered glass beneath his feet. He looked around at the devastation and death in the town, then towards the shadowy figures running in the darkness in disbelief.

"Fuck, I guess we won" Jess shrugged, quietly walking up next to Rook, people cheering around them.

"Holy shit… we did it" Rook breathed still flabbergasted that they had actually done it.

Things were finally looking up for once, perhaps this was the turning point in the war.

That's when Rook heard it, a harsh buzzing noise in the distance, he knew almost instantly what it was.

It was the sound of an incoming plane.

"Oh no" Rook mutter in utter anguish, he had completely forgotten about how multiple planes flew around the Valley.

As the buzzing got louder and louder, Rook snapped into action.

"Everyone get to cover, airplane is coming, an airplane is coming!" he shouted as he ran towards the auto.

As he ran towards the auto shop screaming about the plane, a few of the still cheering people took noticed of what he was yelling about, they turned to ask him what was so important, but at that point they didn't need to ask, the plane was about to fly right over town at this point, to distracted by their victory, and ears to dulled from the large scale firefight, no one noticed the incoming plane, that was about to fly over town.

"Get to cover!" Rook shouted as the plane entered the edge of town.

And in an instant, everyone scattered, running to anything that could be used for cover, screaming about the plane that was coming.

Then the plane swooped down, it was one of those old world war two style planes with one big propeller on the front, the whole thing was painted the usual mayonnaise yellow the cult was so fond of, it flew low to the ground, starting at the bar's end of town and flew inwards, and as it did, it's pilot kept the plane's nose tilted down, then thunder exploded as it flew overhead, bullets rained down as the pilot tried to shoot up as many non Eden's Gate members as they could, the guns mounted to the aircraft boomed just like the fifty caliber gun Rook had used what felt like a long time ago, the bullets it spat bombarded all along the main road, causing asphalt chips to fly out from the road, as soon as the plane first started shooting, Rook could see resistance members still diving behind some sort of cover, Rook felt somewhat better that he was able to save someone, but now he needed to save himself.

Spending a copious amount of time in the county had taught Rook to quickly scan his environment and dictate what objects should and shouldn't be used for cover, since he ran towards the auto shop he was closer to it then the general store, meaning if he didn't want to be Swiss cheesed by the plane, he need to take cover there, seeing as the truck previously used for cover was already being used by Sharky and a few others, they curled up into little balls pressed up against the side of the truck, almost trying to get under the vehicle, he could not use it as well as it would draw to much attention, that only left the large metal shutter door of the auto shop, it had a small overhang, just enough to block his person from anyone above him.

"Screw it" Rook thought as he ran towards the closed metal door and threw himself against it.

The metal door shook as his weight hit it before falling still, as Rook pushed himself against the metal door, he could hear the plane fly over him, firing down at the road, damaging the road, but as quick as it came, it flew out of town, it was obvious it was going to come back around for another run, so in that time Rook needed to think of some miracle do stop the plane.

The gears in his mind spun relentlessly, hoping something would come to mind, but nothing of note came to mind, and it drove him crazy, he limply punched the shutter door as he grinded his teeth in frustration.

"Hey Boy scout!" he heard Jess shout.

Her voice snapped Rook out of his head and followed the voice, he followed it back to the general store where he could she the woman standing in the store's open door frame.

"What?!" Rook shouted back.

"The big fuckin' gun!" Jess yelled back pointing at the auto shop's roof, where the fifty-caliber gun was stationed.

Inspiration struck Rook as he stared at the woman for a few seconds before instinctively looked up then looked to his right, the shortest way around the building, then back at Jess.

"Ok, I'm going for it, keep your head down!" Rook shouted before pushing himself off the shutter and sprinted to the building's right.

"If you die, I'll fucking kill you!" he heard Jess yell as he rounded the corner and ran along the building's side.

As he did, he could hear the plane approaching the town again, the engine and propellers grew louder and louder before the machine gun started firing again, shooting up the main drag of town, this made Rook pick up the pace as with each pass the plane would make, more and more people would die, who knows how long the plane will go back and forth before they decided to leave.

When Rook made it to the ladder, he could hear the plane leaving town once, he felt it was perfect timing as this was his chance to make his move. He jumped up onto the ladder and scampered up the ladder as quick as he could as his side groaned in disagreement, with grunts and huffs, he flopped up onto the gravel layered roof, with a long inhale he pushed himself back up to his feet and ran to the gun, hopping over the dead bodies that surrounded it, he grabbed the handles of the gun and yanked it to the right, towards the bar and the buzz of the plane.

* * *

By now, the moon had risen quite high in the sky and the sky was proper dark, the plane that glided through the air would have been almost invisible if not for a red light the hung to the tips of it's wings, a safety feature that now put it in harms way, as it exited it's long arcing swing, the plane realigned with the town once more, the pilot lined up their shot on the scrambling little figures on the ground, ready to shred them apart. Little did they know as they lined up their shot, the Junior Deputy lined up his shot on them, Rook looked down the barrel of the long gun with one eye closed and baited breath, the plane flew at the town, closing the distance with tremendous speed.

The second the plane entered the town, Rook fired, he held down the trigger and didn't let go, and the gun fired explosion after explosion, as he did he yanked the gun to the left in time with the plane, he wasn't sure if he was even hitting the damned thing, as he tried to stare down the plane to assess his accuracy, he could see sparks shoot off the side of the hull, he could only assume it was bullets plinking off the hull. As bullets slammed into the hull, the plane suddenly stopped firing and jerked upwards before banking off to the right and flew right out of town.

Rook felt stunned for some reason that actually worked as well as it did, he couldn't believe that worked let alone was able to hit the damned thing, but the ever-present noise of the plane pulled his attention back to the task at hand. In the distance he could see two red lights gliding in the distance, they swiftly yet lazily coasted around in a concentric arc, back before heading towards the town.

"Ok, ok, I can do this" Rook breathed to himself as he steadied the large gun, pointing it at the oncoming plane.

As the plane drew closer and closer, a few hundred feet from the town and closing fast, Rook did his best to line up the barrel of the gun again and accounted for wind and bullet drop, he was about to fire at the bee lining plane, but before he even could, then the plane fired first, a hail of bullets rained down around the gravel roofing all around him, launching the gravel in every direction. Rook knew in heart he couldn't just abandon the gun no matter how scared he was or how close he was to getting hit. He shoved that gut-wrenching fear deep down within himself and squeezed the trigger again, shooting another payload of bullets at the approaching plane. This time his accuracy wasn't as good as the last time, the majority of the bullets flew right by the aircraft, only a small portion clanged off the hull, he wasn't sure if any of them were penetrating, but he did know he had to try.

And the Junior Deputy and the pilot entered a deadly game of chicken, neither person could get one clean shot on the other, the angle and speed the plane flew at made it difficult to hit Rook, and it didn't help that it was to dark to get a clear look at the roof, still the two shot at each other, bullets slamming into the roof and plane, a crooked stalemate, neither could do anything meaningful as the plane closed the gap to the auto shop and flew over it.

As it did, the air force pushed Rook back due to the sheer force of air velocity, as the aircraft sailed over Rook's head and into the darkness yet again, Rook swung the gun around and faced the opposite direction, ready for more and panting heavily, he was terrified how close he was to getting hit over and over again, he was terrified he was about to get shot over and over again.

But again, he pushed that cold, numbing dread deep down within himself and focused on the plane in the distance, he could see the plane slowly beginning to turn again, coming back around towards the town, but this time instead of waiting for the plane to get close, Rook just started firing away, the fifty caliber rattled off with a thunderous boom. The sudden firing must have spooked the pilot as they evened out from circling around, they noticed the bullets came flying at them, pinging off their plane and began diving and rising, trying to avoid the hails of high caliber rounds, but despite the maneuvers the pilot preformed. It appeared it wasn't enough, by the looks of things, it looked like he was getting more and more consecutive hits on the aircraft.

Rook tried his absolute best to keep the gun on the aircraft as it waved up and down, trying to avoid the bullets, he wished it was day time, then he would have been able to see if the plane had occurred any damage. The plane continued to dive and soar as it closed in on the town, it was clear the pilot was trying to line up another shot but couldn't, all they could do was bob and weave until it closed the distance and right over the town again. As it flew right up to the town, it was low enough for the air force to push Rook back again, but his iron grip on the guns handles to keep him in place, with a frustrated grunt he spun the gun back around again, and continued firing at the plane's tail as it flew away, despite it being dark, Rook could see a shower of sparks rain down from what he was shooting at.

After a few seconds of shooting the plane, it whipped back around at a hairpin turn and came back around for the umpteenth time, this time, the pilot came back shooting, the plane fired an endless stream of bullets as it evened out and tried to focus on the Junior Deputy, bullets raining down all around him, some much closer to him then others, but still, Rook steeled himself and continued shooting at the plane.

As the plane drew ever closer again, instead of dodging and weaving in an attempt to maneuver around the bullets, the plane just bee lined at the Junior Deputy, bullets still raining down on him, still the pilot struggled to hit Rook in the darkness, all he had to go on was the infinite muzzle flash of the large gun. Rook focused the end of the barrel at the plane's front end, sinking as many bullets as he could in the engine space, and as the plane flew dangerously close to the bar, a loud boom could be heard, then the plane just stopped shooting all of a sudden, then a light appeared on the plane, not a light like on the wings or something the pilot was doing, it was a fire, the engine had caught a blaze, the plane then made a few unhealthy noises before the propellers cut out and died. The smoking, flaming aircraft sailed through, it was clear it was trying to pull up but the it just couldn't, it was just to damaged, the plane careened through the air as it just about fell towards the ground at an alarming speed, it sailed hundred and hundreds of feet away from the town and towards the empty stretches of land, then there was a distant boom and a bright fire was born in the distance, lighting a spot the dark field, the plane crashed and exploded.

Rook stared at the burning wreck in the distance, he watched it as he panted and heaved, it wasn't until then he realized just how tired, sweaty and sore he was, with a jaded sigh, he slowly began his decent back down the ground, he carefully stepped over the bodies, struggled his way down the ladder and around to the front of the auto shop shutter door.

"Alright, it's all clear, you can come out now!" Rook hollered as he banged on the shutter.

After a few seconds, the shutter slowly creaked open, and a few people, Jerome included stepped out.

"Really, it's really over?" Jerome asked tentatively, eyeing Rook.

"Yeah it is, hey if it's cool with you I'm going to call it a night" Rook said as he looked around the town, examining the damage and all the bodies.

As he scanned the area, he could hear those inside murmur to each other in apparent disbelief that the assault was over, it wasn't long until it broke down to cheers and tears of joy. As Rook stared at the bar down the street, Jess jogged up to him, Boomer in tow.

"Shit dude that was intense, are you ok?" she asked, wide eyed as she came up to him.

"Yeah, I just wanna let the people in the bar know we won then I'm gonna head home" Rook repeated as Boomer walked right up to him.

Rook silent petted the dog before looking back up at his friend.

"Uh, yeah man, you deserve it, take a break" Jess offered awkwardly, unsure how to proceed after watching a man who refuses to say the word _fuck _but would willingly go toe to toe with a armed attack plane.

"Ok cool, give me a shout if the peggies show back up again or something" Rook exhaled before stepping around the canine and dragged his feet over towards the bar.

Rook slowly walked down the street, stepping over the bodies and blast holes in the road and made his way up to the bar's front door.

"Hey, we won, you can come out now" Rook hollered as he banged on the door.

Almost instantly, the door flung open, almost hitting Rook, and Mary came storming out, gun in hand, she looked ready to shoot someone, but her eye softened as she looked at Rook.

"Holy shit, Ben?" she gasped.

"Yeah me… I'm still alive and so is the town, we did the thing" Rook replied bluntly, he couldn't help but feel more and more run down with each passing minute.

He needed to sleep.

Mary looked around the town from where she stood and took in all the death and destruction.

"Holy shit, Ben!" She gasped again, this time for a different reason.

"Yeah, I know" Rook sighed, hanging his head

"This is just like the first fight you broke up way back when" Mary said, trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah, no kidding" Rook sighed.

"So uh, Jerome and a bunch of people are in the auto shop, a bunch more are in the church apparently, so listen, I'm going to take a nap, I'll help fix the place in the morning" Rook stated.

By the look on Mary's face, she wasn't listening, she was too absorbed in the bloodshed and ruin that overtook her town.

"Uh, yeah, sounds good, I'll coordinate with them, we need to fix this place" Mary said before hurrying to the auto shop.

Rook watched her almost run to the auto shop next door, towards the group of people outside. Now that the assault on the town was over, more and more scared people came crawling out of their hiding spots, the few people in the auto shop came out and cheered, the many people in the church came out and saw the state of the town, but after that, people met up with those they cared about and celebrated their survival in some way, Rook could even see his friends moving around main street. He could see Sharky doing some dumb looking jig with a big smile on his face, in an attempt to celebrate still being alive, Jerome was trying to coordinate with Mary and the few other people who weren't, crying tears of joy, mourning the dead, trying to salvage something or hugging someone else, Boomer sat in the road, scratching his ear with his hind leg incessantly, he could see Jess hovering around the ruins of the general store, most likely trying to figure out a way to loot the place without being noticed. Rook couldn't help but smile, even just a small one, for some reason it just felt like there was still some semblance of normality within the town.

But then all of that was whisked away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mister Pracker, town grump, stomping his way over to him, an angry look in his eye, before rook could say or do anything, Pracker stopped a few feet away from him.

"What the hell is all this!" he said in disgust, spreading his arms.

"The effects of war" Rook replied bluntly.

"How am I supposed to get any of my business down around here, how am I supposed to take care of myself when the town is looking like this?!" Mr. Pracker whined in anger.

"People are dead! Your neighbors are dead, and your still worried about yourself?!" Rook barked, stunned and disgusted at the sheer gull of the man.

How dare this man whine and complain about his well-being while looking at the dead resistance members that scattered the town like garbage after a windstorm.

"Well yes I am" he replied angrily.

"I hardly see how any of this is my fault, I didn't tell these idiots to get themselves killed, if we all just stayed indoors, we would have been fine" Mr. Pracker argued.

"These idiots died keeping people like you safe!" Rook yelled angrily as he stuck a finger in the man's face.

"I can do that just fine on my own thank you very much" Mr. Pracker spat as he swatted the hand out of his face.

"Then why weren't you out here fighting" Rook yelled, taking a challenging step towards the man.

"I don't want to, I don't give a damn about some cult or the end of the world, just let me be and I'll be fine!" the man yelled.

"Oh yeah! Well then how about you and me g-" yelled but was cut off by another voice.

"Hey!" the voice yelled.

Both men looked away from each other and at the voice's owner, it was Jess, she stood there, meters away from them, glaring at the man Rook was yelling at.

"Is everything ok here?" she asked coldly.

"Everything is fine" Rook declared loudly as he walked past them man and towards his house and subsequently Jess, as he passed Pracker, he shoved with his shoulder.

As he walked past him, he could hear Pracker going on and on about how rude he was, but Rook didn't care, Pracker was an asshole, he didn't care about anyone here but himself. As he continued down the road, he passed Jess who joined his side as he passed.

"You good?" she asked again.

"I'm fine" Rook growled.

"Just tired" he continued.

"Don't worry about that dickhead, he's a fuck, just head home and take nap, I'll loot the bodies and see if I can find anything good" Jess offered.

"Yeah sure, do your thing" Rook replied.

Jess didn't say anything, instead she tapered off from him and went off to do her own thing, leaving Rook by himself, he didn't really care if he was alone or not, all he wanted was to rest, his head hurt, he was cold, his stomach was in knots, and he was tired as all hell. Rook dragged himself up the street and turned left at the intersection and towards his house, he dragged his feet as he walked up the pathway to the front door and pushed it open.

The second he entered the house, his eyes darted to the couch in the living room to his right, screw the bed, the couch was closer.

As he wobbled over to the couch his walkie crackled to life.

"Deputy" John's voice seethed out, clearly gritting his teeth as he spoke.

If it was anyone else Rook would have told them to call back later, but John… John was different, he ordered the hit on the town, Rook practically ripped the walkie off his hip and brought it to his mouth.

"What the hell do you want!?" he spat.

"I wanted to inform you that I am very displeased with your actions" John growled in an attempt to restrain the depths of his anger.

"So many would be alive right now if you had only given yourself up and professed your sins" he continued.

"So many would be alive right now if you didn't order your men to shoot up a town of innocent people!" Rook argued.

"If they were truly innocent then I would have dealt with them personally, but it doesn't matter, after I'm through with you, I'll give the town the whole nine yards, baptism, confession and atonement" John said in this sneering tone that got under Rook's skin.

"That's not going to happen, you can't kill me, you're not allowed, you can't bring me down without an army!" Rook yelled.

"Then I guess I'll just have to keep sending more men until you see the error of your ways" John declared.

That's when Rook felt something warm bubble over inside of him.

"Fine, keep sending your men John, send as many as you like, I will kill them all!" he shouted into the walkie before clicking it off.

Rook stared at the walkie for a few seconds furiously as if it was John himself, then in a flash of anger, he threw the walkie talkie at the reclining chair on the other side of the room as hard as he could, it bounced against the fabric harmlessly, then he threw himself down onto the couch next to him, and within seconds, he was asleep.

* * *

**Howdy y'all, thank you so much for reading thus far, I apologize for the late update, as much as it sucks to say, from here on all chapters will be a little late as I am starting a new job and just can't produce chapters in the same allotted time. That being said, perhaps it's a good thing, for a little while now I have felt these last batch of chapters have been sliding in quality, so perhaps in the lengthened time between each chapter I can make something more enjoy able, but again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, the new schedule will either be every week and a half to two weeks, I will try to update when time allow.**

**Peace.**


	32. Chapter 32

Rook awoke with a start.

With a single gasp he quickly pushed himself off the couch's surface and sat up and looked around the room he was in.

As he wiped the drool off his chin, it all came back to him, the assault, coming back home, John taunting him, crashing on the couch.

As the grim events of last night played out in his mind, he couldn't help noticing there was a soft panting noise near him as if someone was out of breath.

Curious, he followed the noise to his feet, and somehow, It was Boomer, panting happily as he looked up at his master, somehow he had made it inside, Rook had no memory of letting him in or following him home.

"How'd you get here boy?" Rook asked softly as he scratched the dog's head.

Boomer purred in response to Rook's touch.

As Rook gave his ever loyal canine companion loving affection, a sharp creaking noise emitted from across the room, the Junior Deputy's head snapped towards the noise, and there he saw across the house, in the kitchen was someone in a familiar green jacket going up to each cabinet and drawer in the kitchen, opening it up, peering inside for a few seconds then closing it.

Rook wasn't sure Jess was doing, but if he knew her as well as he did, she was probably looking for something worth taking.

"Jess... Are you looting my house?" Rook asked from across the room, almost stunned she would do such a thing.

Upon speaking, Jess seemed to flinch, most likely surprised that she was caught doing whatever she was doing, she quickly spun around and faced the Junior Deputy sitting on the sofa.

"What no, I'd never do that, hey how you feeling, you slept for like, a long fuckin' time, Fairgrave and the Pastor next door came lookin' for you but I told them to fuck off, since you needed sleep from your rampage last night" she said quickly, as she almost jogged into the living room.

"Wait hold on, one step at a time, how did you get in here?" Rook asked, raising an open hand to her.

"For the cult's most wanted, you sure don't lock your doors" Jess responded.

"Ugh, of course" Rook scowled as he brought a hand up to his face.

That would also explain how Boomer got in, he probably saw Jess enter and chased after.

"Ok but what about Mary and Jerome?" Rook asked, removing the hand from his face.

"Every now and again one of em' or some redneck shows up here asking if your still alive or awake or whatever" Jess explained.

"Did they say what they wanted?" Rook asked.

"I think they want you to be around when they plan their shit" Jess replied.

"I take it you want in on that?" She sighed.

"Hell yeah I do, I'm not just going let get away with what he did" Rook said, his voice taking a more serious tone.

Then Rook stood up from the couch, with groans and popping joints he was able to rise, despite being sore all over.

"I'm going to get changed then I'm going to track down Mary or Jerome, we need an actual plan to stop John besides shoot up his guys" Rook said.

"Yeah, yeah, go do your thing, but you know me dude, fuck all that planning and thinking shit, just tell me where were going and who you need dead" Jess said almost a little to causally before moving towards the front door.

"I'll be behind the church makin' arrows, come grab me when we're ready to punch John in the dick" Jess said as she opened the front door and stepped out.

"Uh, yeah sure see you then" Rook said as he watched her leave, closing the door behind her.

the second the door clicked closed, Boomer looked up at the Junior Deputy who noticed the head movement and looked down at him.

"You here that boy, let's not keep her waiting for to long" Rook said before striding over to the bedroom.

He remembered seeing a few more shirts in the bedroom wardrobe.

* * *

After a quick change, Rook stepped out, feeling somewhat cleaner despite not bathing for who knows how long, but a fresh set of clothes went a long way, he wore a plain back tee shirt that said _Titan Force_ in a stylistic font with three shotgun shell beneath it, he was able to find decent fitting brown work pants and belt, he walked back to the living room and retrieved his rifle he had left forgotten on the floor and slung iy over his shoulder and holstered the walkie talkie he threw in the chair. After re-equipping himself, he whistled for Boomer who stood at attention, looking at the man.

"Come on boy, let's go" Rook waved, ushering the canine to the front door.

Boomer barked softly once before scurrying towards the front door and waited expectantly, tail wagging back and forth quickly.

"Ok, let's go" Rook said as he approached the front door and opened it.

Boomer barked again and lurched forward as Rook opened the front door and tried too squeezed through the small opening.

"Easy boy, slow down, we the outside isn't going anywhere" Rook offered as he pulled the door fully open.

Opening the door enough for the dog to get out, Boomer practically sprinted onto the front yard, then came to a dead stop and flopped over onto the grass before rolling around on the lawn. As Boomer had his fun, Rook stepped outside and closed the door behind him, this time making sure he locked the door behind him then walked down the path towards the sidewalk, as he past the dog, Boomer stopped rolling around and stood back up and ran after the Junior Deputy as they left the property and towards the only in town intersection.

As they rounded the intersection, he could properly see the main street of town, and to his surprise, it looked a lot better than it did last night. The broken-down vehicles that made up the roadblock at the far end of town was gone but gone was exaggeration as in reality the vehicles were simply pushed off the road and rested of the sides of the road outside of town. A few people were scattered up and down the road, sweeping up the few remaining bullet casings that littered the road, others poured what looked like buckets of gravel into the newly made divots in the road. In the distance, Rook could hear the hammering of nails, and power tools, people somewhere in town were doing their best to fix their town to a degree, speaking of fixing, Rook turned his attention to the general store, it probably got the worst of the damage. But the general store looked to be in much better shape then it was hours ago, the blow out windows were cleared of any shards that still clung to the frame and blue tarps were tied in place in the window frames acting as some barrier to keep the outside out, the front door had some basic work done on it, it looked sturdy enough to keep someone out.

As Rook and Boomer strolled down the street, they passed by the auto shop, which was obviously being repaired, a few people, mechanics included, banged on large sheets of scrap metal with hammers, firmly bolting them to window frames that used to hold the glass. Rook tried to walk past them quickly so he wouldn't bother them as they did their work.

One of the men who diligently hammered away on the scrap metal against the wall, he gave the metal one last swing, setting the last bolt into place and took a step back to admire his work, he brought a hand up and wiped the sweat off his brow, after a few seconds of marveling at his handiwork, he noticed someone walking past him down the sidewalk, curious he turned to see who it was, he hoped it wasn't someone coming to give him grief again. But to his surprise, it was the famed Junior Deputy, arisen from his abode and appeared to be in fine health after what happened last night, the man couldn't help but turn and greet him.

While Rook gave the people repairing the auto shop a wide birth, one of them turned to towards him, most likely to ask about his well-being, but quickly realized that the person was the ex-cultist that he, Jess and a few other had rescued weeks ago; he remembered his name was Charlie something-or-other. As Charlie turned to address him, Boomer couldn't help but let out a low growl.

"Oh thank god your ok, Chosen One" Charlie beamed as he faced the Junior Deputy.

Charlie's greeting made Rook mentally and physically pause for a second, for some reason he called him the Chosen One, it made him confused and a little creeped out that he would use such a title, but regardless, curiosity burned within him, for better or for worse, he turned to the former cultist.

"I'm sorry but did you just call me the Chosen One?" Rook asked, perplexed, and expecting the worst.

"Oh did I?" Charlie replied, rubbing the back of his neck, looking a little embarrassment.

"Sorry about that, it's a bit of a nickname some of us grunts gave you so to speak, we uh, sort of call you that because sometimes the Father makes it sound like that's what you really are, it's not so bad I guess, we're not allowed to kill you if we can help it" he said.

For some reason Charlie's answer was off-putting to Rook, he knew Joseph had to be several layers of crazy, but this was something special, the Father himself considered the guy who was waging war against everything he stood for the chosen one.

"Why does Joseph care about me that much? I'm like, the biggest problem for Eden's Gate" Rook asked.

"Well it's because the Father thinks your the one that will help us be fully prepared for the end of the world, he actually had another vision from God that convinced him you are needed, that's why John hasn't murdered you yet, the Father has forbid it" Charlie explained.

"But like, why though, that still doesn't answer my question" Rook asked again.

"It's because a few days after your arrival in the county, he had another vision for god, one of you" Charlie clarified.

"Do I dare ask what he saw?" Rook asked, sounding disinterested in the supposed vision from a much higher power.

"Now I will admit I didn't hear it word for word, I just got the basic rundown that was passed around to everyone that's not the upper echelon, but anyways what the Father saw was you, John, Jacob, Faith and himself, standing side by side, you are all looking at something, it makes you all smile, the Father couldn't see what you were all looking at or where you are but you are all wearing these clothes, basic looking tunics and dress made from animal furs or something like that, but the last thing the Father saw was you and Lady Faith holding hands" Charlie explained.

"I uh, I tried to tell Miss Fairgrave and Mister Jeffries, but neither seemed to care much, they just wanted things that would get the jump on Eden's Gate… sorry" Charlie shrugged awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well I don't blame them, he's not getting any visions from God or whatever, he's just a guy, a very crazy and charismatic guy who knows how to manipulate weak people…. Uh no offense" Rook said before realizing what brought Charlie to where he was now.

"It's fine… I don't blame you" the ex-cultist said awkwardly.

"So anyways, uh... How's the fix job on the town going?" Rook asked, trying to change the subject.

"S'going ok so far, it was kinda hard getting the materials but we found a few places, we uh, buried our guys behind the church, felt fitting enough, and we buried all the peggies in some big hole outta town, it was kinda hard moving the ones you chewed up with the big gun but we found some shovels and garbage bags" Charlie rambled on.

"Alright, thank you for catching me up" Rook said quickly, not wanting to hear the details of the body disposal.

"So uh, do you know where Mary or Jerome is?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure they're still in the bar, workin' on whatever" Charlie answered as he stuck a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the bar.

"Ah, ok thanks, uh, keep up the good work" Rook nodded before disengaging from the conversation and headed to the bar.

"Right, yeah, but again it's good to see you alive and well" Charlie said awkwardly before turning back to the wall and got back to work.

A low whistle from Rook made Boomer lose interest in Charlie and everyone around him and scampered after the Junior Deputy. What Charlie told him about Joseph's so-called vision from God slightly perturbed him, it made his mind spin to think that the man who green lit John's bloodbath was also the same man who willingly wanted his enemy to switch sides and hold his "sister's" hand. Joseph had to be smoking some kind of psychedelic or however that stuff is administered, there was no way he'd just swap teams and wear a leather tunic or whatever Charlie had said.

When Rook and Boomer arrived at the Spread-Eagle Bar, he could tell the bar's structure was untouched for the most part, a few bangs, marks and scuffs here and there, nothing a fresh coat of paint and some grout couldn't fix. As he got closer to the front door her could see the _sorry we're closed_ sign, hang crooked in the door window, and no interior lights shone through the window, it was as closed as the sign had suggested, but the ex-cultist said they were in there, still believing him, Rook leaned in towards the glass and gazed in, bring a hand up to the side of his face to block some sunlight and improve his view, there he could see in the far left of the establishment, a few darkened figures moving a about around a table, a single light beaming down upon it.

A quick jostle of the door handled proved that the door was indeed locked, since he couldn't get in traditionally, he simply knocked upon on the door a few times.

From what he could see through the window the knocking may have startled the inhabitants as they started to move quickly after he did, he could also see one of the shadowy figures quickly approach the door, seeing the approach, Rook took a few steps back so the door may open, and as he did, the door quickly creaked open and Mary May stepped out.

"Hey Mary, heard you were looking for me" Rook said casually.

"Ben?" Mary said surprised, almost taken aback he was standing before her.

"That's me, Jess said you and a few others came by my place

"What are you doing here?!" she almost gasped.

"I was told you and Jerome were looking for me" Rook answered.

"Yes, but we stopped because your friend said there was something wrong with you!" Mary replied.

"What no I'm fine, just sore all over, and not feeling so hot" Rook offered.

"Well Jerome said something different, something happened to you when everything kicked off last night!" Mary sincerely as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh, that was nothing" Rook sighed, waving a dismissive hand at her.

"Even if it was something, I'm fine now" he said.

"I'll be the judge of that, let me look at you" Mary said as she swatted at his arms, trying to get him to raise his arms so she could properly examined his body, looking for signs of hurt or weakness.

"Mary I really am fine, come on" Rook pouted again.

But his whining fell on deaf ears as eyed his person intently.

"What about your side? How are your stitches holding up?" She asked in concern as she studied his side.

"Same as ever" Rook shrugged.

In all honesty, he had no idea how the stitches were, he never looked, he was too afraid too, but they felt the same as usual so that had to mean something.

Instead of responding, Mary just looked at him with this soft but serious gaze, like something she'd reserve for something that was near and dear to her, it was something he never saw on her before

"Benjamin… are you one hundred percent sure your ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I don't feel like I need a doctor" Rook replied earnestly.

Mary didn't respond for a few seconds, she just kept looking at him with that same look before, studying his face for anything that would denote a lie, after a few more seconds she must have concluded he was telling the truth and suddenly stepped forward and looped her arms under his and pulled him close, hugging him.

"I don't know what we'd do without you" Mary said softly as she rested her cheek on her shoulder.

Rook didn't respond, he was to stunned to, he wasn't expecting such contact from anyone really, it's was either fist bumps, handshakes and high fives, he couldn't remember the last time he received such positive human contact from another human being. But still he didn't know what to say, instead, they stood there in silence for a few seconds, his arms awkwardly hovered a few inches over her back.

After a few seconds, Mary finally broke the hug off and took a few steps back, Rook wanted to say something but still he felt just to awkward.

After a few more seconds, Mary turned slightly and pushed open the door with one hand.

"Come on in" she said gently as she held open the door for him.

* * *

As Rook, Mary and Boomer entered the bar, Rook could see what was going on prior to his arrival, standing around a lone table, illuminated by a hanging light above it, was Jerome, Nick and a man Rook did not recognize hunched over a map on the table. He was a middle aged Caucasian man, he was slightly over weight and wore a tee shirt with green fire on it, he wore a cargo jacket over it and it hung tightly to his frame, he had a long back mullet and a matching handlebar mustache, he had a serious look about him as he scowled over the large unfold map, his eyes were glued the map, unlike the others around him, Nick was the first to perk up.

"Holy shit, is that Ben?!" Nick said is surprise as he noticed what the man was looking at and in turn stood up straight, staring at Rook.

Nick's vocalization made Jerome also stand up from the table.

"I do believe it is" he said.

"Holy shit Partner, are you doin' alright?" Nick asked worriedly as he swept around the table and hurried up to Rook.

"Yeah man, I feel fine, well I'm sore as all hell but yeah, I'm good, but what are you doing here?" Rook questioned.

"I rolled inta' town this mornin' for some errands and I saw the fuckin' damage outside and it freaked me the hell out, but it also got me thinking, if the peggies will just come in and to that horrible shit to the town, what's stopping them from doing that to my place, its right down the street from John's house, so I let Kim know that I'm going to hang around here for a while to see what I can do to help" Nick explained.

"I'm picking up what you're putting down man, I'm glad you're here to help" Rook nodded.

"I'm glad your able to join us, I hope you really are feeling alright" Jerome said, jumping in.

"Yeah, really, I'm fine" Rook shrugged.

"If that really is the case, then there's someone I'd like you to meet" Jerome said as he held out an arm to the man Rook didn't know.

Upon Jerome gesturing to the man still behind the table, he stood up straight to address the Junior Deputy.

"Howdy there, you must be this Junior Deputy I heard so much about" the man said, his voice carried a notable southern accent.

"Uh yeah that's, me, Junior Deputy Benjamin Rook, and who might you be?" Rook asked

"The name's Merle Briggs, ready and willing to kick some Peggie ass" Merle said proudly as he puffed out his chest and hooked his thumbs behind his belt.

"Merle here, has been out of town for quite a while, when he did rarely show up, you just happened to be away" Mary explained as she walked around Rook and Boomer and rejoined the group.

"Really? Fighting the peggies all this time I take it?" Rook asked Merle.

"Sorta, those peggie bastards stole my ride a while ago and I've been on the hunt for it ever since, now I know what your thinking; why would those peggies sumbitches take his ride? well sir I'll tell you why; my ride ain't no ordinary truck, it's a souped up jeep with righteous decals and a big fuckin' gun attached to it, I call it The _Death Wish_" Merle said before stating his vehicle's name dramatically.

Upon doing so, Jerome loudly cleared his throat to remind Merle of the task at hand.

"But anyways to make a long story short, our town's patron saint and vendor of that sweet amber liquid; Mary May Fairgrave called me up this early this morning to come on back since the peggies hit home again and we need all hands on deck for this one, and here I am" Merle finished.

"Alright, it's nice to meet you Merle, but what do you mean? What's going on in here?" Rook asked, looking around at his friends.

He could tell something was going down within the bar's walls, a man he had never met before is called back from the wilds to help with something, even Nick had put his parental duties on hold to assist in whatever they were scheming.

"You have been pitching the idea of coming up with something to stop John every now and again, I believe now is that time, albeit long over due, so while you slept we've been trying to come up with a half decent plan to get into John's bunker and put an end to his madness" Jerome grimaced.

"Wait really, we're really doing this, we're going to get into the position to arrest John?" Rook asked, almost gasping.

"Yes, if we can help it" Mary stated, crossing her arms.

Rook felt absolutely shocked, this was it, this was the kind of the he was waiting for, no more would he be running around, shooting people and taking their things like some kind of criminal, this would be the beginnings of properly putting down the cult for good, and it all started with John.

"Where do we begin?" Rook asked enthusiastically as he quickly marched over to the table everyone was standing at, then Mary, Nick and Boomer followed, also joining him at the table.

"I believe step one without a doubt should get the power back up and running, we believe that the town isn't the only place to lose power, we believe it was the surrounding area, a few kilometers in every direction, that leaves us to believe the peggies hit the only power plant ear by; the Hilgard Electric Power Station, it's a small place, just a chain link fence surrounding a dozen or so electrical transformers and a few electrical towers, as far as I know there was only five people up there maintaining it on account of it being so small; Amber, Greg, Lester, Megan and Scott" Jerome theorized as he tapped on the location on the map, it was north west of town, half an hour out.

"Ok sounds good, me and Jess will check that out and get the place secure or whatever you need, but after we get all that sorted then what?" Rook asked eagerly.

As soon as Rook asked the room fell silent, aside from Boomer's gentle panting.

"Well that's why we wanted you here, we wanted your input going forward" Jerome stated.

"Well you had to have come up with something while you waited for me" Rook asked.

"Well I can think of one thing" Mary said, pulling all attention on her.

But for some reason, Rook noticed she wasn't to thrilled about it.

"Peggies have been taking hit after hit, even while you were gone, morale must have dropped and with what happened last night, their morale must be tanking, so why not keep that ball rolling… When the Seed's first showed up here, my… my dad was on of the first to stand up to them and when peggies first started popping up, anytime the peggies showed up in town lookin' for trouble, dad would hop in his big rig and chase 'em right outta town… he loved that truck, called it the Widowmaker… and those fuckers stole it from him a week before he passed" Mary grimaced, the hurt evident in her voice.

"Now Mary, I'm sorry to hear that and always down for some justice and whatnot but why would stealing a big rig do anything to their morale?" Rook asked, regarding the woman.

"Well you see Ben, as the peggies troubles grew more and more frequent, people were getting worried, and my father wanted to keep his home safe, and for some unknown reason, my daddy believed slapping some cannons onto the big rig would solve those problems" Mary replied.

"So you can image what it would be like to loose a big rig strapped with guns then have it used against you and your buddies" she said.

"Oh shit, if we get that and my Deathtrap, we'd be unstoppable" Merle grinned as he rubbed his hands together

"Unfortunately, neither vehicle will help us get into John's bunker" Jerome said bluntly as he smoothed the wrinkles in the map.

"Remind me, why can't we just storm John's bunker again?" Rook asked.

"Well it's just that, it's a bunker, it's meant to keep a nuclear blast out so there's no way we are unless someone lets us in or we get John's key" Merle explained.

"What that's all we need, just a little key?" Rook asked again, he couldn't believe it was that simple.

"Yeah, so if we want that key, we need to fuck up the peggies so bad John has to come out of his bunker and make a show of force, then we jump him" Merle said as he slammed a fist into his open palm.

"But y'know what would be a good kick in the dick would be if we were burn down his prized ranch down the road from my place" Nick grumbled.

"As much as I agree, but we're forgetting that there is a takeoff strip attached to the place, any assaults would be cut short" Jerome replied.

"Well we gotta do something about it sooner or later, they're just going to come back like they did last night" Nick replied.

"We're gonna need like big fuckin' anti air guns" Merle joked before pantomiming using said guns.

"We can't just go up there with the planes still a threat, if we are to make a move, we need absolute stealth, timing and percussion" Jerome stated.

The gears in Rook's head turned, as excited as he was for this, trying to make a decent end game plan was harder then he thought, it was like trying to solve a puzzle with pieces from other puzzles.  
If they wanted to make a move on the ranch they needed the plans to be far away, like really far away.

Then inspiration hit him like a slap in the face.

It caused him to gasp and flinch at the sheer simplicity of what he just thought up. As he looked around the room at his cohorts he realized he must have gasped louder then he thought as they were all looking at him with curiosity.

"Ok, ok, ok, I think I know how to get to the ranch, so if we need all the planes gone, then what if Nick and another one of my friends; Adelaide and they just fly around at the far end of the valley just start shooting at whatever and draw all the planes super far East we can make a move without worrying about planes" Rook shrugged.

Upon hearing Rook's suggestion, the room fell slight asides from a few hums of contemplation

"It might work" Mary finally said quietly due to uncertainty.

"Wait did you say Adelaide? Adelaide Drubman, Hurk's ma?" Nick asked with a confused look.

"Yeah, I met her like a week ago I think, time is kinda weird for me these days but I met her at her marina, the peggies stole her helicopter and I stole it back so she owes me a favour, maybe she'll help us and fly around and shoot a few things before flying away… What's the worst that could happen?" Rook shrugged again.

"Your idea could blow up in our faces, literally... No offense" Nick said.

"As much as I am leaning away from the idea, I can see it working" Mary said.

"If they turn back to return home, she and Nick could also swing back and open fire on them maybe" she guessed.

"It still sounds like a long shot" Merle muttered

"Ok, ok, ok, I get it, we can put a pin in that one, let's focus on something else for now?" Rook offered.

"Fair enough" Jerome said as he regarded his compatriots that stood around the table with him.

"Well, if we ignore the ranch for the time being, we can turn are attention to our next prevailing problem; we are getting low on food, we have been for a long time now, we could really use some more if we don't want to start rationing meals within the week, and I'm sure the cult would be more then unhappy to lose some of their end of the world rations" Jerome said.

"Where would we even get some, the cult has been keeping that stuff on lock" Merle asked.

"We're just going to keep knocking over their outpost and other hiding places until we find something, they're preparing for the end of the world, right? That has to mean they have tons of food laying around" Mary shrugged.

"Aw geez" Rook sighed.

Things weren't going the way he wanted it too, they were planning on taking out the most notorious man in the valley, and it quickly broke down to stealing food, but even that was an uncertainty as no one knew where any even was, this lack of action bugged him, he just couldn't help but feel frustrated inside over how disorganized they were despite having all morning to prepare, but who could blame them, the people planning John's downfall was a bar owner, a pastor, a redneck and a pilot, they didn't have any experience in this kind of thing, sure Jerome was affiliated with the military for a time, but he wasn't out in the county clearing out peggies and restoring order, he was in his church all day. But by now the four others around the table began to talk amongst themselves, trying to figure out a decent plan of attack, but for some reason they couldn't agree on whatever they were talking about, Rook wanted to interject his own thoughts but as much as he wanted too, he felt this was quickly becoming a waste of time, he felt that his time would be better spent outside fighting peggies and securing the power plant, not bickering with a group of people about how to anger one man enough to make him to come out of hiding. With each passing second the prospect of just leaving grew more and more appealing, any enthusiasm he had walking into this had quickly dissipated, he thought about Jess and how she was probably losing her patients waiting for him behind the church, he wasn't looking forward to any grumpiness she had in store for him.

As Mary and Merle argued about the effective use of vehicular combat, Rook felt like his participation in this meeting had come to an end, with the way things were going they would either come up with something by the time he returned from the power plant or he'd find something by the time the power plant is back in the right hands. With a disheartened sigh, he spoke aloud, gabbing everyone's attention.

"Alright guys, it sounds like we're really struggling here, tell you what, I'll go to the power plant and see what I can do, I think better on the move anyways, and in the mean time you guys decide what's step two" he said quickly as it was bluntly, before promptly turning around and walking to the door, Boomer taking notice and bounding after him.

"What?! hey Dep come on we need all hands on this, we need as many brains as we can get!" Mary cried, annoyed, as she took a few steps towards the departing Junior Deputy.

"I'm a doer not a thinker, besides, I'll be back in an hour or two, then we can talk about step two" Rook said as he sped up a little bit.

He just wanted to get out of the building and just do something worth doing and not talk about what ifs.

"Deputy, we can't just rush into things recklessly we need to plan this out" Jerome said scoldingly.

But Rook didn't respond, he had already opened the door and he and Boomer were passing through the door before he closed the door behind him. Leaving the four other people to stare at the door for a few seconds, dumbfounded over his sudden rashness and disinterest.

"Shit… what's gotten into him, huh?" Nick muttered as his eyes dropped down to the map in front of him, right on the icon that highlighted Rye and Daughters.

* * *

Joseph Seed sat in his church, on one of the many pews, head down and hands clasped together in prayer, just like he did yesterday and the day before, he would sit there and pray for hours asking for some sort of message from God, he wanted something to let him know what he was doing was still right, still along the lines of what God wanted, but not since the morning after the authorities showed up at his door, demanding his arrest had God remained silent, no visions, no signs, nothing. But as Joseph prayed in silence, The simple clock above the front door quietly ticked away, feeling the time grow closer, he slowly raised his head and looked over to the clock, it read five to noon; he had been waiting for noon all morning as this was the discussed time, he would call John to find out how well the recruitment drive in Falls End went last night.

With noon fast approaching, Joseph unclasped his hands and stood up, but not before picking up the Eden's Gate bible that he always kept with him, and he carried it to the small back room attached to the back of the church via a door in the back corner. It was a small simple room, it had a table and a few chairs tucked into the table, a corded phone rested on the table. Joseph gently placed the Bible on the table next to the phone before slowly pulled a chair from the table, emitting a light scraping sound as wood scraped against wood and sat down.

He picked up the phone in front of him and dialed the number directly tied to his bunker, it rang three times before John picked up.

"Good afternoon, John" Joseph said, as calmly as ever.

"Good afternoon, Father" John replied.

Joseph detected a hint of apprehension in his brother's voice, John was never nervous, something must have happened last night.

"So John, how did converting the town of Falls End go?" he asked, ready to hear something unsavory.

"Well you see… that's what I wanted to talk to you about" John said, sounding a little uneasy.

"John" Joseph said, cutting his brother off.

"Just tell me what happened" he asked bluntly.

With a near silent frustrated sigh, John began recounting what happened last night.

"Well as you can imagine, we were met with resistance as per usual, you can't make a cake without breaking a few eggs and we dealt with some of the more volatile and unworthy denizens but well… of course the Junior Deputy was there" John explained.

"And did he cause any problems for you?" Joseph asked.

"Indeed, but I'm getting to that… but as my flock was dealing with the undesirables the Junior Deputy appeared and seemingly rallied the town into pushing back, and well… to make a long story short there was much more then acceptable losses on both sides and we were unable to bring anyone back for confessions, they had to retreat before we took even worse loses then we already sustained" John explained bluntly and finished with a sigh.

John knew this was going to blow up in his face, with each word he said, he could feel the oven he might as well have been in go up a degree, if this utter failure of a recruitment drive didn't flat out make the Father close the gate's of Eden from him, then he'd be on paper thin ice.

When he finished speaking, Joseph remain silent for a few moments, mulling over the info that he had just received, and in those few seconds on silence, John could feel his anxiety rise and rise, he was completely at his brother's mercy.

"Please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, I asked you to send your flock to the town of Falls End to collect more people for confessions and in turn to be saved by from the coming end, but instead of that happening, your flock might as well have entered the town to simply gun down everyone they saw before they themselves were lost; close to fifty, if not more loyal and hardworking followers even though you had the element of surprise and had them outnumbered?" Joseph asked, sounding almost hopeful he was wrong.

"You are correct, sir" John said quickly in embarrassment.

"Oh John" John heard his brother sigh in utter disappointment as he pulled the phone's mouthpiece away from him.

"Please Joseph believe me, my failures are not from a lack of trying, I pulled as much as I could from his cohort, this Rook is just a nobody from a nowhere town with nothing that's worth his weight in salt, he's has no experience or skill that should be preventing us from stopping him, I don't know how he's doing it, but he is, he's just getting lucky time and time again" John cried, trying to sway his brother's thoughts before he could come to a final verdict.

"Yes John, I'm very aware he's been getting lucky over and over again" Joseph said.

"It's not in our Lord's divine plan for Benjamin to be shot like an animal or to disappear from us, he is to come to me willingly, it is God's grand plan for the end" he continued.

"Then what do you want me to do? What should I do if God allows him to keep getting away?" John groaned in frustration.

"Keep at your craft John, keep whittling away at the wool in front of his eyes until he sees the truth, if you say what he needs to hear, then and only then will he come around and you will carry out his confession and atonement, then and only then will you be welcomed into Eden" Joseph prophesised in a calm, relaxed voice as always.

"But I don't know what he needs to hear, this kind of shit is your scheme, just tell me what to say and I'll do it, give me a specific order and I'll say yes!" John barked in frustration.

"You will figure it out in time, the Lord will show you the way if you look and listen" Joseph said calmly as if everything he said was a fact of life.

As much as John desperately wanted to do what his brother asked of him, to be told he was doing the correct thing, it angered him to no end when Joseph would always wax on about religion, about his beliefs when asked for guidance, all he ever wanted was a straight answer, no hidden lessons or morals, nothing to think on, just and order, do this or do that, then he could just say yes and get it done, but arguing with him about never brought anything good, he and all the woman Joseph declared as their little sister all learned fast to never argue with the Father, for better or for worse.

"John please listen and understand" Joseph almost sighed.

"Your wrath will carry you nowhere but down a false road, calm yourself and God's path for you will reveal itself" Joseph said, trying to soothe his brother.

"Joseph, I!" John barked in anger before using all his might to restrain himself from taking it any further, leaving him panting ever so lightly.

"Father, I hear your words and will reflect upon them as I move forward and improve myself and our cause… now if there is nothing else you would like to discuss, I would like to get back to fixing my mistakes" John growled in a low voice, trying his best to remain somewhat calm.

Joseph was quiet for a second, most likely thinking everything over in his head.

"Very well, I will speak with you again when events unfold, please John, take heed in what I have told you as you move forward, I will pray for you tonight" Joseph said.

John made a noise of annoyed hum of acknowledgment before prompt slamming the phone back onto its receiver, leaving Joseph alone with the soft beeping of a deadline. It made Joseph sigh, some deep-down part of him told him he was failing his brother, he was chosen by God himself to shepherd people into the brave new world that came after the end of the world, how could he do that if he felt like he was struggling to keep his own brother on the path to salvation. He slowly removed the phone from his ear and placed it back down onto its receiver before he slowly punched in another phone number into the dial then brought the phone back to his ear, the dull ring bleeped as he waited for the person on the other end to pick up, and after the sixth ring, the person picked up.

"Hello Father!" Faith's voice joyously beamed in response to being called.

"Hello Faith, how are you?" Joseph sighed.

He couldn't help but feel a little beaten down and responsible for what John had done last night, John had done many, many bad things in his life, and Joseph was beginning to think praying in his brother's stead for forgiveness could only do so much for him before it would be to late.

"Is everything alright Father, you sound unlike yourself?" Faith asked, concerned.

"It's your brother; John… he has done something he shouldn't have" Joseph replied.

"Does it have anything to do with the recruitment drive that occurred last night?" Faith asked.

"Indeed, as much as I regret to say it, too much has been lost, the Holland Valley is ever so slowly being pried from John's grasp, this resistance is taking more and more land, resources and lives, but Faith I need you to listen to me… I know I told you the Junior Deputy was no longer your concern now that he was outside of your effective reach… but upon further thought I have come to the realization that I was to quick in my judgment, John lacks the gentler points of persuasion despite his profession, I feel you are more apt in reaching our misguided Junior Deputy, you have proven he is capable of reason after all the talks you had with him, that being said I would like you to resume your communications with him" Joseph instructed.

"But I would like to make things abundantly clear, under no circumstance should you tell him any sensitive information of our project to further your goal or forget where the two of you stand, remember he is still in a sense our enemy, and should be kept at a distance, please try not to reveal to much about yourself, you are his voice or reason nothing more… You do understand why I ask these things of you… I merely wish to keep you safe, my last vision was quite perplexing" Joseph supposed.

"Yes I do, there is no need to explain yourself, it's only natural to act this way when you see your sister holding the hand of a man you know nothing about, after all it's a brother's duty to worry about his sister when a boy comes around" Faith giggled.

"Good… now that the elephant is out of the room, do you think you can do what I have asked of you?" Joseph asked.

"Yes Father, I believe I can reach Benj- the Junior Deputy, he will see the error of his ways of his own volition and assist us in preparation for the end" Faith said confidently.

"Good, good, now, is there anything you require? Are the sinners in the Henbane River still as motivated when the Junior Deputy was there?" Joseph questioned

"I do not believe I need anything, at the moment Doctor Feeney is incessantly asking for the biggest work space possible; my High Priestess is calling for a more aggressive tactics and more sinners appear to be seen milling around your statute, but bliss production is up, I think the sinners are looking for something specific as they seem to be taking their time with their assaults, I don't know what, but I assume it's important to them" Faith explained.

"I see… perhaps it's time to catch up to your opponents, maybe you should listen to your High Priestess to a degree, show them the project is not to be trifled with, show that we won't allow the sinners and nonbelievers to stop us from preparing for the coming apocalypse, but still give them the compassion that would allow them to join us when they see their mistakes" Joseph offered.

"Hmm, I think I see what you mean, to understand our opponents, we must think like them, only then may we speak to their hearts" Faith supposed.

"Good… now if you will excuse me, my dear Faith, I do not wish to keep you any longer, I'm sure I have given you a lot to think about and wish to put the gears of progress in motion" Joseph said, sounding somewhat better know that he felt he made some sort of difference today.

"Alright then, goodbye Father, I wish you the best in communing with God once more" Faith said.

"Goodbye Faith" Joseph said, before slowly removing the phone from the side of his face and gently placed it back onto the receiver.

He stared at it for a few moments, feeling hopeful that his sister would be able to succeed where their brother couldn't not, after a few more moments of contemplation, he stood up from the chair and tucked it into the table before picking up the bible and walked through the door and re-entered the church's main room and sat down on a pew, the very spot he sat before he left to speak to his siblings, he placed his bible next to him, and brought his hands together in prayer before bowing his head and begun praying to God once again.

* * *

**Howdy y'all.**

**Sorry for the non bad news related communication, I see all the buzz in the review section and I've tried to find a way to communicate in there without making an alt account, but I couldn't figure it out because I'm dumb or whatever, but regardless I just wanted to say thank you for all the feedback, ideas and comments y'all have given me, it means a lot to see this has such an impact.**

**And I would also like to say yes there will be a New Dawn sequel once this will done but I do not know how closely it will follow after this as I would like to step away from this endeavor for a while to come back with a fresh mind.**

**Thank you again for all your patients and consideration.**


	33. Chapter 33

Rook, with Boomer alongside him quickly moved down the street towards the church, he and Jess had agreed to meet behind said church once a plan was made, sure a hasty one was made but it was better than nothing.

As the two passed the church, a handful of meters away from the church's rear was a simple but rusted white, waist high metal fence it ran along the side of the road before curving away, forming a large circle two hundred feet wide, it would have been a complete circle if not for a large opening flush against the road, a wide door-less gate, above it, bolted to suspended bar was rusted and crooked letters that spelt out Falls End Cemetery. As Rook and his canine companion passed through the door-less gate Rook could see the entire graveyard; it was an uneven ground dotted with a few dozen tombstones, cracked and ancient, time had taken their toll on the cement slabs. A thin layer of grass grew over the graves due to the neglect caused by the cult. But there were more then just the decrepit gravestones there was crudely made wooden crosses that populated the areas without any headstones, the dirty in front of the crosses looked fresh and recently disturbed, the graves must have been filled mere hours ago. There was almost as many crosses as they were tombstones, by Rook's count there was around twenty-five crosses, he knew there were more bodies then that, but in truth he really didn't want to know what happened to them.

But off to the side or the graveyard, closest to the church, was a person in a familiar green jacket, Jess was sitting a few two by fours, propped up by a few cinder-block's underneath, she was fiddling with something, most likely making arrows just as she said before they split up. As Rook drew ever closer he could see she was indeed working on an arrow, she was carefully tying a sharpened bit of metal to a straightened, decent length stick with what looked like twine.

"Hey I'm back" Rook said bluntly as he stood feet from her.

"So what's the plan?" Jess asked, dropping the half made arrow and looked up at him momentarily before Boomer ran up to her, happily panting, happy to see a familiar face again.

She reached up and scratch his head, hoping it was the fastest way to make it leave her alone.

Satisfied with the affection he received, Boomer laid down and got comfy at Jess's feet.

"We're going to check out a little power plant to the northwest, we gotta the power back on or at the very least make sure it's safe" Rook stated.

"You think any peggies are still there?" Jess asked, standing up and placing her hands in her pockets.

"Only one way to find out, you down to kill some guys?" Rook offered.

"Fuck yeah, let's do it" Jess said, smiling cantankerously.

"Sweet, let's get a move on then, we still need to get our hands on a ride" Rook replied turning away from her and headed back the way he came.

Jess didn't offer any response, instead she silently and excitedly followed her friend, after everything that happened last night, picking off a few scared and hapless motherfuckers sounded pretty good. Boomer, seeing his friends leave without him, he quickly got up and chased after them, yipping happily, excited to go on another walk with his bestest friends in the world.

Commandeering a vehicle from the auto shop was trivial, when Rook explained what his mission for the morning, what remained of the auto shop team practically jumped at the chance to give him some working wheels. Even with the casualties and collateral that had happened last night the lack of usable electricity was still the towns biggest concern. They happily lent the Junior Deputy a usual, run of the mill, four-seat pickup truck, Rook graciously thanked them as they wheeled the truck out of the garage and onto the side of the road, with a few warnings about taking care of the vehicle they tossed Rook the keys, as per usual Rook had no problem agreeing with them, and with that, the auto shop bid the Junior Deputy and his weird friend with the bow adieu and re-entered their store, Rook helped Boomer into the back seats before stowing his rifle then climbing into the driver's seat.

Once he was comfortable, he adjusted all his mirror so he could see all around him, once he was satisfied with his view, he inserted the key into the ignition and started the truck. He looked over at Jess next to him to make sure she was ready as well, but in the usual Jess style, she slid her seat all the way back and tilted the seat back so she could place her feet on the dashboard, no seat belt holding her in place. Boomer, had made himself comfortable as he had the entire back seats to himself.

"Drive, Jeeves" Jess said, snapping her fingers a few times.

Rook didn't respond, he didn't need too, instead he just stomped on the gas, causing the truck to shoot forward down the road, passed the church, out of town and down the long stretch of road.

"So, where are we going again?" Jess asked as Falls End slowly disappeared in the rear-view mirror.

"We are going to the Hilgard Power station, it's this crappy sounding power plant in the middle of nowhere, it's like probably just a bunch of transformers and whatever else is used to distribute power, it's not far from here actually, we can probably make it back to town within the hour" Rook explained

"Now that's what I like too hear" Jess grinned.

"Jess let's kill some fucks, let's go now, we can be done in an hour" she said in her best Rook impersonation.

"You see that? That's how we get shit done" she finished, poking him in the ribs.

"Yeah, yeah, so long as we help the town, that's all I really care about" Rook stated, swatting at the finger in his ribs.

"But that being said, again, the plan is to roll up and clean out the power plant, now I don't know if there is anyone there at all, there could be a crap ton of peggies, who knows, so let's take it slow and be sneaky about it but hey I know you just use a bow and arrow but please Jess, try to keep and property damage as low as possible, we need the power plant to provide electricity for the town" Rook clarified.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah whatever dude, I got this" Jess said casually, limply waving a hand at him.

"But let's say we're done killing all the fuckin' peggies and the whole electrical thing is just turned off, do you even know how to get it started again or whatever?" Jess asked.

"No not at all, but Mary said there was a few people there who run the place, hopefully their still there and in one piece or at the very least they left something to help" Rook replied.

"Dude, the place was pinched by the cult last night, they're so fuckin' dead" Jess said bluntly, rolling her eyes.

"A little hope here and there never killed anyone" Rook replied.

"Hope ain't gonna bring them back from the dead, dude" Jess sighed.

"Who knows, maybe they're not dead, the place is small enough for like five people to run it, maybe their alive and they hid when the peggies showed up, we just need to find anyone named... Uh... Dammit Mary told me but I already forgot" Rook winced.

"Who gives a shit, it's going to be empty when we get there, I can feel it" Jess sighed, rolling her eyes again.

"Don't sound so depressed, like I just said, a little hope never hurt anyone" Rook said before falling silent for a few moments before snapping his fingers a few times.

"Oh I remember, I remember, the guys who run the power plant, I'm pretty sure Mary May said their names are; Amy, Gregory, Lester, Megan and Scotty or something" Rook guessed.

"Scott!?" Jess gasped upon hearing the name, her head snapped towards the Junior Deputy, leaning towards him on pure reflex of hearing her brother's name, she stared so intently at Rook it threatened to bore a hole through his head.

"Uh yeah, does that mean anything to you?" Rook asked, looking over at his friend for a moment before refocusing on the road, he was surprised and confused to her reaction at the name.

She still stared at him for a few seconds with a look of shock, pure emotion, it was one of those rare times that she showed some sort emotion other then anger or blankness, it made Rook a little uncomfortable from, her unexpected change character, but before he could probe her any further, she quickly turned away from him, sinking back onto her seat, but it was clearly evident that her body was still rigid.

"Naah... Means fuck all to me... It's whatever" Jess pushed out.

It was fairly obvious she was lying through her teeth, but Rook didn't blame her, years of being a lone wolf had made such responses commonplace to her, he also didn't dare push her on it either, he was all too familiar with her anger.

Jess refused to believe the person the Boy Scout had mentioned was her brother, there was no way her dumb as dirt brother was helping out at some power plant, he had the basic of high school educations and never had any interest in anything electrical aside from his phone, but after years of being at terms with he was gone forever but some little part of her couldn't he but disagree with that, perhaps it was prolonged exposure to the Boy Scout next too her, infecting her with this good for nothing hope, even if he really was at the plant, the last time she saw him, he was a sniveling, emotional mess, that was years ago, but there was no actual way he took care of himself somewhere for that long without her catching wind of it, but then again that little hope filled light within her disagreed, the Boy Scout had proved time and time again that nothing was impossible, that there was always a way to win the fight no matter how bad, if he could save the same town twice over, bring down an airplane, and help her kill the man she dedicated her life to killing, then perhaps maybe Scott was at the power plant, maybe he did hide like Rook had supposed, that kind of behavior was in his nature, but there was no way of actually proving any of it, all she could do is sit and wait until they arrived then she could give the place a thorough look over, after all, it was all as Rook had said; a little hope never killed anyone.

* * *

What little of what was left of the drive was a quiet one, quieter than usual as Jess's sudden change in behavior had left an uncomfortable silence in the truck, thankfully the power plant was not to far from the town, making the trip quite short. Thankfully, before the ride could get any more uncomfortable, the power plant came into view in the distance, feeling a little relieved, Rook began to slowly bring the truck to a halt on the side of the road.

"Alrighty, here we are" Rook said as he slowed the truck to a stop on the side of the road, the truck had stopped on the same side as the road as the power plant, the plant's entrance a few hundred feet in front of them.

With the truck stopped Rook eyed Jess, waiting for some sort of response, but she didn't give one, she was to busy looking out her window at the plant, facing away from him, if she was making any sort of faces to denote how she was really feeling, he couldn't see it.

Rook didn't try for anything else after that, instead he pulled the key from the ignition and climbed out of the truck, then opened the back door and Boomer came bounding out. As he closed the door, he turned his head to the left saw Jess was leaning against the side of the truck's hood, she was standing there, silently watching him, waiting for him for to say he was ready to move in. But as she stared at him, he could see something in her eyes, he couldn't quite place it, it was more then the usual anger or irritation, there was something else there, it was like some sort of determination or wanting, again, he didn't want to push her on the whole thing. Instead he walked around the truck and studied the power plant.

"Let's get to work huh?" Rook said, hoping to spark some sort of life from her.

Again, Jess didn't respond, instead she simply nodded before turning to face the electrical plant an dropped into a crouch and quickly moved towards the plant, loading an arrow into her bow all the while. Rook, know Jess for as long as he did should have prepared for her to take off as she did, with a silent curse under his breath, Rook quickly retrieved his rifle from the truck and lowered himself to a crouch with a grunt and tried to catch up to her, Boomer, the smart boy that he was, picked up on what was going on around him, also carried himself at a lowered stature as he moved just like the human friends around him.

As the three of them slowly approached the plant's front entrance along the side of the road, they could see ahead of them was a dirt road stretched a dozen meters off the main road and connected to the power plant's front entrance. Rook couldn't see to much of the interior, the chain link fence, the many large transformers and distance from the location obscured whatever was inside, but else he couldn't see was movement, he couldn't see anything that resembled the movement of a peggie, for better or for worse.

With no signs of peggie infestation, they crept closer and closer to the plant's entrance, it was a simple break in the fence, it was an opening just large enough a park a pickup truck in it sideways, from there they could see the details of the place,. The power plant itself was just as Mary May had said; encased in a chain link fence was two dozen or so large and bulky transformers were lined in a perfect grid, a short electrical tower with a metal ladder stood on either of the complex, a several wires ran upwards to the top before being disbursed along the utility poles that ran along side the road.

The power plant looked so normal from the outside, so innocent, the inside was so much worse.

As they crept through the front entrance, they could see what was in store for them, blood and bullets littered the area, many transformers had few to many bullet holes in them. In front of them was a concrete path that separated the transformers into two groups, lay a woman lay on the ground, no firearm near her corpse, long dried blood encircled the body, her left arm broken and twisted at an impossible angle. Further down the path, half way to the end, slightly obscured by a transformer but still clearly visible was another body, it was propped up in a twisted tableau, thanks to a few trimmed tree branches retrieved from a nearby tree, the branches were carefully constructed into a very simple hitching post, the poor dead man's arms looped over the horizontal long, leaving him defenseless; a plastic shopping bag was firmly encasing his head, sufficiently cutting off any air, his body was covered in cuts and lacerations of various lengths and depths in it, but what stood out on him was the word _ENVY _carved deeply into his chest.

At the moment Rook could only see two of the five people right out the gate, if the rest were still here, he couldn't imagine what could have befallen them, it was obvious a struggle went down here, but then again, a struggle was implying that the attacked party could even stand a chance.

This whole thing was a senseless and unnecessary murder.

"Holy shit" Rook muttered in horror.

Boomer seemingly growled in agreement, but Jess remained silent, soundlessly taking in the plant's interior.

Instead of making some cynical and mocking comment about how the people here were just murdered or griped out her burning hatred for the cult, Jess took a menacing step forward, then another, and another, then another, until she was practically jogging. She completely ignored the woman with the broken arm, moving right past her and towards the man tied to the trimmed branches in between two transformers and stopped mere inches in front of him, a single hand extended, outreaching for the bag, frozen with hesitation, almost afraid to find out if her brother was underneath or not.

With bated breath, she steeled herself long enough for her to rip the plastic bag off the man's head in one swift motion, and revealed the face beneath, scared breathless she would see her brother, but as she removed the plastic and sunlight shone down on the newly exposed face, she let out a shaky breath as the face underneath the plastic did not belong to Scott, instead she looked down and some poor, nameless shmuck.

"Hey Jess, you ok?!" Rook called out, a little concerned about Jess's apparent fixation on the corpse.

Rook was unsure of what to make of Jess almost running up to a body and rip the bag right off their head, and after asking his question, yet again, Jess did not respond, instead she seemingly lost interest in whatever drew her towards the body and turned her attention to the electrical tower, a dozen meters in front of her.

Rook followed her gaze to see what could possibly have drawn her attention now towards the electrical tower and saw on it, hung a shirtless man's corpse, it hung several feet off the ground, suspended by a noose tied to the elevated working platform of the electrical tower, the word _GREED_ was cut into his flesh, among a plethora of cuts and lacerations just like the previous man, and just like him, a plastic shopping bag was firmly affixed to his head.

Seeing that, Rook began hurrying towards her, a single hand half outstretched, ready to grab her for better or for worse, Boomer bounding after him. Something was clearly off with her, she normally couldn't care less about the dead, regardless of which way of life they subscribed too, by the way she ripped the bag off the first man it was clear they were looking for someone or something, the last time he had seen anything like this was when they first met, when they hunted the Cook.

Breathing heavily, Jess quickly stomped towards the hanging body, she hastily removed her bow from her shoulder and loaded an arrow into her bow before pulling the string back then seemingly pointing it at the hanging man and loosed the arrow. It sailed through the air towards the dead man, but instead of hitting the corpse, the arrow pierced the rope that held him up, severing it, causing the body to drop to the ground like a marionette whose strings were abruptly cut. The second the hit the ground, Jess broke out into a sprint towards the body and quickly cleared, as she reached the cadaver, she dropped to her knees, hunched over the body, fearing that this tortured corpse was her brother, she ripped the bag off his head and stared down at the face, and what she saw left her anguished.

The man was not her brother.

"Fuck!" She cursed loudly.

She wasn't exactly sure how to feel to know her brother was not her; Rook had said there were two men here manning the damned plant, but neither was the one person she wanted. Her brother wasn't the only person in the world named Scott after all

"Jess… are you ok?" Rook asked nervously, feet away, as of he almost didn't want to know why she cared so much about one dead body.

The next thing she knew, there was a hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her back slightly, the Boy Scout was trying to get her to look at him.

The sudden contact made her jump, she wasn't expecting such contact.

"I'm fine!" Jess barked as she quickly as she yanked her shoulder back.

She instantly stood up and spun around, stomping towards the truck, strongly pulled her hood further over her face all the while. But not before accidentally stealing an unwanted glance at the Junior Deputy who looked greatly concerned for her well-being, but she didn't care, but before she could even properly leave the scene, the damned Boy Scout spoke up again.

"Jess… your crying" Rook said, sounding highly reluctant to speak.

Upon hear that, Jess sharply turned away from the Junior Deputy, facing her back to him and her hand shot up to her face to feel for any moisture that dared leap from her eyes, but after a very quick search proved that there was nothing on her cheeks, but the way the Boy Scout spoke, it was clear he was telling the truth, Jess slowly brought her hand up to her eyes and her fingertips tentatively brushed up against her eyes and discovered they were indeed wet with welling tears.

"None of your fuckin' business!" She barked as she hurriedly stomped back to the truck, bring her hands down from her face and snapped them down back at her sides, arms stiff and fists clenched.

As Rook watched her stomp away, out of the plant's entrance and presumably back to the truck, his mind drifted back to why he was here in the first place, he needed to call back to Fall's End. Regardless of what was going through Jess's head at the moment, he had a job to do and he needed to report in on it. He gave one last glance at Jess's direction before removing his walkie talkie from his hip and brought it to his mouth.

"Hey uh Mary… we're at the power plant, it's uh, real bad here, a lot of blood and stuff... reminds me of last night" Rook shuttered.

"But, it's totally clear, just another slaughter" he sighed.

A few seconds later, his radio crackled to life.

"Anything else you need me to do while I'm here?" Rook asked.

"No... Come on back, we've been cooking up some ideas while you were gone" Mary replied.

"Roger Dodger" Rook said as he clicked off his walkie and reattached it to his hip.

As he did he couldn't help but silently celebrate, this was exactly what he was hoping for, for Mary and the rest of the gang to finally decide on what was actually worth doing.

With that aside, there was no point of hanging around the plant, Jess clearly didn't want to be there anymore and Rook felt like his time could be better spent elsewhere, with a low whistle from the Junior Deputy, Boomer came bounding towards him and came to a stop at his feet.

"Time to go, buddy" Rook said before bending down and scratched the dog's ear.

As Rook was giving Boomer some affection, two loud honks came in quick succession in the distance, the noise made the Junior Deputy and the dog flinch as the noise spooked them, Boomer practically shot up, ears sticking up and growling, but Rook on the other hand knew what it was, but despite that, his hand still shot to clasp his gun. Rook knew that the honking was a car horn, his deductive intuition told him everything was fine, he had just watched Jess stomp out of the plant and towards the truck, it was quite obvious she was in the truck and honking for him to hurry up with what he was doing and come back to the truck and take her home.

"Hey it's ok buddy, it's just Jess" Rook cooed as he ran a hand down Boomer's back in hopes of calming him down..

As he did, the dog relaxed to a degree, but still the dog growled in defiance of the noise.

"Come on bud, let's go" Rook said as he rose back up to full height and began walking towards the plant's entrance, not wanting to keep Jess waiting even longer.

As Rook passed through the front gate and turned left, Boomer ran up to him and kept pace, not wanting to be left behind, he must have put his fears aside and trusted his friend's judgment. As Rook slowly drew closer to the truck, he could see Jess was in the passenger seat and had an arm outstretched towards the wheel, seeing it proved what he believed, she had honked moments ago. But another few honks pulled Rook out of his thoughts; Jess had pushed on the horn again, despite her face being hidden, he could tell she was getting angrier.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming!" Rook hollered before breaking into a jog, Boomer in close pursuit, they closed the distance to the truck.

As Rook and Boomer reached the truck, instead of climbing into the driver's cabin, Rook opened the back door of the truck and Boomer gladly jumped in, then Rook closed the door before climbing into the cabin and inserted the key into the ignition. As he prepared to turn the truck are and head back home, he stole a glance at Jess, her face was still mostly obscured by her hood and her arms were crossed tightly over her chest.

"Alright, let's get out of here" Rook muttered as he started the truck.

Unsurprisingly, Jess was silent.

Rook didn't say anything after that, instead he merely stepped on the gas and pulled on the wheel to turn around and drove back to town.

* * *

The drive to the plant felt weird but the ride back was even worse, the silence that polluted the truck was stuffing and Rook dared not reach for the radio as who knows what would set off the silently fuming woman next to him. He had no idea what could have possibly set her off as bad as it did, but he dared not investigation in such a confined space moving at high speeds. The only silver lining in the whole trip was there was thankfully no peggies around to cause any more trouble.

As they drove into town, Rook pulled the truck up to the metal shutter of the auto shop to return it to its rightful owners, as the truck rolled closer to the auto shop, it was like the auto shop crew knew he was coming, and the shutter door slowly began to retract upwards, revealing the garage Rook intended to park in. seeing this, Rook brought the truck to a halt so the shutter could raise fully, but the second he stopped the truck so the auto shop team could open the shop's shutter door, Jess opened her door and leapt out of the vehicle before storming off to who knows where, Rook didn't even have a chance to say anything before she slammed the door behind her, all he could do was watch her storm off towards the church, probably to some little squatters camp she made somewhere.

With a defeated sigh, Rook let her go, there was nothing he could do about it now, so instead, he rolled the truck into the garage and clicked off the engine before exiting the vehicle and letting Boomer out. As Boomer leapt out, one of the mechanics approached him, asking for the keys. Rook happily agreed and handed back the keys along with a thank you for loaning him the truck. With Boomer leading the way, he and Rook left the building and stood on the corner of the sidewalk, Rook looked around the direction Jess went off in, hoping he could track her down, but before he could see anything convulsive, Boomer began trotting off towards the bar, presumably headed back to the bar's cook to be fed, Rook let him go, he deserved whatever he was after now that the road trip was over.

With Rook all by himself again, he decided to head back to Mary's bar to hear what she and the others could have possibly to come up, he didn't have high hopes in what they were, but it was better than nothing. As Rook walked over to the bar, his walkie talkie crackled to life, it made him jump as he was expecting John's voice to creep out again, making more threats that potentially endangered everyone in town.

"Come in Benjamin, can you hear me kid?" the walkie crackled.

Rook couldn't help but gasp at the voice, it was a voice he was very familiar with despite not hearing it for what felt like months. It was his boss and Sheriff; Earle Whitehorse.

He hastily pulled the walkie from his belt and brought it to his mouth.

"Hey boss" Rook said.

He was shocked that Earle had called, with everything that was going on around Rook, he had forgotten his boss was on the other side of the county.

"How you holding up kid, it's been a while since you disappeared" Whitehorse said bluntly.

"Yeah uh... Sorry about that, I'm fine all things considered, I uh, got grabbed by John again, he dragged me off to his bunker, but you know me... Can't stop, won't stop, don't know how to stop" Rook answered.

"Jesus kid" Whitehorse sighed in dismay.

"Yeah I know, but I mean it, I'm ok, really, I was face to face with John twice, I almost got him, I was so close, if I get another chance I'm sure I can arrest him" Rook said again, trying to reassure his boss.

"Listen kid" Whitehorse muttered, trying to change the subject.

"I just want to say sorry for waiting so long to call you, I wanted to give you a ring when Miss Fairgrave told me some people found you on the side of the road, but I was told you weren't awake so I let you be so you could recover, I tried ringing again a few days later but couldn't get a hold of anyone, turns out you had your hands full with John Seed last night" Whitehorse explained.

"Yeah last night was pretty rough" Rook agreed, he couldn't help but feel anger bubble within him when he thought about last night, or anything that directly related to John Seed.

"So by the way things are going, I take it your going to stay there in the Valley?" Whitehorse asked.

"Yeah, there's no way I can just walk away from this now, too much has been lost, too many have been killed" Rook said.

"I understand what your getting at kid, but you got to remember, the valley isn't the only place taking hits, we're getting pretty desperate here in the Henbane too, we still can't find the main bliss production plant and the peggies seem to be getting more aggressive and God knows what's going on in the mountains" Whitehorse offered.

"I get that but I... I saw Hudson, John has her in his bunker, I can't just let her be trapped in there, I have too help her, I have too get John, after that... I'll come help deal with Faith" Rook pleaded sounding more vulnerable then he wanted too.

Whitehorse was silent for a few seconds, presumably mulling over what Rook had just said.

"Alright kid, I trust you, I'm sure you and the folks your working with are cooking up something that will put the boots to John, I can only hope it works sooner then later" Whitehorse replied.

"It will work, it has too" Rook said quickly.

"But all that aside... How you holding up kid?" Whitehorse asked.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, unsure of the implications of the question.

"I know you haven't been doing so well with... Everything that's been going on around you, all the senseless killing and fighting, you seemed shell shocked last I saw you" Whitehorse explained.

"I'm fine" Rook said quickly, not wanting to continue down this line of thought.

It didn't matter how he felt or thought, so long as John was dealt with, Rook didn't care.

"We got bigger problems to deal with, we can worry about me when we Eden's Gate is properly taken care of" he said.

"Kid that could be a long time from now, do you really think you can hold out that long, John doesn't have to lift a finger to hurt you" Whitehorse asked nervously.

"We got no other choice, Boss" Rook said, he could feel the irritation within him grow again as just thinking of John angered him.

"I hope your right Ben… listen kid, I know we're on either side of the county and we got our plates full, but if you need anything, just let me know ok?" Whitehorse offered

"Yeah, you got it" Rook grumbled.

"Good, if we're going to make any progress out here is to hunker down and figure something out" Whitehorse said.

"Yeah, everyone here in Falls End is figuring that out now, if we're lucky we'll start making some dents in John plan or whatever" Rook huffed.

"Well keep me updated on that, we could really use some good news over here" Whitehorse grimaced.

"Is it really that bad down there?" Rook asked.

"The peggies seem extra motivated these past few days, I don't know what it is but they must have been promised some more nonsense, we still can't find Feeney and Tracey is about ready to kill Doctor Lindsey, he hasn't come up with anything that can cut through the bliss, everyone is at their wits end" Whitehorse explained warily.

"Damn… at least they got you leading them" Rook offered.

"That's all well and good, but I don't know how much longer I can keep the peace around here, everyone is itching to do something that would keep them alive longer" Whitehorse said.

"I'm sure you can hold them together Boss, you're the only one who knows what their doing" Rook said.

"At least someone believes in me" Whitehorse chuckled.

"So anyways kid, are you still hanging around that lady in t-" Whitehorse said before cutting himself off.

"Shit… hold on kid there's problem in the cafeteria, food's been running pretty low, I got to go before it turns into a bigger commotion" Whitehorse said gruffly.

"Alright Boss talk to you later" Rook said, a little surprised at the state of the prison.

"See you around kid… and Ben, glad to hear your alright" Whitehorse said before the walkie clicked off.

As Rook clipped the walkie back onto his belt, he couldn't believe the state of the Henbane's prison, he knew Faith wasn't exactly the most assertive or aggressive in the world, but she knew how to keep the pressure on cornered people.

With that in mind, his thoughts drifted over to John and the anger his existence brought, he wanted to go back to the bar and plan his downfall with his friends, but as he looked at the bar's entrance a few meters ahead of him, he knew Mary and his other friends were waiting in there for him, but in the back of his mind something was bothering him. Jess, his other friend, she was greatly upset about something and the better part of him just couldn't let it lie, with a disappointed sigh in himself he turned around and walked towards the church, to wherever Jess had stomped off to.

As he got closer to the church, he theorized there was no way she would walk into church as she never like being in there and she clearly wanted to be alone, so that meant she either went to his house or the graveyard where he found her before they left for the plant. As he reached the end of the sidewalk, he looked both ways before crossing and jumped onto the sidewalk next to the church, he followed it until he could see his house across the street, the side he was originally on and was somewhat relieved to see the front door and window were undisturbed, there was no sign Jess had try to infiltrate his home to be alone, that meant she was either in close proximity of the church or she outright stomped right out of town. Hoping for the best, he turned his attention to his right where the grave sat, thankfully it was small enough for him to see the cemetery in full, it was the same as ever, the numerous graves and rusted fences surrounding the place, but what was more was Jess could clearly be seen, she was sitting on the same two by fours atop a few cinder blocks close to the church, hood still over her head and hands in her lap, unmoving and probably deep in thought about whatever upset her so much.

Rook was well aware she was very upset about something, he felt like it wasn't his fault, that being said he felt like he needed to help her in some capacity, he couldn't just let her deal with whatever was bothering her, that's what friends did after all, still, Rook reluctantly and silently approached her and sat down next to her on the two by fours, leaving a safe two feet between them, he was half expecting her for to snap at him for being in such close proximity to her, but to his surprise, she didn't even flinch.

"Hey" Rook muttered as he sat down next to her, waiting for her to say something.

but after a few seconds of waiting for a response, Jess still remained silent and motionless. The silence was making him feel awkward for some reason.

"So… interesting day we've been having?" Rook said, slouching forward, and clasping his hands together.

Again, Jess remained silent and unmoving next to Rook.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rook asked.

"No" Jess snapped quietly, her voice betraying her inner turmoil.

"Ok, I hear you and understand that, but your clearly not ok, so if you want to ever talk about whatever, I'm here" Rook offered.

"I don't" Jess snapped again.

"Ok, I hear you, but I'm just worried about you, I never really saw you like that before, I don't really know what set you off, not even your peggie hate does that to you" Rook offered.

"Ok, I get it!" Jess snapped again, this time getting louder, it sounded like he was getting on her nerves and fueling the fire that was her anger.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone but Jess, we're a team, we're friends, we're supposed to look out for each other, I can't help do that if you don't talk to me" Rook said gently.

Jess was oddly silent after that, it wasn't the usual hate silence she exuded, this silence was somehow different. Then she twisted herself at the waist, turning away from the Junior Deputy.

"I have a brother" She finally said gruffly, her voice void of anger or annoyance, and instead replaced with something Rook couldn't place.

"Really?" Rook said, surprised that she gave him an actual answer and she admitted to having family other then her uncle.

"Yeah" Jess sighed despondently.

Rook was almost too nervous to press her any further, she never willingly opened up about herself, but the fact that she was actually doing so had to have meant something, Rook steeled himself and pushed out another question.

"Where is he?" He asked.

Jess remained silent for a few seconds, probably to decide whether or not to answer.

"I don't know" Jess said softly, in a weak voice.

Rook had never heard her speak like that, she sounded so fragile, so vulnerable, it was such a change from the angry and murder obsessed woman he had gotten to know.

"I thought… I could find him at the place" Jess managed to say.

Upon hearing that, everything clicked into place in Rook's head, the missing brother, the way she had reacted to him naming off the people who ran the electrical plant, her attitude after that, she must have thought her brother was at the plant, Rook hoped for better or for worse he wasn't there.

"But he wasn't there right?" Rook dared himself to say.

Jess didn't respond, she just kept facing away from the Junior Deputy.

"I'm sorry to hear that Jess, I don't know if this means anything to you but I'm sure he's out there somewhere, fine and healthy" Rook said gently.

"What do you want… dude… you didn't come over here for nothin" Jess said quietly.

"I told you Jess; I care about you and I wanted to make sure you were ok" Rook replied.

"But why, we're polar opposites" Jess groaned.

"You're a cop, I'm a problem child, you like your weird ass music and I like killing, you should hate me" Jess groaned in that vulnerable voice again.

"I don't care Jess, it doesn't matter how alike we are, what matters is I trust you; I can let my guard down around you, sure we have our ups and downs but who doesn't, you said it yourself after we found that blood Dragon filming, you said you completely trusted me, and I completely trust you, because I can count on you, your always there for me when I need you, we saved each others lives, we make each other laugh, Jess I really do care about you, I'm not just going to sit alone by yourself all upset, I don't care if you're a problem child or like killing or whatever, because you matter to me" Rook spoke strongly.

Jess remained silent for a few seconds before finally turning her body and faced forward again. Then she let out a deep sigh.

"Fuck, Boy Scout" Jess sighed as she leaned back, placing her hands on the wooden beams behind her to support herself.

"I mean it, I'm not going to let this go, I'll make time to make sure you ok if I have to" Rook said.

"You're a fuckin' weirdo" Jess said.

"If I'm a weirdo, you're a mega weirdo" Rook joked.

"Pfft, bitch I'm a lone wolf" Jess scoffed.

"Uh huh, I'm sure you are" Rook said, rolling his eyes with a small smirk.

And after that the two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"Aw fuck" Jess cursed casually.

"What?" Rook asked.

"You reminded me that we found the Blood Dragon filming, I left the signed poster I got back at the prison" Jess moped.

"I'm sure it's fine, I doubt anyone would actually take it or anything" Rook offered.

"I hold you fuckin' to it" Jess returned as she prodded him in the ribs with her elbow a few times before leaning back on it.

Rook looked down at her hand that rested on the wooden plank, he wanted her to let her know he was there for her, his words never really reached her, she was a woman of action after all, if he wanted to reach her, he needed to speak her language, so he placed his hand atop hers, when he did, he could feel her flinch at his touch, as if unready or afraid of it. After the initial flinch, he could feel a soft tugging, she was trying to pull her and out from beneath his, but Jess wasn't a pushover, she could have easily pulled her hand free, and Rook wasn't even applying any pressure, it was just a surface level touch. She wasn't struggling to free her hand; she was merely hesitant to do so, after a few seconds, her hand went limp, accepting the whole thing.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?" Jess asked.

"Mary said she and a few others came up with a few ideas to really put the screws to John" Rook replied.

"Anything good?" she asked.

"Hell if I know, probably steal some food or whatever" Rook shrugged.

"I'm sure you'll have tons of fun with that but uh… I going to sit out on this one, I uh… need to think about somethings" Jess muttered.

"Uh yeah sure, I can understand that, just let me know when your ready to get back to work" Rook replied.

"Yeah yeah, just go kill some peggies for me" Jess said, limply waving a hand at him.

"Sure, you got it… I hope you feel better soon" Rook said as he stood up and slowly began walking to the cemetery's exit and towards the bar.

But after a few dozen steps, Jess called out to him.

"Hey Boy Scout" Jess called.

Rook turned back to see her sitting up and looking directly at him, hood down and face clearly visible. She had this look on her face Rook couldn't place, it was this look of hurt and worry, he couldn't blame her for looking like that.

She stared at him silently for a few seconds before continuing.

"Be careful out there" She finally said softly.

"What, aren't I always?" Rook shrugged.

"Don't get grabbed again ok?" she asked gently.

"I will make sure that won't happen again, scout's honor" Rook said, bringing his hand up to his brow in a salute.

Jess watched him salute before turning back and hurrying off to wherever he was going, once he was completely gone, Jess leaned back on the makeshift bench.

"Fucking Boy Scout" she sighed.


	34. Chapter 34

Rook pushed open the door to the Spread-eagle bar and stepped inside to see Mary, Jerome, Nick and Merle were all still in the bar, but instead of them all hovering over the table with the map splayed over it, they were spread out over the bar, Nick and Merle sat at the bar, sipping on pints of alcohol as Boomer snapped and gnawed on a large bone at their feet. Mary stood behind said bar, taking care of her proprietary duties, Jerome stood hunched over the juke box by the stairs, one arm resting atop the glass casing while he used the other to indecisively flip through the collection of records inside. The second Rook walked through the door they all turned to see who had just come through the door, as they did, Rook could see they all looked unhappy in some capacity, most likely stressed or irritated from trying to agree with one another one what to do next. As everyone turned to examine who had just entered, Jerome was the first to speak up.

"Alright everyone, Dep is back" he said before departing from the jukebox and moved towards the planning table, not selecting a song.

Nobody said anything after that, instead Merle and Nick set down their pint glasses on the bar as Mary walked around the side of the bar and the three of them slowly sauntered back over to the table with the map and joined the Pastor.

"See, told y'all I'd be back soon" Rook offered as he also moved to join his friends at the table.

As he moved, Merle made a hum of acknowledgement, but Rook couldn't help but detect annoyance in the hum.

Rook didn't want to comment on it as everyone in the room seemed to have a short fuse, but as he finally joined his friends at the table, Jerome spoke again.

"Thank you for securing a source of sustainable power for us" Jerome said as he smoothed out more creases in the map before him, his voice carrying a tiredness to it.

"Yeah, no problem, so what's this plan y'all have been cooking up?" Rook asked as he analyzed the map in front of him.

The map had several scrawling's along the borders of the valley in red marker, the markings probably relevant to what his friends were going to tell him, as Rook looked at his friends for answers, they all looked at each other, as if nervous or unsure of whatever they thought up.

"Now Deputy" Mary said in this almost scolding tone.

"I know you won't find this to be the most effective or worth while effort in the long run but it's what we need the most right now" she said as she placed her palms on the table's edge and leaned in on it.

"Just tell me what you need me to do" Rook said, getting curious and nervous from the way Mary was verbally dancing around.

"We need you to hit up the cults food reserves and bring back as much as you can" Mary said bluntly, staring a hole into Rook.

"Oh come on, that's like, a super simple job" Rook groaned in annoyance.

"Can't we hand that off to the other resistance members, I feel like I should be doing something more important to get to John" Rook continued in a splash of bitterness.

"Partner" nick cut in, sounding just as tired and irritated as everyone else in the room.

"We need this food dude, we have almost none and if you really wanna piss off john that much, this is how you'd do it, sure as hell would piss me off" he said.

"How could raiding his pantry possible do that?" Rook asked.

"That's what we were trying to tell ya before you stormed outta her" Merle spoke up.

"The food we need you to steal is the high value packaged shit John's boys are stealing, they are boxing it all up in these large plastic like boxes to be stored and rationed during their so-called end of the world" he explained.

"Ok, ok, I'm starting to see the picture here" Rook muttered as he rubbed his chin.

"Exactly, John wouldn't be too happy when what he thinks is his only source of food is being taken right out from beneath him" Jerome said.

"But how am I going to get these big boxes of food back here?" Rook asked.

"Now that's the tricky bit" Jerome said nervously.

"We took what you said to heart and called up a few of the friends you made, so the plan is for you to meet up with Hurk and his mother; Adelaide, once you secure the place, you should be able to fasten a crate or two to the bottom of her helicopter and airlift it out before reinforcements arrive" Jerome surmised.

Rook listened intently to what Jerome was saying, hoping it would be some illuminating idea, but at the point he started talking about how a rocket launcher and a helicopter would be used to steal boxes of most likely farm produce and canned goods was the point Rook mentally checked out, what they were supposing was crazy, if Hurk didn't destroy the food, then it would be when Adelaide gets shot down as she flew away.

"Let me get this straight, you are going to bring a helicopter and a trigger happy guy with a rocket launcher to the one place that would have the most food in the whole valley, and you just expect us to make it back here without getting shot down by the psychos in the planes?" Rook asked, not believing in what he was hearing.

"Well... Yes, now I know this sounds rather flimsy and may not even work but we have nothing else to go on, we need that food Benjamin... And if it makes you feel any better, we feel like they won't try to shoot Missus Drubman down if they see their precious food strapped to the bottom of her helicopter" Jerome said.

"Guys" Rook said, eyeing everyone else present at the table.

"This is insane, planes are a hell of a lot faster and maneuverable then a helicopter, Nick of all people should know that, hell we all should know that when that plane came in last night and almost killed me, killed all of us, and so what if Hurk is there or not, that's not going to stop planes or, or silently kill guys and even if… if this whole thing works and Adelaide gets in the air and the planes come in to stop her, how do we even know they don't have a _if we can't have it then nobody can mentality_?" Rook retorted emotionally, getting a little loud as he spoke.

He knew they were desperate, but there was no way they could be so bad off they would send him on such a suicidal mission.

Nobody said anything after that, they all stared at the Junior Deputy like he had just said something crazy for a few seconds before looking at each other, internalizing what he had just said.

"Ben" Mary said gently, taking a step towards him and placing a hand on his arm.

"I know your against this, but what else can we do, we desperately need that food, and we need to do something to hit back the cult, sure we pushed them out last night, but they still hit us bad, we need to push back" Mary said looking up at him with big sad eyes.

"Mary I-" Rook said in a lower voice to a hush before cutting himself off.

"Mary I really don't think this will work, this is suicide, we would have a better chance with a bigger team of guys with trucks, we take what we can and just go" Rook supposed.

"We can't spare anyone; we're undermanned from last night" Mary replied.

"Then we sit hear and make a new plan, anything other then this" Rook said, recoiling from Mary's touch, getting louder again.

"Then tell me what you want to do" Mary said quickly, taking another step towards him, hoping to calm him down.

Rook looked down at Mary and opened his mouth to say something, anything, but all that came out was stammers and half words as he could not think of anything.

"See, you can't think of anything better either" Mary said gently as she placed a hand back on his arm.

Rook wanted to protest further but couldn't as he could feel his jaw quivering as his chest rose and shrunk quickly as his fears were getting the best of him.

The gears in his mind whirled as he looked down at the woman before him. He could visualize the consequences of either outcome; on one hand the entire town would starve and presumably the entire valley as he had not seen or heard of any safe places aside for the outposts and town, that would force people to go out to the other regions to find more food elsewhere which could easily get them all killed, Nick had a newborn daughter after all, his god daughter, if Kim starved so would she, and most of all, Adelaide, Hurk and himself would be dead or worse.

But on the other hand, if he somehow pulled it off, it would most certainly piss John off that his post apocalyptic food source was stolen right out from under him, people would eat, and morale would go up while the peggies went down.

Rook desperately wanted to say no, he wanted to say no and run home and crawl under the blankets on his bed and hide under them until all the cult nonsense blew over, everything he had done over the past month or so absolutely terrified him, he should have died hundreds of times by now, his time in John's bunker highlighted it. but he knew deep down in his heart he had to do it, if it was truly the best way to help the cause and stick it to John and his sect of the cult, then it meant it really was currently the only way.

"Ok… I uh, I'll uh, do the thing" Rook muttered uncomfortably.

A few sighs of relief could be heard as soon as Rook finished.

"You just saved our bacon man, but uh, listen Deputy" Merle spoke up as he crossed his arms over his chest, his voice sounding unsure and hesitant.

"I know your not really for this plan but I feel like I should warn ya, we kinda think that John's got his Chosen out and about, the Chosen are, who you might ask, are like, the cream of th' crop, these are John's best, his elite guard, trained by ol' Jacob himself, they are the guys flying the planes, and seeing as you've been kicking the hornets nest since you got here, and with how they're little transgression on the town went tits up, I reckon John has 'em out and about looking for you" Merle spoke.

Rook sucked in air through clenched teeth as his tightly wound up nerves were seemingly wound up even further as his chances of survival felt like they dropped yet again, leaving him with his only slowly developing coping mechanism; blind hope.

"I really doubt they'll just show up, I mean they have more important things to do like fight the resistance or whatever, so if we're really going to do this, we're going to move super fast" Rook said somberly, releasing the air from his lungs.

"Maybe, you could be right, but we can't be to careful" Jerome state.

"We? What do you mean we, I'm the one doing anything, I'm the only one who is going to kill people today!" Rook snapped in a flash of panic, sounding louder then he meant.

Jerome looked of Rook, as did everyone else in the room, they gave him a look of apprehension as the Junior Deputy still seemed a little different then he usually did, they simply didn't know what to say to him to make him at ease, an uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

Rook knew it too, he felt like he overstepped in some way, he wasn't comfortable with where the conversation was going, wanting to get back on task, and just be done with this terrible day, he did what came easiest to him; he silently moved passed it.

"So where am I even going?" Rook asked awkwardly.

"We have reason to believe they are preparing the food at Gardenview packing facility; we don't know how long it will all sit there before it gets shipped out to the bunker" Jerome said.

"Alrighty, working with a hard timer now… shit" Rook muttered as he rocked back and forth on his heels ever so slightly.

Jerome must have noticed the rocking as he gave Mary and Nick a very quick look before speaking.

"I'm sure I don't need to say this but please be careful out there, Deputy, it is becoming frighteningly unclear whether or not John wants you alive or not" Jerome offered.

"You don't need to tell me twice" Rook muttered as he forced himself to keep in place.

"Good luck, Ben" Mary said gently, giving his arm a slight squeeze, making him look at her.

"Yeh… uhh… I guess I'll get going then" Rook muttered aloud before detaching from Mary's grasp and stepped away from the table, before walking to the door.

As Rook made it to the door, he brought a slightly shaking hand reached out for the door, he heard Nick speak up behind him.

"I'm going with him" he vehemently declared.

"Wait what?" Rook said in confusion, turning around to look at his friend.

"I'm going with you, Partner" Nick said again, walking around the table and towards his friend.

"Your clearly freaked the fuck out over all this and honestly dude, so am I but you are right dude, we can't just send you into the packing place by yourself, you ain't no super man, I'll go an' watch your back" Nick said.

"Dude you… you have a family, what if something happens to you?" Rook asked as he watched his friend approach him.

"Partner, something will happen to me if I just sit around and let _one_ man fight a god damn war, you can't do this alone, and we both know Hurk is not the sharpest knife in town" Nick said, placing a hand on Rook's shoulder.

"Nick… dude, I don't want you to get hurt" Rook said cautiously.

"If I didn't want to get hurt I woulda flown outta here when I had the chance weeks ago" Nick said as he removed his hand from Rook's shoulder.

Then he sidestepped the Junior Deputy and reached for the door handle, it popped open seconds later.

"Dude we got this, let's roll" Nick said casually as he pushed the door open.

"Nick are you sure you want to do this?" Mary called out.

"Of course, just keep an ear to the ground and wait for us to come back, have a few cold ones ready for us when we return" Nick said confidently as wrapped around Rook's shoulder and practically pulled him out the door.

* * *

Rook could barely try to talk Nick out of joining him on the impending disaster that lay before them, before he could even formulate an intelligent argument, Nick opened the passenger door of his truck that was parked on the side of the road next to the bar, and ushered Rook in, he didn't want to get in but he had no other way to get to the packing plant besides begging the mechanics next door for something again. But the next thing he knew, he was already in the truck and Nick was already behind the wheel and stepping on the gas.

The sounds of a revving engine could be heard as the truck rolled forward and drove out of town, firmly securing Rook in his mission with Nick.

As distance from the town was being made, Nick took a hand off the wheel and clicked on the radio, allowing music to softly flow into the truck's cabin.

Rook of course instantly recognized the band, it was Creedence Clearwater, yet another band on his endless list of artists he enjoyed.

"Aw shit man, Creedence Clearwater, damn I haven't heard these guys in a long time… Y'know me n' Kim actually went to one of their concerts a few years back, fucking awesome" Nick grinned as he turned up the volume slightly.

"Shit, I had no idea they actually came all the out here once" Rook said awkwardly, he just didn't know what else to say.

Nick was silent for a few seconds before responding.

"Hey you ok, Partner?" Nick asked, giving his friend a glance, sounding concerned.

"What do you mean?" Rook replied.

"I don't know man, this morning you were all grumpy and short-fused like you couldn't be bothered to do shit and now your all nervous and flighty like your ready to bolt, is everything all good with you dude?" Nick asked again.

"Yeah" Rook said trying to sound casual, but he had a feeling he sounded a little to nonchalant about it.

"Seriously man what's up, did your lady friend leave you or something?" Nick asked.

"Lady friend? I don't know who your talking about" Rook retorted, giving his friend a look.

"Oh come on, yes you do" Nick said with a smirk and gave Rook a little nudge with his elbow.

"That lady you were telling me all about last week, Jess something or other" he grinned.

"Jess? What! no dude" Rook groaned.

"We're not dating… wait I mean we never were dating we're just friends" Rook clarified.

"Friends that just spend weeks at a time together?" Nick snickered.

"You've seen the shit we're living in; we watch each others backs, there are so many crazy sons of bitches out there, it's never ending, I have no idea where Joseph finds these people" Rook huffed.

"So did you have a fight with your friend, Jess?" Nick asked, putting a emphasis of friend.

"No dude, we're totally fine" Rook retorted quickly.

"Then you shouldn't have a problem introducing me sometime, I'll put a good word in for you" Nick smirked.

Rook made a him of agreement as he lost interest in the conversation and turned to look at the window and watches the trees and occasional landmark go by.

"So how far away is the place?" Rook asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I don't know, a lil bit, it's on the edge of the valley, towards the mountains "Nick replied.

"Of course it is" Rook sighed as he looked out his window again.

"Don't worry man, everything is going to be peaches and gravy" Nick said, trying to make Rook feel better.

"Peaches... And gravy?" Rook asked as he looked back at his friend in confusion.

"You know what I mean" Nick remarked.

"Let's just play it safe and everything should be ok" he said before falling silent.

After that the two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a time, Rook enjoyed it in a way, just two friends cruising down the road to some pleasurable tunes, it made his world feel normal, even if it was for even a few moments.

But whatever normalcy Rook felt was taken away when Nick spoke up.

"Hey man check that out" Nick said as he raised a hand and pointed ahead of him.

Rook turned away from his window and looked ahead of him, where Nick was pointing and saw down the road was a gaudy pickup truck on the side of the road, from what Rook could make out at his distance, the bulk of the truck was painted a series of reds, oranges and yellows, a clear attempt the truck's owner tried to paint flame decals all over, but looked to crude to be considered good, the rest of the truck was stenciled with what looked like explosions and scantily clad woman.

"What the Christ are we looking at?" Rook asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"I don't know, it doesn't look peggie, do you think it's a trap?" Nick asked in response.

"I don't know man, maybe, let's check it out at least" Rook said as he fidgeted in his seat, indirectly shifting the automatic rifle propped up between his legs.

"Roger dodger, Partner" Nick replied as he slowly pressed on the gas again, slowly rolling the truck forward.

As the truck drew ever closer, the two men could see the truck better, no one was inside, and the front hood was open and extended all the way up, obscuring anyone who could be standing on the other side.

With the truck a hundred feet away from the cosmetically "enhanced" vehicle, Nick kept the truck the truck at a crawl, just enough to get a good look and possibly talk to the truck's owner if need be, but fast enough to peel out if the owner was hostile. Before Rook could even ask what Nick's, plan was, the pilot spoke up.

"Hey man, get ready for trouble, that don't look like a peggie truck but ya never know" Nick said in a lower voice, pointing to the glove box in front of the Junior Deputy.

Rook silently understood and opened the glove box, and among the registration papers and business cards was a single handgun, a nineteen eleven, Rook felt relieved to see it. A simple handgun would provide more aid then his rifle in such a condensed space. Rook grabbed the handgun with his left hand and readied himself for anything and rolled his window down halfway with his right and waited to fall in line with the truck.

As Nick's truck slowly crept forward, Rook felt his heart rate slowly pick up, yet again Rook could feel his nerves slowly get the best of him again, he looked down at the handgun in his hands and noticed the firearm was shaking lightly, or rather, his hands were shaking lightly, that's when he noticed his breathing, as Nick truck drew closer to the stopped one, it felt as if his throat was getting tighter and tighter, for some reason he could only believe it was someone who wished to kill him was behind the open hood.

Rook was well aware of what was happening to him.

He had received ample training in his time on the police force to prepare for highly stressful work environments, but that was for standard police work, not a secret civil war in the heart of Montana. But before he could even follow through with step one of calming down, he had realized he was to far in his own head and almost didn't comprehend that Nick's truck was about to become parallel with the stationary truck, scared, Rook readied himself by reaffirming his grip on the gun and prepared for the worst as someone suddenly stepped away from the exposed engine to see what trouble the approaching vehicle would bring. But the second the owner stepped away from the raised hood and into view, Rook brought his gun up to the window, finger on the trigger and entirely ready to fire, his breath held, and muscles locked.

Then the person stepped into Rook's view and locked eyes with him as the truck stopped moving, causing the man to freeze in place, he blinked several times as if he didn't believe two men had jus pulled up next to him with a gun on him. Stuck in a state of shock for a few seconds, the man waited for them to do something.

As his finger twitched on the trigger, Rook watch the man come to a dead stop as he realized one wrong move would get him killed, but after a few seconds of vehemently examining the man for anything shifty, Rook and Nick realized who they were pointing their gun at.

It was the one and only, rocket launcher enthusiast; Hurk Drubman.

And by the look on his face, he had scared Hurk just as much as he had scared him. But any fear Hurk may have had was quickly washed away as he realized his friends had appeared before him. But Rook on the other hand, forced his firing arm down into his lap upon seeing Hurk, a worry filled move to get the gun off his friend.

"Oh shit, hey guys, you sure scared the shit outta me!" he bellowed happily as he waved at them.

"Glad to see he's still a master of subtly" Nick muttered.

"Holy shit dude, what's going on?" Rook breathed, feeling his body truly relax as the potential threat was gone.

"Well I was on my way to the Greenvale packing place or whatever, oh uh, Mary May called me an' told me you an' Nick needed me an' my mama to help steal some food, so of course I'm gonna come down and help my brother's out" Hurk explained.

"Yeah, we know that bit, but what I mean is, what's going on with that truck?" Rook asked, nodding towards the truck.

"yeah bout that" Hurk almost whined as he looked at the truck.

"This here is Gwendolyn, she's my… or uh, was my dope ass truck, but on the way to th' place and I guess she just up an' died on me, so I tried to fix 'er up and well, I say that but I don't know a lick of car stuff, good for me you guys showed up, huh?" explained before finishing with a big grin.

"So uh, do you like, wanna ride?" Nick called out.

"Yeah... as much as I hate to admit it but th' old girl is dead" Hurk sighed, giving the truck one last look.

"But fuck yeah, road trip with my bros!" Hurk excitedly declared, looking back at his friend with a sudden boast of confidence.

"It's not real much of a trip, we're almost there" Nick said.

But Hurk didn't hear him he was to busy bending down and picking up his personal rocket launcher that lay a scant meter from where he stood, a launcher neither pilot nor Junior Deputy saw beforehand. With rocket launcher in hand, Hurk approached the truck and opened the back door and tossed the weapon inside.

Nick couldn't help but wince and tense up as he watched Hurk from the rear-view mirror, he watched the man careless toss his loaded rocket launcher into the truck's backseats as if it was a prop, it landed with a dull thump as the springs within the backseats groaned from the sudden weight, then the springs groaned even more as the large man plopped down on the seat next to the launcher and closed the door behind him. Once Hurk was comfy, he leaned forward, slightly over the front seats to speak to his friends.

"Yo man look at this! Ben, Nick and Hurk back together again! We haven't done shit together since that whole convoy thing right after Nicky got his plane back, shit, that felt like forever ago huh?" Hurk declared loudly as he always did from the back seat.

"Yeah let's hope this doesn't end like that, hm?" Nick muttered snidely under his breath.

So what's the plan?" Hurk asked, not hearing Nick's comment.

"Super sneaky stealth mission? Goin' in loud and proud? Let Jess pick em off while we dick around?" Hurk asked in quick succession.

"Wait what?" Nick gasped.

"Have you met this mystery lady Ben's been hanging out with everyday?!" Nick gasped, trying to get a god look at Hurk through the rear-view.

"Uh, yeah man, she's pretty cool, she's a fuckin' killer, pretty scary too, I don't wanna piss her off" Hurk shrugged.

Nick continued to stare at Hurk for a few seconds, mouth slightly agape before turning to Rook.

"Come on man, how could you do your Partner like this" Nick pouted.

"I didn't do anything, man" Rook offered

"You'll introduce your lady friend to Hurk but not me, your oldest friend on the County" Nick said.

"Hold on a minute dude" Rook said, holding a palm out, cutting him off.

"She's not my girlfriend or anything like that, she's my friend just like you guys, if you really wanna meet her, stick around, I'm sure she'll show up again soon" Rook said.

"And I didn't introduce her to anyone, we all just met up and got to work" Rook huffed.

"Then let's have a little barbecue sometime and get to know each other then" Nick offered jokingly as pressed down on the gas, causing the truck to start rolling again.

* * *

After a few minutes of driving, the truck was unusually silent, he had expected Hurk to talk incessantly about whatever came to mind, but he was silent and unexpectedly not fidgeting with anything distracting, he just stared ahead, probably just enjoying the road trip as he had said before getting in. In a way it made Rook uncomfortable, he was ok with Nick and himself sitting in silence, it was a normal thing for them, but Hurk was a different story, he was like a highly excitable child most often then not, his silence may have been refreshing to Nick, but it made Rook's anxiety rise again. Despite the radio that lightly played, it felt like somehow, the truck was filling up with more silence.

"Hey Hurk" Rook called out, his voice cracking, not before he cleared his throat to hide it.

"Sup Deputy Destruction?" Hurk replied.

"Why did you name your truck Gwendolyn?" Rook asked.

"What can I say man, I like a girl whose name starts with G" Hurk smirked knowingly.

"Uh… yeah man… totally" Rook replied, rubbing his brow, thrown off by such a response.

And out of the corner of his eye, Nick was also a little weirded out.

"So then like, why did you apply you're… kink or whatever to your truck?" Rook asked, almost regretting it.

"I wouldn't say it's a kink" Hurk said with uncertainty as he scratched his neck in contemplation.

"I just like my woman like I like my trucks, starting with a G" Hurk speculated.

"Right. Now it makes sense" Nick said, with sarcasm hidden in his tone.

"Oh, but hey, speakin' of women, Mary said when we pull this off, I can grab a lil 'good job' snack for my efforts" Hurk said quickly.

"I'm sure she did, Bud" Rook responded, not believing what he was hearing.

Seeing as where Hurk was trying to steer the conversation, Rook remained silent and went back to looking out his window and watched the rolling hills of the Holland Valley pass by him, after a few minutes of watching the rising and dropping of the scenery in silence the landscape slowly evened out into a flat and even one, then the land before him was dotted with tows and rows of twelve-foot-high fruit trees, all perfectly in line with each other, curious, Rook readjusted himself in his seat, sitting up to get a better look of the vegetation all around him, with a better view he could see among the seemingly endless rows of trees, among the countless fruit trees were equally countless large wooden boxes, most likely what the produce would be stored in. He could even see a large artificial apple in the distance, held high in the horizon on a large metal pole to signify proximity to the packing plant's establishment.

And as if Nick noticed Rook's curiosity, he spoke up.

"Alright Gents, we're getting close now" Nick stated.

"Woo wee, can't to stick to them peggie some bitches" Hurk replied, his voice accompanied by the sound of his hands rubbing together vigorously.

"Hey wasn't your Ma supposed to be helping us with this, where she at?" Nick asked.

"Yeah she'll be here, but she'll show up in her choppy, she can't just show up and start rasin' hell all willy nilly, those fuckin' peggie planes or whatever will just come and take her out if she does, so she told me to call her once we're all ready to get the goods all ready to go" Hurk explained.

"Of course, right" Rook heard Nick sigh.

Rook didn't say anything either, he was to focused on the skyline above them, it was a beautiful, cloudless day, and Adelaide was going to die up there.

The longer he looked at the sky the more and more he could visualize her little helicopter be reduced to a burning, smoking wreck as it careened from the sky as yellow planes circled away from the copter and directly. It terrified him to think her death, and the subsequent deaths of Nick and Hurk would be all his fault, and that was if they were lucky, Rook knew at the very least Nick and Hurk had been a notable problem for the cult as well, so if they were captured then why wouldn't John not make an example out of them, and that would be all his fault.

Then a hand touched Rook's shoulder.

The sudden contact made him jump in fear, his heart did a flip in his chest as he almost choked on his spit.

"Shit sorry Partner, didn't mean to spook you" Nick's voice entered Rook's ears.

"Wha- what's up, what's going on?" Rook asked as he tried to return his breathing to a normal pace.

"We're here" Nick said, pointing a finger ahead of him again.

Again, Rook followed where Nick was pointing and saw ahead of them, a few hundred feet was a break in the soil and rows of trees, it was definitely wide enough for a vehicle to squeeze through, the ground in the split was a light brown dirt, an indication of a possible road.

"Ok boys, saddle up, time to shine" Nick said as he began slowing down the truck again.

This time he pulled the truck off to the side of the road a hundred feet from the supposed entrance.

"So let's get this over with, huh?" Nick said apprehensively as the truck came to a stop.

Hurk made some boastful cheers as if he knew they were guaranteed to succeed all the while Rook remained silent.

"Then but yer money where your mouth is and let's get to work" Nick said as he turned off the truck.

Hurk also excitedly climbed out of the truck while Rook exited very slowly.

As Hurk began struggling to yank his rocket launcher out of the back seat, Nick approached Rook.

"Hey, can I have my handgun back?" Nick asked, pointing to the gun in his hand.

"Oh right uh, yeah here" Rook said, looking down at the gun, he had forgotten it was still in his grip.

Rook looked away from the gun in his hand and gave it to his friend, once Nick had his gun back, he tucked it into his waistband before walking over to the bed of the pickup truck and retrieved an automatic rifle then turned back to his friends.

"Alright you guys ready to go?" Nick asked.

"Hell yeah, let's kick some ass" Hurk cheered.

"Let's keep this quiet as possible for as long as we can" Rook said uncomfortably, as if unsure of himself.

"Ok, just follow me, dudes" Nick offered.

"Do you even know where to go?" Rook asked.

"Sorta, me n' Kim would come here around Halloween; the people here sold the best candy apples in the valley" Nick remarked as he couldn't help but lick his lips.

"Alright dude, I trust you, lay on McDuff" Rook said reluctantly.

"What?" Nick asked, unsure of what Rook meant.

"Never mind, just lead" Rook replied quickly.

Nick silently nodded before turning around and crouching slightly just as he had seen the Junior Deputy had done many times before and began creeping towards the packing plant's one and only entrance. Rook followed behind him as Hurk followed behind him. Rook couldn't see any movement within endless rows of trees next to them, he hoped no one was close by as the heavy-set man with the rocket launcher behind him wasn't the quietest thing in the world. Regardless, Rook tightened his grip on his rifle as he unrelentingly scanned the trees for anything that even hinted at danger, but his efforts were for no avail, as the three of them made it to the driveway, Rook didn't see anything out of the norm, just fruit and fruit trees.

As Nick reached the edge of the dirt road he and Rook peaked inward and they could see the packing plant in its entirety; and that's when the peggies presence was known to them; directly in front of them was a lonely dirt road that lead up to the plant itself, but on the dirt road was a wooden telephone wire pole, that connected wires to the plant to the poles that ran along the road, but on it hung a man several feet off the air, he hung from his hands bound together and rope extending from his wrists to the top of the pole, the poor man was disemboweled, the majority of his digestive tract were piled on the floor, directly below him as if it sloshed out of him while he was strung up, what little was left of the man's inners were being cleaned out from his body by birds of prey that clung to the edges of the gaping orifice, flies massing over everything, just the sight alone made Rook's stomach roll, if sight alone did that, then he made sure to keep his distance as who know what the smell would do to him as the man's organ had been cooking the sun for who knows how long.

Beyond that was a stretch of dirt road that led up to a large red building capped with a green slated roof, a few Eden's Gate emblems and slogans clung to the roofs edges from banner, a few large cages and other various items and equipment one would find at a produce packing plant were scattered around the building, it almost looked like it was a half-hearted attempt to create cover in case of any problems. A long metal tower stood against the front of the pant, at the top of the tower were a series of yellow bullhorns, presumably used alert everyone in the compound of any danger. A few meters to it's left sat four light blue barrels on a pallet. As per usual several peggies scattered the area, marching up and down the estate, guns in hand while others loaded large wooden boxes into the back of a dormant box truck via a pallet jack from entrance of the bay door the truck was parked at. An open bay door was next to the one the truck was parked at, with it open, Nick and Rook could somewhat see inside. Even more peggies worked diligently inside, moving around the dozens upon dozens of wooden crates around the room.

"Jesus fucking Christ on a crutch" Nick muttered in quiet horror over the man that hung a handful of meters from them.

"I know right" Rook replied with calm indifference.

"You never really get used to this kind of stuff, huh?" Nick said uncomfortably, as he swallowed the spit in his mouth.

"You don't know the half of it" Rook replied.

And that's when Hurk blundered in from behind.

"Oh shit dude that's fucked" Hurk said loudly as he pointed at the hanging body.

But that was all he could say as both Nick and Rook loudly shushed him and shoved him to remind them where they were and what they were doing.

"Right, right, right, sorry, may bad guys, my bad, shit sorry" Hurk said in a loud but hushed tone.

With Hurk silent again, Nick regarded Rook.

"Ok Ben, this is your area of expertise, what do we do now?" he asked.

Rook stared at Nick for a few seconds, for some reason he felt stunned that Nick had just dumped the rest of the assault back onto him, in truth he had no idea what to do, he didn't know the plant's layout or what kind of heat the peggies were backing, all the variables made Rook especially anxious.

"Ok, uh… I think we should uh…" Rook mumbled as he scanned the packing plant for anything useful.

But despite all the things that littered the storefront, Rook could not see a way for him and his friends closer to the building, it didn't help they needed to clear a long, un-obscured length of road to get to some half decent cover.

"Hey, I got an idea" Nick said, pulling Rook out of his head.

Rook looked over at his friend to hear him out.

"Well I don't know to much about all this sneaking around shit, but what if instead of just going down the beaten path there" Nick said pointing to the road up the plant.

"We hop the fence and sneak through the trees, I mean it's just one big apple tree field, should get us to the other saw" he explained, sticking a thumb at the fence next to them.

Rook stared at Nick for a few seconds, half stunned and bewildered at the simplicity of the idea.

"Uh yeah… let's do it" Rook said, nodding.

"Then let's get to it" Nick said as he turned to the fence before mounting it and climbed over.

Then Rook watched Hurk confidently approach the fence and heaved his rocket launcher over the fence, causing Nick to visibly recoil again as he watch Hurk throw around a very deadly weapon like it was merely a prop, then Hurk tried to go over the fence himself. But due to his lack of physically exercise, he slightly struggled in mounting the fence. Nick who couldn't watch Hurk try to climb the high wooden fence stepped towards him and offered a helping hand.

"Thanks Bro" Hurk huffed as he gladly accepted the hand.

As Nick pulled his friend over, he gave Hurk advice about his health and some better foods to eat once the cult was properly taken care, but of course Hurk laughed it off, or rather tried to before Nick and Rook shushed him again. Once Hurk was finally over the fence, Rook quickly hopped over the fence and the three restarted they're approach towards the plant, trying their best to sneak to the front, but despite being on the other side of the fence, as Rook became parallel with the hanging body, he still gave it a wide birth, shuttering as he passed it.

Very nervously, Rook who lead the group, finally made it to the other end of the field and peaked out and peered outwards from a tree situated within the first row. From the angle they were Rook could see the front and left side of the building, the right side looked just as similar as the front, but in a lesser volume in crates, poorly made cover and peggies a lone light brown shipping container sat feet fifty feet from the plant itself. But other then that, he still couldn't see anything that could inspire a plan.

"Ok now what?" Hurk whispered.

Rook didn't respond, he was too focused on the plant and the three peggies in front of him as he clutched his rifle anxiously, it left a nauseating pit in his stomach.

The three peggies were standing up against the building's side, doing something to the place's windows, large guns laying at their feet as they worked.

"What if we uh…" Nick trailed off, trying to also think of something.

Both men sat in silence, thinking of anything helpful as Hurk watched them.

"I got this grenade" Hurk whispered, holding up a single fragmentation grenade to Rook.

Rook stared at the plant a few more seconds before turning to regard what was being presented to him. He stared at it a few seconds, trying to think of something as Nick watched in anticipation.

"That could work" he finally whispered before turning back to the packing plant.

He looked back to the large metal tower with the bullhorns and the four bright blue barrels sitting on a pallet, presumably filled with water. He didn't like how it could be used to alert everyone in the area, but if they were all together in one group the bullhorns wouldn't be needed.

Then Rook gasped lightly.

"Ok guys I think I have an idea" Rook said, unsure of himself.

Both men turned to Rook ready to hear whatever he ad in mind as if he was some sort of prophet.

Rook turned back to them and cleared his throat.

"I'll throw the grenade at the barrels over there" Rook said, pointing at the barrels near the tower.

"And when it explodes everyone will freak out and will investigate, while they do that, we'll move towards the side of the building, over there" Rook explained, pointing to the light brown shipping container on the side of building.

Then Hurk shoots a rocket at them and gets them all, then Nick and I will pick off any survivors and or stragglers" Rook finished.

"Why not I shoot them from here?" Hurk asked.

"You have no cover here and we need to stick together for safety, and it takes a bit to reload your launcher" Rook replied.

"So if you guys don't have anymore questions, Hurk give me the grenade" Rook said, holding out his hand, expectantly.

"I don't got anything" Nick shrugged.

"Me neither Bro, good luck" Hurk said, placing the grenade in Rook's open hand.

Rook said nothing as he brought the grenade close to his chest before turning back to the fence and the plant beyond it. he stared at the blue barrels a few moments before he pulled the pin and pulled his arm back as far as he could before snapping forward with all his might, sending the grenade flying through the air.

By no means was Rook's throwing arm at baseball pitcher level, because of that the grenade hit the ground meters from his target, it bounced once then rolled a few more inches, leaving the grenade sitting comfortably five feet away from the barrels.

"Do you think that's close enough?" Rook asked quietly.

But before either man could answer, the grenade exploded, the shrapnel shredding everything around it, including the barrels, the heat and shrapnel shredded the soft blue plastic and the force of the explosion sent the water inside outward, creating a shower of water sprayed like a very localized rain shower that lasted seconds, the entire plant was silent for one second before the three men could hear a cacophony of yelling from inside, there where yells for updates, there were yells for battle formations, there were even yells for someone to call in air support.

The three peggies at the side of the building dropped what they were doing and grabbed their guns before running around the corner towards the deafening noise they heard moments prior. It was everything Rook could ask for.

"Go, go, go, go" Rook whispered quickly as he began moving along the treeline.

Nick and Hurk silently agreed as they quickly followed suit along the row of trees towards the container as fast as they could while trying to remain hidden.

As they did their best to sneak through the field, the light brown shipping container got closer and closer, as it did, Rook could feel that nauseating feeling he had all day slowly fading as they were about to reach some sort of safety, once they got there, they could begin their attack, perhaps it wasn't as dire as he once thought.

Then reality came crashing down on him.

A single gunshot crack went off immediately followed by cry of pain directly behind him.

Rook's heart skipped a beat as he spun around to see what had happened, and to his horror he found Nick laying on the ground, groaning in pain as he was clutching his right leg that was leaking blood, Hurk stood motionless, taring down at the pilot on horror.

"You ain't goin' anywhere Sinners!" a voice yelled from the packing plant's direction.

Hearing the voice, Hurk and Rook snapped their heads in the voice's direction, afraid to see anyone advancing on them, but thankfully Rook's reaction time was faster then Hurk's, he was able to detach himself from the situation and turn back to Nick, he slung his rifle over his shoulder before bending down and grabbing Nick.

"Come on dude, you gotta work with me" Rook huff as he struggled to get Nick off the ground.

But all Nick could offer was groans and swears as his leg muscles refused to move, still Rook tried his best to save his friend, as he did, he eyed Hurk who still watched the plant.

"Hurk!" Rook barked.

Hurk seemingly flinched before facing Rook wordlessly.

"Run" Rook said gruffly as he struggled to get Nick's arm over his shoulder.

Hurk wasted no time as he broke out into a sprint, or rather the fastest an overweight man could move with a rocket launcher could move.

"You ain't messin' with the average member of Eden's Gate, we're John's chosen elite!" the same man from before yelled.

"Come on, Partner, let's get out of here and fuck 'em up" Nick grunted.

"No talking" Rook barked.

Rook could feel himself sweating profusely, his fear and adrenaline was going into overdrive, he was regretting agreeing to this whole thing, he regretted letting his friends march to their graves with him, he regretted everything.

As Rook began dragging Nick towards the container, he kept looking over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one was in close pursuit, but thankfully no one was in his direct line of sight. Instead he heard shouts, it was a mix of Joseph's religious hymns, war cries and an occasional gunshot, every gunshot struck a bolt of unadulterated fear through Rook's heart as he expected to hear another yelp of pain, if not, he'd be shot.

"Come on Bro!" Hurk yelled.

Hurk's voice snapped Rook out of his regret filled thoughts and made him really look ahead of him.

How quickly saw that he had somehow cleared significant distance to the container without getting shot, he was twenty feet from the container, since he was so close, he could see a waist high wooden box, flush with the right most side of the container with Hurk leaning against it trying to catch his breath and shout at them to hurry over the peggies yelling and shooting.

Rook staggered faster towards the container mentally praying to anything to save him, he saw a section of the wooden fence was broken just enough for him and Nick to squeeze through, Hurk must have busted it to let them through or he done so inadvertently with his weight as he climbed over it.

"Come on!" Hurk yelled again.

Rook wanted to yell how Hurk wasn't actually helping but at the moment he was to focused on just getting there safety, with one final push Rook was able to pass the container and made it to safety, Nick made some comment of relief as Rook hurried through the break in the fence and regrouped with Hurk.

"Holy shit dude, that was crazy!" Hurk said loudly as he stepped towards his friends.

"Move" Rook ordered as he approached Hurk.

Hurk froze for a second before complying, he sidestepped Rook and Nick so they could pass.

Rook felt so relieved to actually make it to safety, but there was still the underlying problem, the peggies, what really wracked his nerves was the fact he didn't see a single peggie, he was to focused on saving Nick he couldn't get any tactical advantage, and he dared not peak out from the container on risk of getting shot, as Rook got close to the container, he carefully lowered Nick down onto the ground so he could lean against the container to free up his hands.

"Ok guys, if we wanna fight back we need to get some facts rights, did anyone see how many there are or where they are?!" Rook begged as he stood back up.

"Naah man, I was too focused on getting here" Hurk admitted.

"Sorry Partner, I have no idea" Nick groaned as he clenched his leg.

"God damn it!" Rook barked at himself as he ran a hand through his hair quickly, his hand getting moist from sweat.

"Dude we need a plan or something!" Hurk yelped.

"No shit!" Rook snapped at Hurk, frustrated.

"Ya gotta stay calm, Ben" Nick offered

"How the shit can I do that, we could actually die, like your shot dude!" Rook barked.

"We need a plan of action, that's what my Tat Bros taught me" Hurk declared.

"I'm all ears for anything you got!" Rook replied, growing more and more frustrated.

"What if uhhhhhhh" Hurk half said as he looked over to the right of the container, back to the path they would have come in on.

Rook quickly ripped the rifle on his back off and hastily ejected the magazine for a bullet count, thankfully it was a full clip, rook knew he was going to need it.

"Hurk do you have any grenades left?" Rook beeseched his friend, loading the magazine into the gun.

"No, that was my one and only emergency grenade" Hurk admitted sorrowfully.

Rook let out some frustrated cry that could be heard over the approaching gunshots and yelling.

Despite all this, Hurk still looked over to the right of the container and everything past it for a few moments before turning back to his friends.

"Alright check it, I got an idea, wait here" Hurk said nervously, not facing his friends.

"Wait Hurk what did you sa-" Rook tried to say but it was to late.

Rook wanted to say more but Hurk had gone running out from behind the container, running to the right, towards the dirt path that linked up to the main road.

"Hey over here you weird as fuck sons of bitches!" Hurk yelled as he stood up and ran to his right, doing his best to keep his rocket launcher trained on the threats.

"What the fuck are you doing man?!" Nick shouted.

But Hurk didn't offer any sort of reply, not to his friends at least, instead of speaking, Hurk did the only other thing he was good at, destroying. He pulled the trigger on his rocket launcher, sending a rocket sailing straight at presumably the Chosen from Rook's view that were scattered along the property. But in usual Hurk fashion, his rocket completely missed, it didn't hit a single peggie, instead, the rocket slammed against the base of the metal tower creating a black cloud of smoke and fire, a few peggies were a few meters away from the explosion radius screamed and dove away from the heat and debris. The metal base that took the brunt of the blow whined before shifting then crumpling in on itself, then the metal bars that made up the tower twisted and bent before collapsing, a few more peggies yelled as the tower in it's entirety and fell away from the plant and towards the road, the tower hit the ground with a loud bang, sending dirt flying into the air in a limpid brown cloud.

Rook wasn't sure what happened as he couldn't see anything other then Hurk firing the rocket, but he heard the ensuing explosion followed by a thunderous crash, whatever it was, it must have freaked the peggies out as they stopped yelling mumbo jumbo and shooting, instead they went silent for a few seconds before a few started yelling orders to focus fire on the over weight man with the rocket launcher, at this point Rook couldn't see Hurk he had disappeared in an instant, but was still near by as they the peggies were shooting at something that wasn't him and the shouts still persists.

"Ok, ok, Hurk bought us some time maybe, maybe, maybe we can use this" Rook said desperately as he tried his best to keep his whole body from shaking.

"Alright man, I believe in you, just take your time and you got this, let's wrap this up and get a few drinks at Mary's" Nick offered somewhat calmly with a smile and a thumbs up.

Rook was absolutely stunned at the sheer amount of confidence Nick exuded, he was on the ground with a bullet in his leg, one of his friends was getting shot at by a group of cultists while the other felt like they were going to have a panic attack.

"How the actual Christ can remain calm in this shit!?" Rook cried as he stared at his friend in desperation.

Nick regarded Rook for a few seconds after that, he seemed unnaturally calm as he examined the Junior Deputy.

"It's because your here" he replied somberly.

"No matter what happened you always came out on top, every time I roll into town, everyone is talking about you and how your actually showing it's possible to stop the cult, your giving everyone the hope to keep fighting, you gave me the hope to keep fighting, so I believe in you Partner, I know you can do it, you may not think so, but just give it your all, just like you've been doing all along" Nick said.

Rook stared down at his friend in disbelief.

"I can't do this" Rook muttered in fear.


	35. Chapter 35

"I can't do this" Rook muttered in fear.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked, looking up at him as he sat against the shipping container.

"What can I actually do Nick, I mean really, I don't know what I'm doing, I have no training for this shit, I'm just some Deputy from the middle of shit nowhere town in Wyoming, I never fired my gun before I came here, I settled domestic problems!" Rook loudly cried emotionally as he took deep breaths as he went on, a desperate attempt to remain calm.

"But your doing something right, you've gotten this far, that means something, your pretty lucky for starters" nick said, trying to reassure his friend.

"And that luck has run out!" Rook cried, using both arms to dramatically gesture to Nick's bleeding leg.

"Maybe not, Partner" Nick gulped.

"I think it's not as bad as I thought, I don't think the bullet hit anything important, look, the blood's slowing down I think" Nick said warily as he slowly pulled his shaking hands away from the gunshot wound.

With the wound exposed Rook could gauge the severity of the wound via the bleeding through his work jeans, the area was soaked in blood, but Rook couldn't see any fresh trying to escape the jean's fabric, not only that but Nick's heart had been thumping like a jackhammer since he was shot, that elevated heart rate should increase blood lose, but the bleeding wasn't that bad, he had seen plenty of serious gunshot wounds, this did not appear to be one.

"But that won't help us in the long run, you can't run much less get up!" Rook cried as he quickly ran his sweaty hands through his sweaty hair several times.

"Ben, I get it your scared, I am too, but you gotta calm down and listen to me" Nick said, placing both hands back on the wound and applied pressure again.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but Hurk really saved our hides, now you got to save his, you got to hurry Partner, you got a small window of opportunity, that rocket launcher is hell of a lot scarier then us" Nick said, swallowing the spit in his mouth.

"But what about you?" Rook asked, regarding his unarmed friend.

Rook was mentally kicking himself, in the heat of the moment when Nick was shot, he was too preoccupied with saving his friend and completely forgot about the rifle he had dropped.

"Don't worry about me, just save the day, I got this" Nick said as he brought a hand behind him while fidgeting for a few seconds before bringing his hand back into view.

In his hand was the handgun he had retrieved from Rook before venturing int the packing plant, he had tucked it into the back of his waistband, Nick brandished it for a moment before pressing the back of his gun hand over the leg wound, making him wince in pain.

"I don't know what to do" Rook admitted quietly.

In reality, his voice was at a normal level, but the gunfire and yelling a handful of meters drowned him out.

"Go around to the left side, Hurk went to the right, take a look and see what you can do" Nick said, bring his gun hand up limply pointed the barrel of the gun to his right for a few seconds before bringing it back down to his leg.

Rook stared down at his wounded friend reluctantly, he could already hear his wife cursing his very name for allowing her husband to but himself in the position he was in now.

"I- I, the, uh, well, Hurk" Rook stuttered, struggling to talk, before pausing briefly.

"OK" he finally said.

Then like a robot with third rate joints, he turned a sped walked to the left most side of the containers, furthest away from the Chosen.

As he reached the end of the container, he examined the environment a head of him. A few feet away was a raised concrete foundation with a plastic handrailing with a mesh below it going around it, a few plastic barrels and crates resting on the other side to the foundation's right was a small set of stairs leading up to , and on the other side of the stairs was another concrete base, one the half of the entire plant sat upon, it was like the plant was built upon uneven ground and the concrete and stairs evened it out.

Since it was furthest away from the peggies, it meant it was his only chance of moving ten feet without getting shot.

Rook began breathing in and out of his mouth in quick succession as he limply shook the stiffness out of his limps as he stared at his objective, feeling his dread build and build before his anxiety disallowed him to stand in one place comfortably and forced himself into a sprint, towards the railing on the fence, five meters away.

The second he mad it to the fence, in one clean movement, his arm shot out and grabbed the top of the hand-railing and held on tightly and used his momentum to vault himself over the fence, kicking off the concrete foundation as he could hear bullets suddenly bounce off the mesh, causing harsh vibrations to bounce around the railing.

Instead of landing on his feet, Rook allowed himself to go limp, making him rag-doll onto the ground, an infinitely preferable outcome than getting shot in the back as he ran forward, instead, in a hurried mess, he maneuvered himself onto his stomach and began desperately crawling forward, breathing heavily as he could hear a few of the Chosen begin to declare that the sinner was making his move, prompting a few more to make declarations to help kill him.

But Rook didn't care, all he cared about currently was to keep crawling forward towards a building meters ahead, it was a large metal, cylindrical building, it looked like some sort of silo but it didn't look like it could offer him anything helpful, instead, as Rook got closer and closer to the silo the more and more evened out from the slope behind him, he dared not look back to see if anyone was pursuing him as he was in no position to defend himself, but he was still alive so that had to count for something. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that he had crawled so far that he had completely passed the packing plant and could see the back of the place in its entirety. The back of the building was wholly flat, completely devoid of any awnings or anything that could be used as cover except for a singular waist high metal box, a ground level A/C unit a few meters away from the shutter, which was perfectly fine to Rook.

But what he could also see was in the center of the wall was another docking bay with a large metal shutter, but the shutter was half open, just high enough for him to duck under. If he wanted to do anything to the peggies, he needed to check out the opening, steeling himself with bated breath Rook fearfully and quickly looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming up the stairs behind him, but thankfully no one was there, it was like a fresh breeze blew through him, it was such a relief to him that he was relatively safe for the time being, but at the same time, it made him all the more nervous as it was Hurk that gave him the breathing room, time that he could very well pay with his life if the Junior Deputy did not hurry.

With no one behind him, Rook twisted his body and maneuvered himself ninety degrees to the right and began crawling quickly to the right, towards the half open shutter door.

With the distance between Rook and the shutter slowly closed, he listened to the ensuing firefight Hurk was currently in, there was no further explosions, just gunfire, Rook wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not, besides that and peggies yelling to each other was the sound of soft metallic bouncing of the automatic rifle strapped to his back, it didn't feel to comfortable that the barrel of the gun repeatedly tapped the base of his neck but he didn't care, he was alive and moving, that was all that mattered at the moment, so long as he crawled, he was fine.

The second he made it to the corner of the building. He pushed himself up against the side of the building before slowly standing up, keeping a sharp look out for anyone remotely dangerous, but as no one showed up, he unslung the rifle from his back and clutched it tightly in his hand before quickly moving along the side of the building in the same somewhat crouched position as he always did and nervously approached the shutter before taking a knee, allowing him to oh so carefully peaked inside and examined what he was getting in; the plant's interior was full of large rectangular machines all lined in a row, eight feet apart and a conveyor coming out the far end a lead towards the front of the plant. The belts went out a few meters before tilting towards allowing whatever was on the belt to pour into big metal bins, ready to be placed into cold storage. But what was more was he could see the Chosen, from Rook's count there were fifteen of them, inside the plant and poking out of the several docking bays and a few more were further away, hiding among the pieces of cover that littered the front yard. The cover options that they hid behind were slim as Rook could see what Hurk's rocket had hit, the metal tower lay in the middle of the front yard, a few of the various items used for cover was crushed and splintered underneath the weight of the tower, leaving a large obstruction down the middle of the land's plot.

But beyond that, Rook could see what they were shooting at, in the field, right of the dirt road was a lone wooden crate next to a tree, a lone Uzi struggled to poke up from behind and fire back, the crate was covered in bullet holes, some sort of liquid leaked from some of the holes, presumably fruit juice from fruit that was getting mulched. This whole scenario should have been no problem for fifteen highly trained soldiers or whatever they declared themselves to be, but that rocket Hurk fired a little while ago made them hesitate to approach without having a clear shot. But if Rook didn't hurry, they would soon figure out what was going on.

Rook analyzed everything he could see and silently planned and planned as many different strategies and possibilities as he could, hoping there was some invisible approach that would save him and his friends, but he couldn't think of anything viable, or rather anything silent. A part of him missed the long-abandoned bow Jess had made him in their time in the Henbane River, he wasn't sure what happened to it, but he had a feeling John had something to do with it. he also missed Jess, her mastery of the bow would be perfect for this very scenario, perhaps her take no shit attitude would have prevented him from getting himself trapped in this mess in the first place.

But now thinking such things were pointless, he needed to focus back on the task at hand, preferably the peggies directly in front of him.

Directly in front of him was a single peggie, she stood in the door frame of the building's front door and fired at Hurk, her back to the Junior Deputy, the peggie was flanked on both side by more of her brothers and sisters as they hid on the sides of the two open shutter doors, two meters between one another.

Rook knew he had to shoot her, he couldn't just sneak up behind her and choke her out, if were to be spotted he'd be dead for sure, but it was a dog eat dog county they were in, he had to do it, as Rook raised his gun to the woman in the doorway, he couldn't help but feel like a scumbag, he was never one to just shoot an unaware person in the back, enemy or not, but again, dog eat dog and all that.

With trembling hands, Rook leveled his gun out and trained it on the woman, he waited a half second then pulled the trigger for a full second, then in the blink of an eye, the woman's rifle clattered to the ground as she fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. But as quick as she fell, the ally

closest to her on the right, hiding on against the shutter door must have noticed something was wrong and took a step back within the plant and turned to examine his left to quickly see that his ally was on the floor dead, he must have realized that something was amiss as his head snapped to the Junior Deputy's direction, making eye contact with him.

"Sinner at my six, one K.I.A. I require backup!" He yelled as he raised his rifle to fire at Rook.

Bullets bombarded the edge of shutter door as Rook barely had time to fall back from the shutter's edge let alone shoot the man before he shouted. Rook fell onto his back as the position he was previously in and speed the speed he used was more then enough to send him to the ground. But before his body could come to a complete rest on the ground, he desperately twisted and contorted himself off his back and back towards the way he came, trying to scramble to the A/C unit, meters behind him. Pushing off the ground from all fours, gun still in his grasp, his finger crushed between the hard metal of the gun and the rocky flat surface of the ground, but he didn't care, it was a necessary sacrifice he needed to endure if he wanted to survive.

With quaking legs, Rook stomped forward quickly and ran for the unit, as it was the only possible cover he could take.

Once Rook was properly behind it, he crouched down back to one knee with his rifle leveled against the top of the unit and waited for another victim with silent consternation. But after a few moments of nerve-racking waiting, a single grenade was lightly lobed from the shutter's opening.

With a gasp of disbelief Rook dropped back onto the ground and curled up as small as he could, hugging his rifle, hoping, praying that the A/C unit could tolerate the ensuing detonation.

Rook had experienced many attempts on his life, too many to keep count, but what was happening currently to him was different from the usual no name with a gun coming at him, the usual peggie tried to deal with him themselves as if they wanted the glory of taking him down or whatever insane reasoning they had, but this was different. These peggies, or rather the Chosen, seemed to be more organized, more militaristic. The words of the redneck Merle Briggs echoed back to him, about how they were John's elite, better then the average peggie.

Then the grenade exploded.

the ground beneath him shook, the A/C unit rattled as shrapnel bombarded it, it all made Rook's heart skip a beat, no matter how many times he heard it, he'd never get used to being so close to explosions.

But with the grenade's detonation, it signaled relative safety, understanding this, Rook couldn't let the Chosen get the upper hand with him in the position he was in, he quickly unfurled himself and rose to his feet gun drawn and ready to fire, he may have been physically prepared, but he wasn't mentally, in that few seconds of uncertainty in a clean motion, two peggies swooped out from under the shutter, the bottom half, twisted and warped from the immense heat, the one on the right was angled to the right, scanning the immediate right of the building while the other did the same but with the left side.

They were checking their corners.

But no amount of military training could protect them from what they were walking into as they had no cover, but Rook did, right as the Chosen who was scanning the left saw the Junior Deputy positioned behind the A/C unit with his gun on them. Before he could do anything, Rook squeezed the trigger, he squeezed and didn't let go, he held it as he watched man be hit with several bullets and collapsed. And he still held it as with the first man gone, the second was unobstructed, making him just as easy of a target as him friend, Rook didn't let go until the second man fell over.

Rook stared down breathlessly as he could easily die just as quick as them if he wasn't careful. He ejected the magazine in his rifle and slotted in a fresh one, panting lightly, Rook strained his ears for anything that would denote any more trouble coming his way, but he could not hear anything, but that was what made him very nervous, he couldn't hear anything, everything had gone silent, the Chosen in the plant had stopped firing, either Hurk was dead or something else happened. He wasn't sure when they stopped but it still unnerved him nonetheless.

but as much as it perturbed him, he had to investigate for Hurk's and his sake. Ever so slowly he crept around the A/C unit and approached the bay so he may strain his ears one more time, but still he couldn't hear anything, well rather he couldn't hear anything other then Hurk who had begun yelling from his position on the other end of the estate.

"Yeah that's what I though you fuck-doors, y'all better peel off when you realize you're messin' with Hurkmungus!" he shouted, trying to intimidate the silent opposition, not poking out from behind his impromptu cover.

With nothing else to go on asides Hurk's bluster, Rook cautiously crouched down and ducked under the shutter and slowly tipped toed forward.

* * *

The packing plant's interior was creepy, and Rook didn't like it, somehow in the two minutes he had dealt with the three peggies, the rest had somehow emptied out the place, the Chosen against the sides of the bay doors were gone, so too were the peggies outside behind the cover, by the downed tower, they had vanished without a trace. Hurk who was still behind the produce crate had yet to poke his head out didn't see anything. Wanting to narrow down the directions an attack could come from, he stuck close to one of the large metal machines on his right, his side practically pressed against the machine as he moved alongside it as he moved deeper into the plant.

Just as he was about to pass one of the large metal machines, a large shadow quickly swooped out from around the corner, towards Rook, before he could even point his gun at what was coming at him, he realized just what it was, it was one of the Chosen, and he was coming right at him with the butt of his rifle coming straight towards his face at an alarming speed, before Rook could do anything to defend himself, the rifle's butt slammed into Rook's jaw, causing him to fall backwards, onto his back, knocking the wind out of him and his gun flew from his hands. Coughing and sputtering, Rook could taste the copper taste of blood in his mouth, it wasn't a lot, but it was enough to raise concern, Rook could only hope he didn't loose any teeth.

with his adrenaline flowing again, Rook desperately tried to scramble to his feet while padding the ground, praying to find his gun in time.

But all was for not as a rough set of hands grab his arms from either side of him and brusquely yanked him back up onto his feet, but before he could get his balance back, he was pushed forward with a kick to the back of knee.

"Move, Monster!" a voice angrily barked at him as the Chosen on either side of him forced him forwards.

Rook was scared out of his mind; he knew he had been properly captured and was entirely at their mercy, they were either going to bring him back to John or just execute him, he wasn't sure which was worse, he needed to break free somehow

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Rook barked in terror as he desperately tried to break free from the Chosen's grasp.

But the Chosen peggies had a firm grip on him, but as Rook struggled and flailed, another Chosen quickly approached him, presumably the one who had first struck the Junior Deputy and delivered a strong right hook directly into Rook's stomach, causing him to cough and sputter, weakening him, more then enough for the Chosen to drag him towards one of the open bay doors. As they moved towards one of the open bay doors, more and more Chosen appeared from behind various machines and crates, all sneering mockingly at him as they all headed towards the bay doors, a few even came out from the other side of the bay doors and watched as he approached. They all must have known that he had successfully dispatched their allies and hid right before he came inside, and now they were coming out like it was some sick twisted surprise party.

As one Chosen peggie lead the way for Rook and the two peggies dragging him forward, the surrounding peggies, chuckled and joked, they were all happy that the one man that had caused their holy cause so much trouble had been captured so easily, as Rook and the Chosen got closer to the bay door, more and more peggies followed behind, joining the march like a sick parade. The man at the front, a stout yet muscular African American man, with a rifle led the way and march onto the plant's front yard and directly towards Hurk. With a silent raise of his hand, everyone stopped, leaving them all standing in the middle of the plant's front yard, near the downed metal tower, a handful of meters directly in front of Hurk's hiding spot.

Then he dropped his hand back down to his side, the second his hand reached his side, Rook was accosted with another swift kick came to the back of his knees, this time it was much stronger, it caused him to faulter and fall to his knees.

"Stay on your knees!" a one of the peggies holding him said as Rook felt the barrel of a gun be shoved up against the back of his head as the hands restraining him released him.

Rook didn't say or do anything other then silent comply, he was too terrified to do anything, he knew exactly what this was, it was an execution. They were going to use him as a bargaining chip to get Hurk to surrender, but this was a lose-lose scenario, Hurk surrendering or not, Rook was a goner, he was to high priority to just let go. Rook knew deep in his heart; he was already dead. Rook's chest began rising and dropping violently as he had almost no control over his breathing as he was barely fighting off hyperventilating, his jaw shook and legs quaked, almost toppling him despite being on his knees. But before he could properly come to terms with his impending doom and have an emotional breakdown, the Chosen in front of him called out to Hurk's hiding place.

"Alright Sinner!" he yelled in Hurk's general direction.

Rook recognized the voice as the same one as the one that spoke right after Nick was shot, he had to have shot him, he had to be the leader of the bunch.

"We have your precious Junior Deputy, slowly come out with your hands behind your head and I won't kill him!" the man demanded.

"No you won't!" Hurk's voice emitted from the leaking produce box, almost immediately.

"Excuse me?" the man shouted, confused to Hurk's response.

"John's got a real hard-on for Deputy Destruction there, me an' my cousin; Sharky, have been joking about it for a while now, John either wants ta fuck him or kill him, an' I think y'all know that too" Hurk yelled back.

The Leader remained silent, either stunned at Hurk's brazen accusation or in some sort of silent agreement, but the silence allowed Rook to hear a few half whispers about what Hurk said among the Chosen members around him. But the Leader must have heard as well and quickly raised a stern hand up next to him, silencing the rest of his troupe.

"What John wants to do to the sinner doesn't matter, he has asked us to bring him in, alive if possible, surrender now or both of you will be killed!" the Leader yelled.

"Then don't kill him" Hurk countered confidently.

"That's not who this works, we're in charge here!" the Leader declared.

As Rook kneeled on the ground with a gun to the back of his head, listening to the conversation in front of him, trying not to have an emotional breakdown, it was then he realized a new layer of fear was added to the whirlpool of horror Rook was trapped in, out of all the people he had met in his time in the county, it was Hurk Drubman who was heading the negotiation over his life.

But as the Leader and Hurk bickered back and forth, the Leader must have gotten fed up with Hurk's brand of stupidity and turned to Rook with a scoff.

"If you don't want your fat friend to be killed here and now, say something to make him surrender now or we'll kill you both now" he said, looking down at Rook with, disgusted, scornful eyes.

Rook silently nodded before looking over at Hurk's location, as he struggled to get his breathing under control, he wanted to shout so many things at his friend, to run for Nick's truck and get home to get help, to go in guns blazing and call their bluff about killing him, hell, some defeated part of him wanted to tell him to just surrender and take their chances in John's bunker again. But the thing that never let him give up shouted in defiance, he needed to fight, he needed to think of something.

But as much as he frantically tried to think of something actually useful, he couldn't help but remember who he was talking too, Hurk is a walking trash fire who was a borderline danger to himself and everyone around him as he was for some reason incapable of understanding just how dangerous the county was and wouldn't act accordingly, he and presumably his whole family were a different breed, even his mother Adelaide, Rook thought she was well put together as she was able to clean out her ex husband, but her willingness to just strap wooden crates to the bottom of her helicopter and fly through hazardous skies suggested otherwise.

Then inspiration hit him.

Adelaide.

She was supposed to be somewhere nearby, waiting to take off and assist them, her helicopter was equipped with big machine guns, it was more then enough to take care the Chosen, but that was only if the planes didn't knock her out first. Adelaide seemed like his only chance of someone's survival, Rook felt if he had forgotten all about her, then Hurk assuredly forgotten as well, and with everything that had happened in the hour, Rook knew he needed Adelaide to show up if he wanted to at least save his friends.

With his mind made up, he breathed in hard through his nose as the snot inside threatened to leak out. Then he mustered what little courage he had left and issued a single command to his friend.

"Call your goddamn mother!" he screamed.

Everyone was silent for a beat.

"What like seriously, Bro!?" Hurk yelled in response.

"Hurk, just friggin' do it or I swear to God!" Rook screamed back in frustration.

"Mommy won't save you now, no one can stand of the way of Joseph's will!" the Leader yelled impatiently before his shoulders drooped down.

"Aright this was a mistake" the Leader sighed as he dropped his rifle on the ground next to him and pulled out a handgun from its hip holster.

Then Rook felt the contact of the gun pressed against the back of his skull disappear, followed by a few fading, quick footsteps.

"No one can say I didn't try to keep you alive, but I don't trust that idiot with a rocket launcher so I'll just remove you then I'll kill him" the Leader said casually as he looked at the handgun before cocking it and pointing it at Rook's head.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Rook screamed feverishly, his voice cracking as he raised his hands up.

The Leader kept the gun trained on his head as he looked down it's barrel, Rook felt in his bones that this was it, he was finally going to get his ticket punched, making it all the more reason for him to yell and beg louder.

"What about the Father?! What about the Father?!" he frantically belted out.

And with that, the Leader lowered is gun away from his head, curious to where the conversation was going.

"What are you babbling about?" he asked.

"J-John really wants me, are you not going to follow his orders!?" Rook cried quickly.

"As much as I probably should… I'm not" he said casually.

Hearing that, Rook visibly and audibly flinched as more he was unprepared for such a response.

"John may say your needed for Joseph's visions, but some of us are feeling like your more trouble then your worth, how many of my brothers and sisters have you killed? One hundred? Two hundred? Why stop there, why would you even decide to help us after all that, you don't look like much anyways, we caught pretty easily" he said as he walked up to Rook and pressing the barrel of the handgun into his forehead.

"Are you seriously just going to turn against the Father like that!?" Rook preached loudly

Before the Leader could say anything, Rook continued.

"I know about his last vision, the one with me standing with the whole Seed family, are you really going against God?!" he proclaimed as quickly as he was terrified.

The Leader stared down at Rook intently in silence, deciding his fate, Rook could see the contemplation in the man's eyes, he held his breathe as he waited as the slightest movement from either person made him think he was going to die.

But in the few seconds of quiet thinking, the two of them could hear a few nervous half whispers from the Chosen that surrounded him like a choir.

Quiet whispers of doubt could be heard all around them, if any of the Chosen had agreed with the Leader's ideology was having cold feet as they were on the doorstep of what they conspired to do. And the Leader did not like it.

"How come on people!" the Leader announced in stern annoyance as he quickly stepped around the Junior Deputy and stopped directly behind him to address his troupe.

"We talked about this over and over" he growled as he limply rotated his wrist that supported the gun in his hand.

"He's not as important or impervious as we believe, all of you saw how easy it was to capture him, the Father said, _the father said _keep him alive if possible!" he said pointing a index finger in the air, pointing at nothing.

"We tried, now let's just clean this up and go home, he has killed countless of us, _countless of us, _why should we just welcome this monster into our family?!" the Leader vehemently declared.

Before he could continue is mutinous tirade, Hurk's voice echoed off the background.

"Hey, is he still alive or what!?" Hurk yelled out.

"Shut up, Sinner!" the Leader yelled as he quickly turned at the waist towards Hurk and pointed at the bullet riddled produce crate as if it punctuated what he just said.

Then he turned back around and addressed his troupe again.

As Rook sat there on his knees, listening to a man rant and rant about how it was ok to kill him, his whole body shook slightly from a rattling mixture of fear and adrenaline, his body screamed for him to move, but his brain said otherwise, there was nothing he could do but stare forward into the uncountable rows of fruit trees that grew all around him, as he stared off ahead of him, at the ruined produce crate Hurk still adamantly hid behind, he noticed something, ten feet directly in front of him was the automatic rifle that lay in the dirt, the Leader had discarded it to properly retrieve and ready his pistol, and now it was a very viable accessory to his escape.

What was more to his fleeting sense of hope was that he wasn't tied down in the slightest, he could get up and run if he wanted too, the fighter in him wanted to make a mad dash for the firearm and shot the assholes behind him, but what was stopping him was the peggies behind him. The Leader wasn't looking at him but had a handgun, the rest of them were facing him and had rifles and shotguns and who knows what else. Unless there was a distraction off to the side, he wasn't going anywhere.

But whatever he was scheming he was working on was quickly dashed away as a rough hand grabbed the yoke of his shirt and forced him forwards and down to the ground as a gun barrel was jammed into the back of his head again.

As his chin dragged across dirt, his arms shot out in front of him in an attempt to lift himself off the ground, but it was a futile attempt his right arm was kicked out from beneath him, causing him to fall to the ground again.

"Alright Sinner, no more excuses, time to die in the dirt like the worm you are" the Leader tried to say casually as he struggled to keep his grip on Rook with one hand and a gun trained on him with the other.

"Shit! Shit! Wait, please, wait!" Rook screamed as he struggled and flailed to break free from his executioner's grasp.

But his cries fell on deaf ears as the Leader remained silent aside from a few grunts as he still labored to keep his quarry under his grasp. With each passing second, Rook could feel the man loom further and further over him as he got closer and closer as he was closing in on getting him where he wanted him.

Feeling that his life was about to be cut short within the next few minutes, instead of spending that time shamelessly begging for his life, he wanted to make it worth while.

"Hurk, run! Get out of here! run! get back home!" Rook cried, beseeching his friend to flee.

As Rook fruitlessly struggled and fought to break free, the bulk of the peggies casually stood around and watched the spectacle with passive amusement, they found it funny to watch the man who drove John to such fury behind closed doors was now writhing in the dirt, begging for his life, like one of the many terrified citizen they dealt with the night the Father told them to go forth in the name of their holy mission, they couldn't help but giggle and smirk at how low he had fallen.

But still, Rook bucked and flailed, he wasn't sure if Hurk actually listened much less responded to his call, but at the moment he couldn't afford to look, if he was going to die, he was going out by fighting in some sort of manner. So he continued to squirm and twist himself as the Leader struggle to force him downwards as he muttered and grunted curses under his breath as his grip fluctuated, with every movement he made, Rook inched closer and closer until he got a few feet away from the rifle, the muttered cursing and grunts got louder and louder as he struggled to keep his grip, then, some how, some way, after endless struggle, he broke free, for a split second, the second he did, he rolled over onto his back so he could see his enemy as he scurried backwards as he crawled and kicked away as hard as he could while his eyes were glued to the Chosen peggie's handgun, but despite feeling like he made good distance towards the rife somewhere behind him, the Leader must have noticed just how close the Junior Deputy was to the discarded firearm, and quickly bent down even lower and grabbed one of Rook's kicking feet and pulled him back towards him

"Just stop fighting and go out with some dignity for the Father's sake" the man growled with irritation as he pointed the gun at Rook's head.

Rook froze with a gasp in petrifying horror as he looked up at the barrel shoved in his face, looking up at it, Rook felt deep within his very soul that the Leader was going to pull the trigger in the next few seconds.

This was it; he was going to die.

Rook braced himself for that half second of hearing the gunshot then nothingness.

But instead of a gunshot, he heard something else, there was a noise in the distance, it was some sort whirling noise, it was very faint, but it was there, it sounded like a oscillating fan.

Then the gun faltered, it drooped down slightly, breaking Rook's deer in the headlights look, unsure of what could be making the Leader hesitate, Rook looked up off the gun and at the man and saw even he was distracted as he wasn't even looking at the Junior Deputy and instead looking off to the right, into the distance, towards where the whirling noise sounded like it was coming from. He stood there, for a few moments in silence until the peggies behind him spoke up.

"Come on, what's the hold up, kill him already!" one whined.

"Kill him or don't make up your mind!" another whined.

But the leader still didn't do anything except for bringing his free hand up, motioning for them to stop as he looked up at what he believed to be the direction of the approaching noise. By now the rest of the peggies could begin to hear the encroaching noise and it made them all nervous as they all clutched their weapons nervously as the noise was also foreign to them. Whatever it was, it was not natural.

Rook wasn't sure what was going on either, everyone was at a weird standstill, he couldn't blame them, he too was confused and frightened to what could possibly be making said noise as whirling noise was getting louder and louder, he turned his head slowly towards the same direction as everyone else and watched the rolling hills in the distance, then, as the noise got even louder, a pink camo helicopter came whizzing into view, over the rolling hills and towards the packing plant, as it did, Rook's walkie talkie crackled to life.

"Hello there, Mister Deputy, so I hear you need help from little ol' me, you sure do know how to make a girl blush with all the thing the Pastor told me when he called this morning!" Adelaide's voice came euphemistically as she flew quickly towards the plant at top speed, closing the distance rapidly.

"What the fuck?!" The Leader cried in a mixture of confusion and disbelief as he wasn't sure of what was going on.

Then as the helicopter flew close to the plant, a hail of bullets rained down on the troupe of peggies, the heavy machine guns strapped to it's sides opened fire, hitting many, knocking them to the ground with the force of the heavy caliber bullet, killing them, those who weren't hit, instantly took off in all directions, looking for suitable cover, but it proved almost fruitless as Adelaide was a skilled pilot of her craft and maneuvered the helicopter effortlessly, orienting it with precision, keeping the heat on the hostiles that scattered like exposed rats, dropping body after body.

Seeing what was going on around him and too his comrades, the Junior Deputy cowering beneath him didn't seem so important anymore, instead of finishing him off like he wanted, he quickly backed away and ran towards the packing plant, hoping the buildings roof would protect him.

"Somebody, get the Air-force on the horn!" the Leader screamed as he ran for the cover towards the plant.

Shocked that the Leader just let him go, Rook lay there on the ground for a few seconds in awe just how close he was to dying as he listened to the heavy machine gun fire from above and the screaming from below. After a few seconds, the gears in Rook's head clicked and he remembered he was still in danger. With his adrenaline spiking again, he quickly scampered to his feet as he spun around and grabbed the rifle and held it close to him as he turned back around, gun at the ready and prepared to shoot anyone he saw.

But nothing was there.

All the Chosen peggies had run away and hid within the packing plant, those who didn't make it, lay on the ground, dead.

"Woooweeee!" Hurk's loud and excited voice came from behind him.

Rook turned to see Hurk hurriedly rush over to him, rocket launcher on his shoulder and in one hand and SMG in the other, a large grin on his face.

"You see that! My Ma is so fuckin' cool, but see that man, I kept you alive, I'm fuckin' awesome!" Hurk cried happily as he skidded to a halt in front of Rook.

"What…. uh yeah ok" Rook said absentmindedly as he wasn't all mentally there.

"Come on Bro, let's give 'em hell!" Hurk cheered as he dropped down to one knee an unloaded his rocket launcher, pulling a rocket from somewhere unseen on his person and slotted it in, as Addie a hundred feet hovered above, firing at the slightest bit of movement she could see within the plant.

Rook didn't say anything as he watched Hurk prepare his rocket launcher, instead he turned back to the packing plant. He couldn't see clearly inside, but he could see shadowy movements move across the open shutter doors. The Chosen were obviously up to something, there elevated status wasn't just for show. As Rook clutched his newly acquired rifle, watching the shadowy figures quickly move about, Rook mentally flipped through multiple ways on exterminating the threat, crafting different approaches with all the resources he had at hand, trying to create something half decent, but as he did, a low hum could be heard from within, something was being powered on, then all the shutter door slowly began to descend before picking up speed and sealing off the entrances. Leaving rook unsure how to feel about the sudden turn of events.

"Well damn Sugar; looks like they're hiding from us now" Addie's voice suddenly crackled through both Hurk's and Rook's walkies.

"No worries Ma, I'll blow it open" Hurk declared into his walkie as he sauntered towards one of the shutters with his rocket launcher over his shoulder.

"Hey man, be careful" Rook said concerned as he watched Hurk take a knee and aim the launcher at one of the shutter doors.

"I got this, Deputy destruction" Hurk said confidently as he lined up his shot.

Rook watched Hurk take his time with his shot, he couldn't help but worry, his nerves were still shot from what he just went through, and it left him in this constant state of fear, he wanted to leave, he wanted to run home and hide in his bed, he wanted to find Jess.

Then his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of loud whining engines that quickly faded into Rook's hearing; it made his already frantic nerves all the more frenetic as he knew exactly what it was, it was the sound approaching planes. His head snapped upwards to the bright blue sky dotted with the occasional cloud, and sure enough, there they were, two yellow airplanes careen through the air, coming in on a large crescent, trying to swoop around to get behind the unaware Adelaide.

"Hurk, we got incoming!" Rook yelled as his free hand frantically shot down to his belt, desperately trying to pull the walkie talkie from his belt to warn his airborne friend.

But by the time he actually got it in his hand, it was to late. The hard pops of heavy machine gunfire could be heard over head as the planes opened fire on the hovering helicopter when they swooped by, bullets slamming into the copter's hull, penetrating it. The sudden damage must have scared Addie as her copter jerked forward before trying her best to orient herself towards the threats but proved fruitless as the planes were much faster than her.

"Christ Almighty, what the hell was that?!" Addie cried as she oriented here aircraft.

Rook watched in horror as the plane passed by Addie and kept going for a few hundred feet before beginning to arc around for another strafing run.

"We got two planes coming right at you!" Rook cried into his walkie.

"Don't worry Darlin' I'll take care of them!" Addie declared as she oriented her copter to face the oncoming planes.

The second she did, she opened fire, causing the two planes to swerve and break off from their strafing run to protect themselves.

"Holy shit, dude!" Hurk cried in amazement as he watched his mother engage in life or death combat.

Rook watched to in silence, both terrified that she was going to die and amazed at her confidence to take on to superior adversaries. But as he watched he heard that same humming he heard minutes before, his head snapped down to see the shutter doors of the packing plant slowly rise, as it did, Rook could see the Chosen peggies standing behind it, ready to attack. The second Rook saw it, his heart skipped a beat and ran towards Hurk who wasn't paying attention.

He ran straight at him and grabbed him the second he made it to him and pulled him downwards towards a few nearby crates near the downed metal tower, as the two men went down, the rocket launcher on Hurk's shoulder threatened to fall off and hit both of them.

"Woah, Bro, what the fuck!?" Hurk cried in confusion, as he stumbled to the ground before trying to stand back up.

"No! No! No! stay down!" Rook cried as he pulled on Hurk, keeping him behind the few crates.

"The peggies are coming back out, they're going to swarm us now your mom's distracted!" Rook declared.

"Then let's get 'em, there aren't that many right? Ma gunned down a bunch remember?" Hurk offered.

Hearing that made Rook pause, he had forgotten that Addie did indeed thin the herd, fearing for your life makes one forget such things.

"Alright… I think I have some sort of an idea" Rook muttered.

"Then what should we do, Bro?" Hurk asked.

Rook stared at his friend for a few seconds as he thought of a decent response.

"Follow my lead" he replied, as he clutched his gun close then leapt out of cover, towards the enemy.

* * *

Adelaide was beginning to sweat, her confidence in taking out both planes was waning. The pilots weren't some run of the mill jobbers who got some second-hand training, these guys were experienced, not only that but their aircraft's were much nimbler than her copter could ever be. As she lined up her shot one plane, her helicopter was assaulted with another volley of bullets, causing her to swear loudly in frustration, the pilots were giving her no breathing room, leaving her no time to call her son and ask for some support via his rocket launcher, she was much to busy to tilt and look down and see what was going on down on the ground, but with each hit she took it reminded her that she had zero time to spare, if she wanted to win, she had to focus.

* * *

The second Rook jumped out of his cover, he moved to the right as he raised his rifle and began firing, he fired at the opening shutter and caused those behind it to flinch and duck, before running forward as best they could in their lowered state, shouting commands and returning fire as they tried to work their way towards the cover they established hours ago, but any attempt to gain the battlefield advantage was cut short by a deafening and fiery explosion that was quickly followed by a black puff of smoke.

Hurk had fired his rocket launcher, he had followed Rook's lead, going off to the left and lining up a shot while the Chosen were focused on the Junior Deputy, it made them easy pickings as they only moved a few feet forward, using the sudden shift in the battlefield, Rook hastily climbed over the downed metal tower and threw himself behind a upturned picnic table, as he lay on the ground listening to the Chosen freak out as they had forgotten about the rocket launcher, Rook considered his options in his current position. He wasn't sure how many chosen were left, he didn't get a good look at the enemy force on account of running for his life, a part of him felt bad for just abandoning Hurk with no set plan.

But he couldn't worry about that right now, he needed to focus the people trying to kill him. Ever so slowly he poked his head out the side of the picnic table and could see several bodies lay on the ground killed by Addie's guns or Hurk's rocket, Rook counted fifteen when he first rolled up, he had killed three before everything popped off, from where he sat he saw seven corpses, if his ability to do basic math still held true, which it did, then it meant there was five Chosen left. His eyes drifted up to the sky to the Chosen pilots literally flying circles around Addie who looked like she was struggling to keep up, a decent plume of black smoke fumed from where her engine resided.

"Alright Sinner" the Leader yelled, grabbing Rook's attention, snapping him back down to earth.

Rook looked ahead to see the Leader stand assertively outside the packing plant, handgun held tightly in one hand, his head on a swivel, scanning the yard in front of him, looking for the Junior Deputy. Rook looked over at Hurk on the other side of the metal tower, he was hiding behind the very same crate they both hid behind previously, he was reloading his rocket launcher has fast as he could. Then Rook turned back to the Leader who still hadn't moved, but this time he could see a few more Chosen poking up out the sides of the closet shutter door to the Leader, probably to take him out of whatever he was doing, but it was clear he wasn't listening.

"I know your not a fan of all this killing, I know you've spared a few of my brothers and sisters, here and in the Henbane, so how about I make one last deal with you" The Leader declared, then looked upwards.

"Your friend in the air isn't looking so good, so how about you and your fat friend surrender and in return we won't blow your friend out of the sky, and we won't kill you the second you surrender, that's a pretty good deal considering all of my men you killed" the man stated, projecting his voice over the front compound.

"We both know I can't do that!" Rook yelled over the table, the gun in his hands felt heavier and heavier with every word.

"Then so be it, you will die here then" The man declared confidently, pointing directly at the picnic bench Rook hid behind.

I was then Rook realized the Leader must have used his bargain to make Rook talk and in turn, give a way his position.

Then the Leader turned his back to Rook and Hurk and began slowly walking back inside the plant.

"Wait are you waiting for, you know where he is, go get him" the Leader, grumbled bitterly as he walked deeper inside.

The five Chosen were motionless for a few seconds before the command registered in their minds, once it finally hit, they snapped into action and charged out the door, towards the watching Junior Deputy.

"Son of a god damn bitch" Rook muttered in misery as tried he planned his next four moves.

* * *

**Hey y'all thank you so much for reading thus far, and thank you for the continued support, it means a lot to me.**


	36. Chapter 36

"Son of a god damn bitch" Rook muttered in misery as tried to plan his next four moves.

He couldn't help but swear as he watched the four Chosen peggies charging at him.

He pulled himself back behind the cover and looked over to Hurk on the other side of the fallen tower. He was still furiously reloading his rocket launcher; Rook didn't know how many rockets he had left but he hoped he still had a few more. He looked down at the rifle in his hands, it was a AK-47, Rook didn't hear the sound of a AK-47 ring out during the whole assault leaving him to only assume it had a full magazine in it, but it didn't really matter as he only needed five bullets to get the job done. But whatever he was thinking about was forgotten as bullets embedded themselves into the opposite side of the table splintering the side the Junior Deputy was on. That was all he needed to know it was his time to get back into the fight once more.

As the voices of the commanding peggies got closer, Rook could hear what they were saying, they were planning to flank him on both sides of the table, to peggies on each side. It made him very uneasy, but he had a silver lining; the plan he had been scheming seconds ago. It was to essentially run away.

Thankfully like all rifles, the AK-47 in his hands had a vinyl strap on it, allowing him to loop his arm through and strap it over his shoulder, before laying down on the ground and started crawling away, directly away from the plant, thankfully the ground was on a slight angle, angling down towards the path to the road, as Rook crawled away, he kept his eyes on his target, ahead of him, a handful of feet away were two barrels, knocked over by one of the bullhorns attached to the downed tower, the positioning of the barrels was just the right size and shape to hide a prone body.

He wasn't a fan of running, hiding then surprise attacking then repeat like some guerrilla fighter, or how it was the majority of his fighting repertoire, but this tactic hadn't steered him wrong before, well rather until today, so why not give it another try before he considered coming up with some new tricks.

With every foot Rook crawled forward, he could hear the scuffling of feet behind him, the Chosen were moving at a faster pace then him, motivating him to increase his pace and hurried towards the barrel, the gun on his back frantically bounced up and down. It scared him as every bounce felt like one of the peggies grabbing him once more. But it was all the more motivation to move forward faster. So, grunting and huffing, Rook crawled the several feet and hid behind the barrels.

As he rested, waiting for anything to denote the opportune time to strike, he wished Jess was here, her stealth and bow skills would have been extraordinarily useful in this scenario, but as much as we could wish and think about her showing up, he knew she wouldn't magically appear, leaving him to deal with the brunt of what was left of the Chosen. Hurk was somewhere off to his side, but more importantly he was also at the Chosen's side, with his SMG he was perfect to hit them from the side.

Then Rook heard the Chosen, they were making some sort of noises of confusion or misunderstanding, bewildered to where the Junior Deputy could have gone, that was all Rook needed to hear, the second he understood what was going on, he maneuvered himself and stood up, grasping his gun tightly and pointing it at the Chosen that stood before him and fired.

The Chosen gathered around the overturned picnic table weren't sure where the Junior Deputy went, but the two on the left of the table knew as the two on the right side collapsed as the sound of gunfire could be heard close by. They instinctively raising their guns at the source of the noise and firing back, causing Rook to drop back down into the dirt again, fearing for his life.

"A little help would be nice, Hurk!" Rook screamed for his friend's assistance.

Rook could hear the two remaining peggies remark about something before the voices were drowned out by the familiar popping rattle of Hurk's SMG, Rook wasn't sure what happened after that, but it sounded like it was safe enough to take a look at Hurk's efforts. Very carefully Rook looked up over the barrels to see one peggie lay on the ground; dead, while the other was putting distance from where they originally were, by running across the length of the plant's yard, to Rook's right. He would have shot him then and there, but he didn't have the chance. Before he could even grab his gun again, there was a deafening boom and a light rumbled beneath his feet, a hundred or so meters behind him, scaring the life out of him, it was far to large to be a grenade or even another rocket launcher, it sounded like the explosion of a car or other large vehicle.

"Who's your mama, fuck trumpet!" Addie's voice boomed confidently through Rook's walkie.

Unsure of what was going on, Rook quickly looked up towards the sky to see one smoking helicopter and one plane flying circles around the former like the moon orbiting around the planet. But what he didn't see was the second plane, it had disappeared from the cloudless blue sky. Then he looked over to the source of the noise to see a thick stream of smoke billow upwards from within the field of fruit trees. Then the puzzle pieces in his head slid together, the explosion must have been the second plane hitting the ground after Addie shot them down.

"Did she just bring a plane down?!" Hurk hollered.

"Yeah" Rook replied, a little stunned.

"Fuck yeah, that's my Mama!" Hurk boasted in response.

"Did you see where that last guy ran off to?" Rook yelled, trying to refocus on the situation at hand.

"The other guy?" Hurk said unassuredly.

Rook let out a sigh of exasperation, Hurk had the jump on both of them, how could he only kill one and forget about the one that ran.

With the fleeing peggie on Rook's mind, he turned his head at lightning speed to make sure that same peggie wasn't lining up a shot on him, but found he was no where to be seen, leaving Rook with the odd feeling of not being sure to be relieved he couldn't see the enemy or not, but before he could do anything else, Addie's voice came through the walkie once more.

"I'm struggling to keep her up, boys!" Addie's cried; her voice full of concern.

Rook quickly looked up again to see Addie's helicopter, a unnerving level of thick black smoke pumped out of the helicopter, the machine tilted and groaned as Addie tried to keep her aircraft level, but the whole effort seem almost useless as the plane that flew around her was much faster then her, forcing her to keep rotating in an attempt to keep it in her view. As much as he wanted to help her, there was nothing he could do, he was just a man with a rifle, if he truly wanted to help, he needed to deal with the Chosen that ran off, with that in mind, Rook turned his gaze back down to earth, but more accurately towards where the peggie ran off to; the far side of the building And to his dismay, the peggie had properly disappeared.

Rook let out another irritated groan as he stood up to full height as he carefully watched the area the peggie disappeared from but still couldn't see him, as a large box truck was parked right by the far side of the plant, backed up to a shutter door, the peggie could be hiding behind either the truck or the corner of the building, to make matters worse, Rook struggled to focus on any actual game plan as the ensuing dogfight above him made it difficult to think. The loud, repeating booms of machine guns and whirling of engines was like a thunderstorm that frayed Rook's nerves more then it already was.

"Hurk, stay here!" Rook ordered over his shoulder.

Unable to think, he threw cautious to the wind and almost ran towards the far-right corner of the building in a long arc to flank anyone if they were behind the truck and slowed as he got close, and with his rifle at the ready he swooped around, ready to fire but found no one was there. Leaving the side of the building as the peggie's escape route, ever anxious Rook slowly approached the corner of the building, the second he made it to the corner itself, he pressed up against it, holding his rifle close to his chest, he inhaled deeply a few times, trying to calm his ruined nerves, he wasn't sure if it helped or not, it certainly feel like it didn't, but he still needed to do what needed to be done, after one last inhale, he pointed his gun forward before quickly sweeping around the corner, pointing the gun at anything remotely human shaped.

To his relief and surprise, there was something human shaped, it was the peggie he had been looking for, but for some reason, the peggie was not looking for him.

The peggie wasn't looking at his general direction, instead he was violently fiddling with some kind of metal box pressed up against the side of the building, his rifle resting against it, it looked like an over sized steamer trunk or some other large metal crate. He was frantically shaking the lock on the container, as if he was trying to dislodge the locking mechanism and retrieve whatever could possibly be inside, after a few more rough shakes, the peggie's head snapped up in Rook's direction, their face a mask of fear as they knew their rifle was out of his reach, staring down the barrel of the Sinner's rifle, they wasn't sure what to do, But Rook did.

Then a few seconds later, a body hit the ground.

Despite all the peggies except for the Leader and plane now gone, Rook was oddly curious to what the peggie was doing prior to him showing up, how could a single box take precedence over his survival, perhaps whatever it was, it would help deal with the plane running Addie's helicopter, with that in mind, Rook quickly marched up to the box and examined the lock the peggie was messing with; it was a standard three-digit twist lock, a typical lock used to keep high school lockers shut, seeing this, he promptly raised his rifle and hit the lock with the rifle's butt; causing the padlock to pop of seamlessly, Rook knew the angle and power to hit it with as he had forgotten the combination on his high school lock pad a dozen times over his high school tenure and simply popped it open with his shoe and simply replaced the lock. With the padlock gone, Rook lifted the lid of the large box and peered inside to find that a lone firearm rested inside, it was a standard double barrel shotgun with unusually barrels. He wasn't sure why the singular weapon was isolated the way it was, but at the same time, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Well don't mind if I do" Rook shrugged as he looped the AK-47 and took the shotgun before sprinting back to his friends.

* * *

The second Rook came back around the corner, he got a full view of the dog fight, hundreds of feet above him, and full view of what he feared most, Addie descending from the sky.

"I'm going down!" Addie's voice cried from his walkie.

Rook heard what she said, but didn't bother to reach for the walkie, there was nothing he could say much less do, Addie was already falling from the sky, all he could do was possibly watch her die.

Adelaide's helicopter slowly fell from the sky, the propeller blades sluggishly spinning as it fell, picking up speed as it descended, heavy smoke pouring from the hull. She did her best to angle the aircraft, so the landing skids hit the ground first, she had experienced a few crash landings due to a few of her alcohol fueled sexual escapades but this one was going to be especially bad, even with the plane doing a victory lap above her, a part of her regretted never watching those shitty crash-landing training videos, all she knew how to do was to go limp and wait for impact.

"Mama!" Hurk cried in horror as he watched his mother's helicopter fall from the sky at an alarming speed before disappearing into the sea of fruit trees, followed by a loud bang as the large metal hull hit the ground, then a black plume of smoke peaked over the trees and floated up into the sky.

"Holy shit, Adelaide" Rook muttered in horror as he watched the smoke rise.

Then the wooden walls of the packing plant next to Rook exploded; large craters the size of a orange dotted the section of the wall Rook stood next to in a two horizontal lines, one above another, each creation of a hole launched hundreds of tiny flecks of wood in every direction, it scared the absolute shit out of Rook as he had no idea what was going on, leaving him with the only option to throw himself to the ground yet again, and that's what he did, he threw himself forward, letting gravity take him as he pushed way from the exploding section of wall, pulling the shotgun to his chest and holding onto it tightly as he hit the hard dirt ground.

With splinters raining down on him, Rook could hear a loud whining, whirling noise, it grew louder for a few seconds before quieting down a little bit. As Rook lay in the dirt, shotgun in hand and rifle on his back, he realized what just happened. He was too distracted by Addie's fate that he failed to realize that the plane's pilot now turned their attention on the primary threat and tried to get him with a strafing run but failed on the first run and was most likely coming back around for another try.

Fearing for the worst, Rook scrambled up onto all fours while trying to move forward, all the while trying to keep his grip on the shotgun. He could hear the airplane coming back as the propellers got louder and louder giving him all the more reason to pick up his speed. But the problem with trying to stand up while still hurrying forward on all fours was that one action almost made the other impossible, leaving Rook staggering forward like some kind of stout primate trying to move to the next stage of evolution.

As he awkwardly scampered forward a few feet, his head suddenly made contact with something flat and metal, with the momentum he had, his head stung in pain, causing him to fall backwards into the dirt with a pained groan, instinctively, Rook pressed his free hand against the sore spot on his head, he looked up at what he collided with, expecting it to be the Leader once more, but to his relative surprise, it was that same box truck he saw while looking for the peggie he just killed. With the plane getting louder and louder, Rook's desperation grew and grew, death was seconds away and he had no idea how to avoid it, all he had was a few half ideas.

One such idea was, if he was lucky, he could pull open the truck's driver side door and clamber inside, but then again being in an enclosed space, surrounded by glass didn't seem sound, and that was if the door was even unlocked.

With that idea gone, it left him with the next most sensible plan, to crawl, under the large vehicle, the truck's suspension looked just high enough for him to crawl underneath and such a large vehicle could possibly stop any gunfire, and with the plane's engine growing ever louder, he didn't really have time to weigh his options.

With no other options, he orientated himself onto all fours again and scampered forward, shotgun still clutched painfully in his hand as his fingers were pinched between the metal of the gun and the hard dirt when he put his weight on it. Right before he headbutted the side of the truck again, instead of connecting again, he dropped down onto his stomach and crawled forward, barely squeezing underneath, thankfully the truck suspension was high enough for him to crawl under the truck, the rifle on his back snagged on the truck's undercarriage as he went under but dislodging itself after a few seconds as Rook refused to let it stop him and pulled hard as he kept crawling.

The second his knees made under the truck, the machine gun fire started up again, causing him to stop moving and curled into a ball, pulling his legs up to his chest, saving them from danger. Then after a few seconds of gunfire, the truck swayed slightly as several bullets hit it's side, causing the sides to lean closer to the Junior Deputy underneath as it rocked to and fro. But as quick as the plane came, it left to carry out the rest of it's strafing run, kicking up small plumes of dirt and small stones with each bullet as it passed over the plant again, bombarding the front yard before pulling up once there was noting to shoot and begun arcing around for a third pass.

The second the heavy fire of the plane stopped, Rook began twisting and contorting himself as best as he could with the few inches he had to work with, trying to get himself in a position where he could see his friend, but to his dismay couldn't see anything worth while due to his closeness to the ground and the debris that scattered the yard. He couldn't see anything to signify Hurk's death, but he couldn't see anything that proved he lived either, but he couldn't think like that, he needed to be confident Hurk had the ability to keep himself alive.

He wanted to go out and check, but he was too afraid to leave his spot, so all he could do was yell for his friend.

"Holy shit Hurk, are you ok, are you hurt at all?!" Rook yelled in Hurk's general direction.

There was silence besides the sound of the plane for a few seconds before Rook could see what almost looked like a meaty hand poked up from behind the crate he was hiding from and waved it vehemently before disappearing behind the crate again.

"I'm alive and I really need help!" Hurk begged loudly.

"What do you want me to do!?" Rook yelled back as he fidgeted in his position.

"Shoot the plane, kill that sum bitch, he mighta killed my Mama!" Hurk yelled back fearfully.

"How, how the actual shit, do you expect me to bring a moving helicopter, hundreds of feet in the air down!?" Rook yelled back in utter bafflement from the request.

"I don't know, your Deputy Destruction, you always do the thing the right way!" Hurk cried.

Rook let out yet another irritated growl from Hurk dumping all the work on him.

"Dude, you have a laser guided rocket launcher, use it!" Rook screamed back.

"Do you wanna like, distract it?!" Hurk cried.

"Alright! Just, just get ready, we probably only have one shot at this!" Rook yelled back, frustrated.

"Yeah, you got it, Bro!" Hurk yelled in response, a hint of hesitation in his voice.

Rook let out yet another frustrated grumble before slowly climbing out from beneath the truck and stood up on uneasy legs.

"Alright, let's get this over with" he muttered to himself bitterly as he scanned the skyline for the plane, shotgun in hand.

He walked forward a few dozen steps, stepping clear of the truck, any debris or tripping hazards that would impede his mission, his eyes were locked on the plane in the distance, drawing closer and closer at a precipitous pace, causing Rook to tighten his grip on his gun nervously. He wasn't sure how to distract an incredibly fast moving, dangerous target, but he had to try, he was Deputy Destruction after all, everyone was counting on him.

* * *

As the plane drew close to the plant, Rook began slowly walking backwards, not taking his eyes off the craft, and as it began to lower to begin its next strafing run, Rook's slow back steps became bigger strides as he was beginning to regret his plan, but with how the plane was in the final stages of beginning its strafing run, lining up directly with the Junior Deputy, the pilot was gunning for him, but before the plane could open fire, Rook fired first.

"Hey! Over here, look at me!" Rook yelled as he raised his shotgun to the plane and fired, hoping it would cause the plane to react in any fashion.

The boom that emitted from the firearm when he fired was near deafening, it was like the buckshot was being propelled by dynamite, not gunpowder, the gun bucked back in his grasp, the butt digging into his shoulder, almost knocking him over, with the power it had, he wasn't sure if he was holding an elephant gun, but as loud and threatening as it was, he knew he didn't hit the plane, it was a shotgun after all, not a rifle.

And of course, the plane did not budge, it continued its beeline towards him, and then; the second it entered over the plant's property, it opened fire, raining a barrage of bullets at Rook.

At the first moment of the machine guns opening up, Rook dove to his right, towards the box truck, hoping the truck, a few meters from him would break the view on him, but it hardly mattered as the truck shook again from the top of the bay was riddled with bullets, but this time it shook much harder as it caught more bullets this time before the plane flew overhead, killing its machine guns and flying out of the plant once more.

With the machine gun fire gone, Rook immediately scrambled to his feet, desperate to keep his grip on his gun, as if it was going to do him any good.

Back on his feet for what felt like the umptieth time today, Rook tilted his head back to start up into the skies, watching the plane fly away, but to his horror, instead of the plane taking its time arcing back around, it began its turn the second it left the plant's property, probably eager to kill the Junior Deputy below. Rook wasn't sure if Hurk was holding up his end of the aircraft take down or not, he was much to scared to take his eyes off the plane as it swooped around to try again.

"Hurk, get ready, things are about to get real!" Rook yelled as he began to quickly backpedal again, gun at the ready.

Hurk didn't respond, Rook could only hope he was doing as such.

With the plane lowering itself, ready to try again, Rook was growing scared again, there was nowhere he could take cover from; he didn't want to use the truck again as one bullet could pierce the gas tank and ignite its contents. With no other options, he picked up his pace and backpedaled faster, watching the plane for when it opened fire again.

And then, the second the plane flew over the plant; it opened fire.

Bullets peppering the ground twenty feet in front of Rook, kicking up more dirt and pebbles, then hail of bullets move towards Rook at an alarming speed as the plane flew over the plant again. Rook was expecting the fire, but it still scared him, nonetheless, it was a heavy machine gun, one shot would ruin him. But that same ruinous feeling pushed him into doing something, he had to protect himself. He raised his shotgun and fired again, hoping this time it would do something this time, but unsurprisingly it did not.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Rook barked to himself as he fumbled with the shotgun, he wasn't sure what to do with it, or in general as it was double barrel shotgun, it could only use two rounds, two rounds he had used inefficiently.

And the pilot must have known it as well as they seemed to pull back on the throttle, lifting the line of fire on his aircraft, bringing the gunfire that much closer to Rook. Watching all of this play out in front of him, Rook knew he was about to be torn apart in a matter of seconds, he needed to do something, he needed to get to safety, but to do that he needed to get out of his backwards jaunt and actually run.

But trying to turn around and commit to a full run while running backwards at a decent speed, proved difficult, but still he had to try. With a single deep breathe, Rook twisted one leg out to his side and tried to use his momentum and spin around like he had seen Jess do a few times in their adventures

But as he brought his other leg over his body to fully turn, the tip of his boot tapped of the side of his stationary leg, causing him to stumble forward, making him stagger and wobble a few feet before falling face first onto the ground, shotgun skidding out from underneath him.

The second he hit the ground he did everything in his power to push himself forward again, but deep down in his heart he knew it wouldn't be enough, he had already lost to much ground and time to save himself, a part of him wanted to go limp so what was about to happen would be painless, it was all he could do anymore.

Then Rook heard a loud explosion above him.

Scared and confused, he rolled onto his side and looked upward, to see the plane but saw that the left wing of the plane, snapping it from the hull like a Popsicle stick and breaking clean off before falling away from the airplane as the plane fell as well, flittering towards the ground like broken kite, headed towards the center of the many fruit fields, a decent fire stocking in the crater of where the rest of the wing should have been.

"Wooohooo yeah baby, take that!" Rook heard Hurk cheer, somewhere behind him.

But Rook watched the yellow plane fall like a wounded bird in silence, an immense wave of relief washed over him, this was another one of those instances in which he should have died, but yet against all odds, he was alive.

Seeing the coast was clear, Rook rolled onto his back to rest properly and catch his breathe, rifle sliding to his side, breathing heavily he stared at the quickly dissipating black streak of smoke that trailed across his view of the Montana sky as he listened to Hurk cheer and boast over his accomplishment.

"Hey Bro, you good?!" he heard Hurk call out in concern, now noticing Rook not moving on the ground.

"Yeah… all good" Rook said in his best attempt at a raised voice.

He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and sat there for a few seconds before standing up fully again.

Feeling tired and sore again, he looked around for the shot gun he lad lost moments ago and quickly found out a few feet away, wanting it back, he slowly shuffled over to where his shotgun lay, and with a tired groan, bent down and reacquired the gun.

He looked down at the gun in his hands, even though it was empty, it made him feel safe to a degree, it clearly had enough power to bite through Kevlar if he was close enough, he almost wished he had some shotgun shells. But as he stood there, examining his gun, fatigue slowly creeped back into his bones, making his knees begin to buckle and shake, causing him to question his ability to stand, to counter this uncertainty, he used the long shotgun as a crutch, burying the barrel in the dirt and leaned against the other end.

"Bro that was amazing, did you see that, that bitch didn't see that shit coming!" Hurk cheered as he watched Rook walk over to him, using the shotgun as a cane.

"Yeah man, great shot" Rook replied as his eyes scanned the area.

The zone was matted with destruction and bodies, a horrible thing to happen at a place that provided food.

Then, both his and Hurk's walkie talkies crackled to life.

"Hey boys, y'all still alive over there, that boom was that fuckin' plane, right?" Addie's voice cracked.

Hearing Addie's voice was a surprise to both men as they expected her crash to be for the worst.

"Holy shit, Addie, are you ok?" Rook asked in concern, before bringing his walkie to his mouth.

"Hey Ma, that was crazy!" Hurk exclaimed into his walkie as well.

"Yeah I'm fine Sweetheart, but we got a problem, Tulip here is all kinds of banged up, she ain't going anywhere anytime soon" Adelaide responded.

Rook took his thumb off the walkie's button and let out an angry sigh, if Adelaide couldn't figure out a way to get her helicopter in the air, then everything they had done up till now had been fruitless.

"So, can you get it off the ground at all?" Rook asked, trying to stay hopeful.

"I can get it a few feet off the ground, but that's about it" Addie admitted.

Rook took his thumb off the button again to swear, before pressing it again.

"So, do you need any help getting it back home or whatever?" Rook asked, feeling completely defeated.

"It's ok Sweetheart, me and Xander got the ol' bird out here using the roads and a flatbed to keep the planes away, so we can get it back to the Love Shack no problem" Addie said confidently.

"The Love Shack?" Rook said, unsure if he really wanted the details.

"My marina, Darling" Addie answered facetiously.

"Oh, right uh, good luck with that" Rook replied.

"But again, sorry I couldn't help out other then dealing with those sky hoggin' circle jerkers" Addie grumbled.

"It's alright Miss Drubman, you've done more then enough already, I don't think we wouldn't have made it this far with your great helicoptering" Rook said, trying to reassure his friend.

"You went out of your way to look after little ol' me but got no pay off… Perhaps there is something else I can do to make it up to you, hmm?" Addie offered in a softer tone; her voice as smooth as silk.

Hearing that, Rook shivered, he wasn't sure what she was selling but whatever it was, he didn't want it.

"Uhhh, thanks Addie, but it's all good, just get you and your helicopter home safe and I'll give you a ring if I need any more help" Rook said uneasily.

"Aw, your no fun… thanks for keeping my son safe, Sweetheart" Addie pouted, almost sounding a little disappointed he didn't take her up on her offer, before the walkie clicked off.

As Rook clipped his walkie to his belt, Hurk hurriedly jogged over to him, coming to a stop, feet in front of him.

"Fuck yeah, my Mama's all good!" Hurk grinned.

"Yeah, that's a relief" Rook replied.

"You can't just kill my Mama, she's as tough as nails" Hurk laughed.

"Yeah, she's pretty cool, but now that we know she's ok, let's get back to the job, let's get that last guy" Rook ordered, gesturing to the packing plant.

"Let's do it Bro" Hurk replied before turning to the plant and quickly marched towards it.

Rook followed Hurk, staying right beside him, they moved quickly but slowed as they got closer, not wanting to give away their position Rook broke off from Hurk as they neared the shutter bay, allowing one of them to take cover on either side of the shutter door, scared of whatever could be in store for them, Rook gently placed the empty shotgun down, propping it against the side of the shutter door and slowly retrieved the rifle on his back before reluctantly peeking into the building and quickly relaxed as his fears were taken away as he could see the Leader, he was sitting on the edge of one of the many conveyor belts, hands in his lap.

Somewhat confused, Rook signaled Hurk to follow him as he entered, and cautiously approached the man glaring indifferently at him, he kept his rifle trained on the man just in case.

"Well it looks like this is it, hm?" the Leader said, sounding unusually calm, almost disappointed or annoyed as the two men approached him.

"End of the road dude" Hurk declared confidently as he pointed both rocket launcher and SMG at the sitting peggie.

The Leader rolled his eyes at Hurk's energy and attitude despite the situation.

Rook remained silent as he slowly approached the sitting man, rifle trained on him and watched him closely, his finger on the trigger, debating on pulling it or not, his morals wouldn't allow him to shoot the unarmed man, but if he didn't, who knows what he might try, it left Rook at a crossroads, he wasn't sure if he should just gun down the man or not.

"Well go ahead, kill me, Sinner" the Leader spat at Rook as if he could read minds.

"It doesn't matter how many of us you murder us, there will always be someone to take our places, you can't stop the word of John, you can't stop the Father's will" The Leader preached, still monotone.

Just the mention of John's name made Rook's blood boil, after everything he had seen in the valley, everything the peggies had done on John's orders; the mutilation of the living and dead, the abject looting and robbery, the countless murdered and kidnapped, it made him sick that such monsters like John existed. And it made him sick that people like the peggie before him existed, on John's orders he had butchered the people that were once stationed at this very plant, he had shot Nick in the leg and almost had him and Hurk killed, all because one man heard a voice in his head.

and it made Rook hate Joseph and everything he stood for all the more.

Spurned by his anger, Rook wanted to do something, not to the Leader, but to John, some sort of payback for everything he had done to the Valley and to him, his mind spun for a few seconds for something that would fulfill his desire to spite john and not outright murder the Leader.

Then, an idea was born in his mind.

Rook slowly lowered his gun, pointing it away from the Leader.

"I'm not going to kill you" Rook said coldly.

"You're not?" the Leader said calmly, intrigued.

"So long as you don't give me a reason" Rook growled.

"Wait, seriously Bro?" Hurk gasped, looking at his friend in surprise.

"Seriously" Rook said, not breaking eye contact with the Leader.

"Yes, I want him alive; I want him to deliver a message to John" he said gravely.

"I'm listening" the Leader said, looking at Rook intently.

"Tell him, I am coming for him, tell him to either surrender peacefully and be taken into custody like any other culprit or sit around and I will take him in personally, and I won't care how I do it" Rook seethed.

"Now what makes you think I'll actually do it, let alone not try to take your lives the second you let your guards down?" the Leader asked.

"Like you said, I blew away who knows how many of your guys and I just dealt with your pack goons, one more peggie won't bother me any" Rook stated coldly.

"That's not very reassuring" the Leader responded.

"Listen... Guy" Rook said unassuredly as he didn't know how to refer to the man.

"You didn't outright kill me, so I won't outright kill you, and as much as I hate you I'm not a fan of killing the defenseless, and on top of that I want to be better then you, I'm not stooping to your level, I'm not just going to mow down anyone who doesn't have my beliefs or doesn't conform to my ideals like this is the god damned so called holy crusade or something, so I will tell you one last time" Rook growled.

"Get a move on, or I really will kill you" Rook seethed.

The leader regraded Rook for a few seconds, examining every detail on his face as if looking for anything that could prove any truth to his words or not, then his eyes flicked over to Hurk whole still pointed his SMG and rocket launcher at him, not only that but stood far to close, if he were to fire, the ensuing explosion would very well kill all three of them.

"You surprise me Sinner, you're not what the Father told us about, but yet… somehow you are" the Leader said curiously.

"Your also different from the usual peggies I come up against, I'll give you that" Rook replied.

"There's an outpost not far from here, fifteen minutes if I run" the Leader spoke.

"Then you better start running" Rook replied, not missing a beat.

"Maybe I should" the Leader said before cautiously standing up and slowly began walking towards the single, half open shutter door the Junior Deputy first entered from, Rook and Hurk followed from a safe distance, watching the man intently for anything suspicious. Rook watched closely as the Leader bent down and ducked underneath the shutter door and continued to saunter forward, once the man was far enough from the door, Rook quickly ducked under to step through and when he stood back up he could see the leader, a few meters ahead of him, he was stand motionless, with his back to the Junior Deputy, staring off into the fields of fruit trees.

"What are you waiting for?" Rook asked as Hurk grunted and struggled to duck under the shutter with a rocket launcher.

The Leader was silent for a few seconds, then, he started to speak, not bothering to face the Junior Deputy.

"Your going to regret killing me you know, I'm slowly figuring you out, the next time we meet, I _will_ kill you" he said

"I guess I'll burn that bridge when we get there" Rook offered solemnly.

"Watch your back Sinner, John is planning big things for you and your town, and now so am I" the Leader spoke before casually walking forward, towards the endless rows of fruit trees.

The two stood wordlessly and watched the lone cultist march solemnly through the rows and rows of fruit trees until the man was far into the distance, once he was far enough away, Rook let out and unease sigh as his head dropped forward and stiff shoulders dropped, gun still clamped, painfully tight in his hands.

"This whole day has been awful" Rook quietly admitted.

"Bro, what if he comes back with more guys" Hurk asked nervously, not acknowledging what Rook had just said.

"Then we should get out of here asap" Rook grumbled before pulling himself together, the promptly turning back around and re-entered the shipping plant.

Rook let out another annoyed sigh, with the mission being a complete and utter failure, all that was let to do was go collect Nick from behind the shipping container and head on home. Rook just wanted to get back to Falls End, he was already tired and sore and his temper was slowly getting the better of him, from some reason just the mention of John was setting him off more then it usually did, and it didn't help that this whole escapade had been a failure. As he walked through the packing plant, he was really dragging his feet, the constant flow of adrenaline would do that to a person, but he was still all together just enough to remember his wounded friend, Nick, he needed to retrieve Nick from behind the shipping container, the plant had been silent for some time now, that must have made him quite nervous by now, as he closed the distance to the other side of the plant, he could see Hurk jog over to the far left of the room, probably getting distracted by something he determined as "Radical" the after a few moments of touching whatever he was interested in, he began calling for Rook's attention from somewhere to Rook's left.

"Hey Bro, come check this out!" Hurk yelled enthusiastically.

"I can't dude, gotta help Nick!" Rook returned, not interested in whatever catch Hurk's interest.

"Your really gonna wanna see this, trust me my guy, this is great!" Hurk yelled again.

"I don't have time for this, dude!" Rook called back, starting to get irrigated by Hurk's shenanigans, as he could be getting by anything.

"Bro, your really gonna wanna see this, trust me this is radical!" Hurk called back.

With an irritated sigh, Rook gave into Hurk's pleading, the faster he got it out of the way, the faster he could get to Nick, besides, Nick had been waiting all this time, it wouldn't hurt to wait a few more minutes.

He turned and almost stomped towards Hurk who was standing feet from the far-left shutter door; it must have been closed as no sunlight shone through like the other doors.

"Alright, dude what's up?" Rook sighed as he approached Hurk.

"Check it, Bro!" Hurk grinned as he pointed to his left, directly at the shutter bay next to them.

Rook turned his head to the shutter, the doorway was dark as something blocked the doorway, but it wasn't the shutter itself, it was the back of a box truck, he remembered seeing it when he and his team first scouted out the place. The truck's back door was half open, not enough for Rook to see inside.

"A truck?" Rook questioned.

"Open it" Hurk grinned.

Not interested in playing games, Rook stopped asking questions and placed a hand on the bottom of the truck door and pulled upwards, opening it fully.

Rook's eye's adjusted to the dim light, he could see the contents of the box truck, inside the truck was absolutely stuffed with wooden crates, the same wooden crates that had littered the area, filled with produce.

"Holy shit" Rook muttered in awe.

"I know right!" Hurk smirked as he playfully punched Rook in the shoulder a few times.

"This is unreal" Rook muttered.

"Believe it!" Hurk said confidently while striking some weird pose.

Rook stared at the truck's contents for a few more seconds in amazement before quickly shut the truck door and hastily turned back to Hurk.

"Ok, you try to get this thing back to town, I'll get Nick and meet you there" Rook asked quickly.

"Aye, aye, Captain" Hurk said, saluting Rook, before placing his rocket launcher on the ground then ran off to find a way to get the truck moving.

With Hurk given his task, Rook went back to retrieving Nick, he wanted to get him ready to be moved, who knows how much blood he had lost since they last saw each other, now that he was thinking about it, it made him nervous to think what kind of state Nick could be, now properly worried, Rook hurried out the shutter door and towards where left Nick, but not before retrieving the shotgun he left by the shutter and quickly moved towards the shipping container but took it slow as he got closer as he remembered that Nick had a gun with him and did not want to spook him.

"Nick, you alright back here?" Rook called out as he stood feet from the container.

"Ben!?" Nick cried out, almost sounding like he didn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'm coming around the corner, don't shoot me" Rook offered as he slowly moved around the container and rested the shotgun against the container next to him before taking a knee a few feet to Nick's side and regarded him.

He could see the pool of blood his leg was laying in seemed bigger, but Nick looked physically and emotionally fine despite having to listen to everything that went down since they showed up, but he was shaking ever so slightly, from blood loss or fear.

Despite warning Nick, Rook felt that he still spooked him as he approached his friend, Nick seemed to come to life, the handgun in his hand twitched towards the Junior Deputy.

"Holy shit dude what's going on!?" Nick asked in utter bewilderment.

"It's all good, everything is under control" Rook sighed, adrenaline fatigue catching up to him.

"Did Adelaide fucking crash!?" Nick asked loudly.

"Uh yeah, but she's all good… I think, the main thing is she's getting herself and her helicopter back home" Rook answered, waving a limp hand.

"You're not going to believe it but uhhh… Hurk saved the day" Rook said, rubbing his arm absentmindedly.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Nick demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Rook, refusing to believe Hurk actually saved anything that wasn't junk food or beer.

"I'm for real dude, he blasted an airplane out of the air, saved my life that's for sure" Rook admitted.

"Fuck me" Nick muttered as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Hurk fucking Drubman saved the day, shit I guess the world really his ending" Nick joked.

"Hey, don't jinx it, now come on, I'm getting you out of here, we found a truck full of goodies, Hurk's going to drive it and follow us back to town in your truck" Rook explained.

"Sounds good to me, I had enough of sitting around and letting you and Hurk do all the work" Nick joked as he tucked his handgun back into his waistband before holding out an open hand to his friend.

"Your going to tell me what happened right, sounded like fuckin' world war three out here" Nick asked as Rook took his hand.

"You got it, Bro" Rook replied.

* * *

The drive back to Falls End was a quiet, or more accurately it was quiet aside from Rook asking Nick about his condition every five minutes.

After he had helped Nick into the passenger seat of his truck, Rook looked back to Hurk who was still desperately searching for a way to start the box truck by looking over every square inch of the plant's interior, seeing this he decided to help him as who knows how long it would take unassisted, and after a few minutes of patting down the Chosen that Adelaide had shredded before the planes showed up, he found a set of keys in one of their pockets. Happy with his discovery, he handed the keys off to work Hurk before quickly returning to Nick and climbed into the driver's seat of his truck and waited for Hurk. And after a few minutes, the head lights of the truck turned on and slowly rolled forward, very carefully maneuvering around the debris and other road hazards and rolling down the dirt road and regrouping with Nick and Rook before the two vehicles drove off back to Fall End, leading to the not so quiet drive home.

The relief Rook felt when they pulled into Falls End was palpable, after everything he had been through today, he just wanted to eat something then sleep for sixteen hours, but not before

As they drew closer to the Spread Eagle Bar, both Nick and Rook could see a small group of townsfolk idly hanging around the front entrance of the road, the bar was clearly open, but yet they did not enter, curious, Rook slowed the truck down and pulled up next to them to find out what was going on, and to the group's surprise, they did not expect to see the Junior Deputy and a wounded crop duster pilot, it turned out they expected Adelaide to call ahead as she was coming into town with the food crate and they were supposed to help unload the precious cargo. Rook gave them a heavily abridged recap of what happened and where Adelaide was. They were quite surprised to hear what had happened, but that surprise was short lived as they did have a job to do, the majority of the group quickly relieved Hurk of the truck and parked it closer to the bar and begun unloading it's contents, while two others carefully removed Nick from his truck and carried him off to get his leg looked at.

With Nick gone, Rook couldn't just park the truck somewhere and call it a day, it was Nick's truck after all, he needed to return it to him once he was ok to drive again, so in the meantime, Rook parked the truck in front of the box truck and exited. He walked up to the bar's entrance and pushed open the door to the bar and saw Mary and Jerome watching people filling up the freezer room with food.

"Hey guys, I'm back" Rook almost sighed, As the door closed behind him.

"Benjamin" Mary said almost immediately, turning to look at him with wide eyes.

"So mission accomplished, huh?" Rook shrugged.

"What happened, where's Missus Drubman, are you ok?" she asked in quick succession as she almost ran towards Rook to properly examine him.

"Yeah I'm fine, Nick is the one who's a little banged up" Rook answered as he felt a little uncomfortable under Mary's intent gaze.

"Glad to see everything went seemingly alright, Deputy, good job" Jerome said, finally speaking up and casually approaching Rook and Mary.

"But I do have to ask, where is Missus Drubman?" he asked.

"As I said before I left, shit went off the rails" Rook stated, a little irritated.

"Is she ok?" Mary asked, growing more concerned.

"Yeah she's fine, but I don't expect any helicopter support for a little while" Rook sighed.

"That is a bit of a disappointment, but I'm sure her help was invaluable in your success, and I take it Mister Rye is alright?" Jerome said.

"You could say that again" Rook said as he mentally shutter, he really didn't want to think about what he had just been through.

"But now that your back with all that food, and that's what's important, and now we can talk about the next thing we need you to do" Mary said confidently.

"Wait what?" Rook asked quickly.

He was confused as to what they could possibly want him to do after coming back from the packing plant war zone, surely, they didn't expect him to load up and go back out on another suicide mission.

"Now that your back, we can move onto the next step of the plan" Jerome clarified.

"What about what happened at the packing plant!" Rook cried in disbelief.

"What happened at the packing plant?" Jerome asked, almost taken aback by Rook's sudden outburst.

"Nick and Adelaide almost died today, hell! I almost died multiple times in the last hour, I was held at gun point, a gun was pressed against my head and used me as a hostage!" Rook declared loudly in a mixture of fear and anger.

"I'm sorry to hear that but by the looks of things, you all made it out alright, so why not we keep going?" Jerome offered tentatively.

Rook was silently stunned by what they expected from him, how could they just ignore what happened to him and expect him to carry on as if it didn't, a verbal pat on the back didn't wipe away the fear he felt, the death he saw, the friends he almost lost.

"No!" Rook exclaimed, taking a single step back.

"Like hell I'm going back into that shitshow! I thought I was going to actually die like three times within the last hour, how could you possibly think I would actually want to do anything like that in the near future?!" he yelled.

Upon hearing this, Mary and Jerome exchanged looks for a quick second before turning back to him, both of them wearing a mask of great concern.

"I'm sorry you feel this way but we need you to keep the pressure on John, if we want him to make a personal show of force, we need to keep hitting him where it hurts" Mary said softly as she gently took a step towards him.

"But why just me!?" Rook exclaimed, taking another step back, his hands, balled up in tight fists.

"Why am I always spearheading this shit, I get I'm a Junior Deputy and I'm supposed to be helping, but I'm not the only guy doing this shit, we're a resistance for a reason, where's everyone else!" Rook cried.

"Listen Benjamin, just hear us out, we want you to steal my father's truck from the peggies, you remember it right? The big rig with the guns? They took it right after he died" Mary asked quickly and quietly.

"Listen Mary, I'm really sorry your dad is gone, and his truck was stolen, but I'm not getting back, I'm sorry but I feel it would be waste of time and I don't think it's worth the risk, We have more important things to do then get one truck with some sentimental value" Rook indignantly.

"My father would use the truck to chase peggies out of town almost every night, that was years ago, by now those same peggies tell stories about it around the campfire, if we get it back on the road

"I'm not some guy who will go run off and do very errand and fetch quest you give me, you guys make me out to be the only guy who's able to stop Joseph, so let me do that instead of making me do every little thing, back to back to back!" Rook yelled.

"Besides how it one truck, one truck going to stick it to John, like really, it's one truck, sure it has guns, but I doubt John cares that much!" he continued vehemently.

"Rook just calm down a moment so we c-" Mary tried to say as she offered a reassuring hand to him, hoping to calm him in some capacity.

"I will _not_ calm down!" Rook shouted as he fought the urge to smack away Mary's hand.

"Just because you guys give me a pat on the back or pin a little metal to my shirt doesn't just wipe away the shit I saw and the fear I felt, do you think I enjoy murdering people, I don't care if it's self defense, I'm still murdering!" Rook exclaimed angrily.

"This is bullshit! I refuse to go out and risk my life again, I'm not a machine, I'm a person, a very afraid person!" he continued.

"Ben, hold on let's just sit down and talk about this!" Jerome said, raising his voice to be heard over Rook's emotionally tangent.

As Jerome spoke, he moved towards Rook, to give his own attempt to calm the man down, but Rook understood what Jerome was going to try to clam him down before sending him off for another highly dangerous mission.

And Rook wanted to hear none of it.

"NO! You guys got your goddamn food, I'm taking so time off, goodbye!" Rook said loudly before stomped away quickly, towards the door.

As he made is quick exit, he could hear Jerome and Mary tried to call him back and make other promises, but still, he didn't care, he just wanted to feel safe. So, he pulled open the front door and stomped out of the establishment, slamming the door behind him. Before either bartender or pastor could catch up to him. Rook quickly stomped down the road, leaving Nick's truck on the side of the road and hurried to his home, he hoped Jess wasn't in there for some reason, he just wanted to be left alone for the time being.

Rook promptly stomped down the street and quickly towards his house, but instead of entering through the front door, he went around the side of the building, in between the building itself and the auto shop next door to make sure none of the windows of his house were ajar, he knew he locked the front door but he wanted to make sure Jess didn't find any alternate ways in, but the quick search revealed nothing was amiss, he turned to head for the front door, his walkie talkie crackled to life, he expected it was Jerome or Mary trying to talk to him again, in response to the, Rook brought a hand to his walkie to turn it off, but before he could the voice came through.

"I'm not sure how many times I need to tell you, but threats won't work on me, try as you may, can't stop me, stop the Father; the voice of God?" John's voice crackled.

Rook hesitated for a single second as he didn't expect his message to be delivered so quickly, and with the passing of that second, the anger came flood into Rook, he ripped the walkie from his hip and brought it to his mouth.

"Well then it was a good thing it wasn't a threat, it was a promise, I promise you, if you surrender now and you won't be harmed or I promise you, it won't matter how many weak-minded people with guns you hide behind, I will find you, and I will arrest you" Rook commanded trying to keep his anger in check.

"You know, you remind me of the boys I grew up with in the orphanage I was in when I was young boy, you remind me of someone who is always blaming others for your mistakes" John said condescendingly almost as if trying to suppress a laugh.

"Excuse me?!" Rook spat as he looked down at the walkie talkie in his hand.

"The boys I grew up with were always so hateful over the lot in life, no parents to care for them, no love and no future, just hate, angry for where they were in life, for not being able to have what they want, and I just can't help but see them in you" John said smugly.

"Your wrath makes you to destroy everything your afraid of, everything you don't like, everything that the Father stands for!" John declared vehemently.

"You know what, John!" Rook barked into his walkie.

"I honestly don't care what you think about me, I doesn't matter, none of it will matter when I break down your bunker's front door, march my way to your creepy little torture dungeon, and slap my handcuffs on you… and that's if you lucky, so just surrender and make it easier for both of us!" Rook angrily retorted.

John's response came in the form of a hearty laughter.

"It is God's will that we are to succeed in our efforts, you can't fight it, so you can continue to blame this and blame that, blame me, blame the ground beneath your boot, blame whatever you want, you will never succeed, not until you allow me to pull all that wrath and other sins out from you, and maybe even a little more" John growled, but his voice became lower when he said the last few words.

"Atonement is the final step before fully accepting the word of the Father in your heart, our sins, having finally been exposed, can now be removed, freeing our souls and opening our hearts, now the pain of the atonement is measured by the severity of the sin, and thanks to your deputy friend; Hudson here, the sins of this little resistance is indeed… severe, you will all atone for what you have done, and you will all welcome the word of the Father into your hearts, you will all say yes…" John's angry monologuing slowly becoming preaching.

"Shut up, just shut up John!" Rook snapped loudly.

"I don't care, I really don't care for what you have to say, your just another broken goddamn record spouting the same bullshit over and over again, I don't care about the word of the Father, or sins, or opening my heart, all I care about is make sure you and the rest of your sick, twisted, goddamned family behind bars with the rest of murders and rapists and other monster, even if it kills me, because that's where all you monsters belong!" Rook shouted into his walkie talkie.

John was silent for a few seconds, either mulling over what he just heard or controlling his anger, Rook couldn't tell.

"The end is coming and despite what I think about you, the Father personally wants you to join our family, be ready, Deputy, you will join like it or not" John spat irritably.

Then the walkie talkie clicked off.

Rook stared down at his walkie, for a few seconds, John just hanging up out of nowhere was the icing on the anger cake that was building within him.

Then, Rook let out a small roar of anger.

* * *

John stared down at the walkie talkie in his hand, he felt he had said enough to the Junior Deputy, just enough to spur his deviant urges, but not enough for wanton violence, it was the setup he needed.

"You hear that?" John said gruffly, looking from the walkie and across his lavish oak desk, where one of his more competent peggies, a Chosen, stood patently.

"Yes Sir" the Chosen peggie replied instantly.

"He embarrassed you and your troupe quite thoroughly at the packing plant today, don't you agree?"

"Yes Sir" the Chosen Leader replied instantly.

"The Father will not be happy with all the losses you took today, the men, the location… the rations we could have stored away for the end" John griped, especially towards the end of his sentence.

"Yes Sir" the Chosen Leader replied instantly.

"Maybe the Father would overlook past these failures, if you were to bring the Sinner to me, then perhaps Eden's Gate will remain to open you" John offered smugly, slowly placing the walkie talkie on the desk before him.

"But this time you're not going in with a bunch of top soldiers like before, I'm assigning you two entry level members to assist you, order them around as you please" John instructed.

"Sir, I don't mean to question you, but are these entry levels grunts really necessary to capturing the Sinner?"

"I don't know how but they captured the Deputy a few days ago and brought him back here, something you and your company couldn't do" John groused.

"Yes Sir, my apologizes Sir" the Chosen Leader replied instantly.

And with that, John wordlessly rapped his knuckles against the surface of his desk, then a few seconds later the pressurized door slowly opened and two peggies stepped through, a middle aged, Caucasian, barrel chested man, and a young stout, African American woman stepped entered the room and tentatively approached the desk, then John looked back to the Chosen Leader.

"Gordon, this is…" John said, then trailed off as he struggled to remember the names of the people who just entered the room, snapping his fingers a few times in contemplation.

"Frank, Sir" the barrel-chested man said.

"Emily, Sir" the stout woman said.

"Right, right, Gordon, take Frank and Emily here and capture the Sinner again, do whatever you have to if it means completing your objective, and when you succeed" John said, sitting down in the lush and large leather chair that was tucked into his side of the desk.

"Eden's Gate will be open to all of you" he said haughtily.

"Yes Sir" all three peggies said and unison.

"Good… so what are you waiting for, get to work" John commanded.

Silently the three peggies promptly turned a walked out the open door, once far enough away from John, Frank spoke up.

"So uh, whats' th' plan Boss?" he asked.

That's for me to know and you to find out, so for now, just follow my lead, and we'll drag the Sinner back in no time" The Leader said full of reluctant hope.


	37. Chapter 37

Rook angrily stomped up and down the length of his living room, bitterly mumbling under his breath as he did, he had migrated to the inside of his home minutes ago to do so in peace as Boomer lazed in the corner of the room, watching the Junior Deputy pace back and forth.

He wasn't sure how else to let out the anger inside of him, he had never been this angry before, he didn't know he could get this angry, he had always been so passive whenever it was ok to be, it was his normal, but day after day he was starting to feel that the sheer amount of passiveness and willingness to help was allowing people to trick him into doing all the work for them.

Before he could ponder the idea any further, a series knocks of various volumes reverberated off the front door.

The noise made both Deputy and canine look at the source of the noise, the latter's ears perked and at the ready at the promise of visitors. But Rook believed it to be Mary or Jerome coming to attempt to smooth everything over, or worse yet, they sent Nick or Hurk to do they're dirty work and talk to him on their behalf. With a groan and a long eye roll, he resigned himself from his back and forth and forced himself to the front door, he didn't want to open the door but he knew he wouldn't be left alone until he faced whoever was at the door, ready to tell whoever it was to go away, he pulled open the door, fully expecting Jerome or Mary, but to his relative surprise, it was Jess.

But the second he laid eyes upon her, he could tell something seemed off about her, usually she seemed to keep to herself in terms of body language, what he saw before him was something different, she stood at the door with a single arm outstretched and pressed against the edge of the door frame, her whole body slightly on an angle as her arm held her balance, a mischievous grin stretched across her face.

"I heard you're a little grumpy" she smirked, her voice cool and composed.

A faint skunk like odor wafted off her, since Rook knew her too just about live in the forest, he would have ignored it entirely, but his deputy instincts told him what he could be smelling could also be marijuana.

"What… Jess, are you high?" Rook asked.

Jess was silent for a few beats before speaking.

"Yeah well... That's what you get when you make me talk about my dumb brother" Jess said absentmindedly while she brought her free hand up so she could examine her nails.

"So come on, lay it on me, what's you all hot and bothered?" She asked, her cantankerous smirk returning, her hand dropping down to her side.

Rook stared at her for a moment, a deep anger still burned within him, he considering just dumping everything on her, out in the open for the whole town to see, at the risk of his anger rising even further. But the better side of him told her otherwise, see didn't deserve any of the fury that he struggled to keep down, she wasn't the one working him like a dog, she was a friend, nor could he turn her away or shut the door on her.

With a sigh, he stepped to the side and revealed the inside of his home.

"Do you wanna come in?" Rook pined.

"Don't mind if I do" Jess said, marching inside confidentially.

Rook watched her as she sauntered over into the living room where he was furiously pacing moments before, he hoped she didn't come over explicitly to mock him for getting so angry, he wasn't sure if he could kick her out even if he tried. But then again, she was high, so he had no idea what to expect.

With Jess in the house, Rook closed the front door and turned to look at her once more just in time to see her remove her bow and quiver and dropped it next to the reclining chair before dropping into it herself.

"So Boy Scout, what seems to be troubling you?" She asked expectantly as she propped her boots up on the table in front of her, lacing her fingers together.

Rook stared at her for a few beats, trying to formulate a sentence that would get across how frustrated he was with both Eden's Gate and the Resistance, specifically John, Mary and Jerome.

"It's uhh…" Rook grumbled as he stepped back into the living room, dragging a hand across his chin.

"It's Mary and Jerome, their like super pushy these past few days" Rook said, his entering the room transformed into him slowly pacing once more.

"Go on" Jess mused.

"Sure I know I said I wanted to really push in the effort to get John but now…" Rook said as the anger slowly crept back into his voice as to did his pacing.

"But that doesn't mean I want to just do constant work all day everyday but myself in most case, like I'm not your damn work horse" Rook hissed.

"Hallelujah, fight the power!" Jess cheered.

"Ok sure, there are a lot of resistance members all over the Valley and Henbane, doing their thing, keeping our land safe, but come on, I rarely see anyone out there actually fighting and I feel like I'm the only one doing anything, if there really are so many people joining up where are they, what is so much more important then helping the guy doing all the high priority stuff?!" Rook bit, his anger reappearing again.

"Fuck 'em, you don't need anyone, just keep killing, your doing a good job already!" Jess cheered again, but all she was doing was fueling the fires that was his anger, and it let him keep the ball rolling.

"I'm so sick of being outnumbered, just once I would like to get a bunch of resistance members and outnumber the peggies for once, so I don't have to have like, two panic attacks a day!" Rook spat as his pacing quickened.

"And I don't want just keep going from dangerous mission to dangerous mission, you don't need me to keep the heat on John, maybe I want to take a break and go fishing, maybe I want to hunt animals, put no, everything has to keep going, can't stop, wont stop, don't know how to stop!" Rook cried in frustration, almost stomping as he paced.

"You're your own man, do what you want!" Jess preached.

She enjoyed watching the Boy Scout actually showing some kind of rebellion towards those who ordered him around all day, sure it wasn't to their faces but she was just so sick and tired of his yes sir, no sir, can do sir attitude, he had murdered way more peggies then any other asshole in the valley, if anyone rivaled her kill count, it was him. And if he actually snapped and decided enough was enough and cut ties with the resistance, then the two of them could devote their time to hunting down every piece of shit peggie in the whole county.

"Just because I get a pat on the back every now and again doesn't just make me feel better about every I've seen and done, and don't even get me started on John, I really want to arrest that son of a bitch, but I also hope he makes it difficult so I can get rough and teach him a lesson or something, I probably would have gotten him by now, but he just has these endless hordes of people willing to die for his brother!"

"There's your problem, Bitch" Jess said, interrupting his irate tangent, causing him to stop pacing and turn to face her.

"You need a new approach to your bullshit" Jess proposed.

"Hey are you even listening to me? I'm sick of constantly throwing myself into the fire" Rook groused.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just shut up for a little bit and let me talk… Your going off and doin' shit with your guns like your a fuckin' action hero or whatever, you need to keep a lid on your shit, be sneaky, like me, they won't see you coming if they don't know your there… Hey what the fuck happened to that bow I made you?" Jess spoke.

He remained silent for a few seconds, scratching his chin, contemplating her idea and what she had asked him.

"hmm… Yeah, uh I'm not entirely sure" Rook finally muttered, the anger fleeting from his voice.

"Augh! come on dude, fuckin' seriously!?" She groaned as she lightly wiggled in her seat before standing up and marching right up the Junior Deputy.

"How could you fuckin' lose that thing, do you know how long it took me to make that thing, that shit ain't easy y'know, now how you supposed to be a silent killer?!" Jess loudly demanded as she poked a finger into his chest.

"I'm sorry ok" Rook said gruffly as he swatted away her prodding finger.

"Yeah, yeah I know, I screwed up can we just move past it and continue please" Rook groaned, annoyed.

Jess crossed her arms and intently stared at Rook, making a small noise of exasperation.

"What the fuck did Fairgrave and Jeffries want you to do anyways, your never this pouty" Jess asked, giving Rook a stern look.

"Friggin' Mary wanted me to go track down her dead father's old big rig that's stashed away somewhere in the valley and steal it back from the peggies" Rook explained with great disinterest.

"What, that old thing is still in one piece?" Jess said, now giving Rook a weird look.

"Wait you actually know of it?" Rook asked, actually surprised she knew of the vehicle.

"Course I do Dude, old man Fairgrave chased peggies out of town for years with that thing, old fucker blew that big ass horn every time he ran someone out, Dude, everyone knows that thing" Jess explained.

"Is it really that big of a thing, why is the truck so important?" Rook asked.

"Crazy old fuck actually attached so machine guns to the grill once the peggies bought out the local police, nothing says shit yourself scary like a fucking big rig speeding down the road at you with machine guns on it, its almost as big as a Bogeyman as me, can you imagine what we could do if we have it" Jess smirked.

Rook gave Jess a look.

"Jess, I get what your trying to do, but come on, I've said, time and time again, I'm sick of the constant work and near-death experiences" Rook stated.

"Ok fine, Dude" Jess sighed impatiently.

"You can stay here if you want and be grumpy fuck, brooding in the dark, or I can show you how to really get shit done, quiet as a mouse, again" Jess said.

Rook regarded Jess once more, he knew what she was trying to do, to push him into action with spite rather then pleas. But he was curious, he had seen Jess work countless times and wanted to see what she was willing to teach him, it could very well prove useful in the long run.

"Alright fine, but honestly, how the hell are we supposed to find the truck anyways, it could be anywhere" Rook groaned.

"Hold on to your shorts Boy Scout, I'm gonna blow your fuckin' mind" Jess said, smirking as she leaned towards Rook slightly.

"When you got grabbed by John a few days ago, I went around looking for you, I hit up a few places peggies usually go to hide and I may have actually seen it as I fucked dudes up, looking for you" Jess explained.

"Ok then where it is it?" Rook asked.

"Well like I said, it was days ago and I hit up like, a lot of places so I'm not really sure where it is" Jess said, shrugging as she broke eye contact with Rook.

"So we could be at this all afternoon" Rook sighed as he turned to look out the window, at the late afternoon sun, soon to be setting.

"Who gives a shit, the truck is not what's important, it's about showing you the quiet approach, remember?" Jess replied, rolling her eyes.

"Right… so why are we even after the truck then?" Rook asked, losing interest in Jess's antics.

"Well if we give those chucklefucks what they want then they won't be on your back for a bit, then you can fuck off and do whatever, they can't say you didn't do shit" Jess explained.

Rook was seriously debating whether or not to agree with Jess in his head, her logic made sense to a degree but he wasn't sure if it was worth it, he wasn't to interested in wandering around the Valley, quietly killing people for who knows how long, but then again maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he thought as he would be doing it with Jess, a welcome change to his day. And besides, it wasn't like he could just call it a day and watch some tv or something, and Nick was getting his leg treated somewhere, he was sure he wouldn't mind if his truck was taken or not.  
"Alright, I got some wheels, so let's go" Rook sighed, pulling out Nick's key.

"Oh no, this is my shit, we do this my, no vehicles" Jess declared, hands on her hips.

"What they what are we going to do then, walk?" Rook asked, giving his companion a weird look.

"Well yeah duh, you plannin' on growing some wings or something?" Jess groaned.

"So what, you just want to walk all around the Valley looking for a truck that may or not be on once piece, all the while killing anyone that looks like a cultist?" Rook asked in disbelief.

"Yes Captain Obvious, thank you for paraphrasing, so you wanna go or what?" Jess groaned again, massaging her brow.

With a small groan, he flicked through his options and everything they would entail; walking for who knows how long and killing dudes with the silence of a ghost, or sitting in a house with nothing of note to do.

"Alright, fine I'm in let's go" rook resigned.

"Alright fuck yeah, let's go" Jess said as she quickly rose from her seat and grabbed her gear before marching for the front door.

He picked up the shotgun off the coffee table and followed his friend, despite what he was walking into maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it was with Jess, why would he regret his decision.

* * *

Rook was regretting his decision, the first hour or two was enjoyable, strolling around the many forests with a good friend; bantering about this and that, poking fun at each other but as a few more hours ticked by, Rook was really missing air conditioning among other things, his feet were starting to hurt from the long walks from place to place, wandering the Valley just as Jess had said, visiting a few less then few safe looking places, they journeyed from small little trailers with campfires out front which Jess silently dispatched to full out large buildings converted into compounds, they did their best skirting the edges of the locations, searching for anything that implicated the big rig resided within, but there was nothing in every peggie holdout, not even whispers between cultists. With the sun in mid set, painting the sky a bright orange, even Jess was starting to get fed up as they closed in on yet another possible location as they traversed through a small forest.

"Urrr, where is this fucking thing?" Jess growled to herself, losing patients.

"If you really want to show me how to take guys out without raising any alarms that badly, we can just circle back to one of the big places and just take them out, then we can go home" Rook offered.

"No! that defeats the purpose of why we are out here" Jess moped.

"What do you mean, I thought you wanted to show me how to kill guys without the whole valley knowing about it?" Rook asked.

"No, we need to find the truck first, trust me I know a few more places" Jess said before picking up the pace, hurrying ahead of Rook by a few feet.

"We should count our blessings at least" Rook said, hurrying up and catching up with Jess.

"I have a feeling John didn't have it destroyed, I think he likes keeping trophies, maybe it's being held somewhere to ward off people looking to do some damage" Rook offered.

Jess was unusually silent for a few seconds, for once in this rare instance, he she was taking what he had said to heart.

"I guess, it could be a whole lot worse, I wouldn't wander around like this if we were up in the mountains, Jacob's a whole other breed" Jess sighed.

"Oh yeah?" Rook replied.

"Yeah, he's really good at strategy and warfare, he's in charge of raising his chunk of the cult as Joseph's army, and fuck man their dangerous, if you ever go up there, you _have_ to be real quiet about it, these guys are nothing like the fuckers we deal with here, so pay the fuck attention to what I'm going to show you, it will save your life" Jess implored.

"I will admit, I don't really know anything about Jacob asides that, I only ever saw him once in person when I went to arrest Joseph, other then that it was all in police documents, nobody really talks about him, so I don't really know what he's capable of" Rook said.

"Well Boy Scout all you need to know is the whole fucking Seed family are horrible fucking scumbags, even that bitch; Faith, god I hate her _I'm so enlightened because I believe_ attitude, fuck it's so annoying, just that alone puts her near the top of my shit list, along with the rest of her family" Jess seethed.

"Well I don't know about that..." Rook sighed, running a hand through his sweaty hair.

"The fuck does that mean?" Jess suspected, glaring at Rook.

"What if she's like... Not bad or whatever" Rook said carefully.

He wanted to be careful with what he said, especially around Jess, she may not look it, but she was pretty smart, one to many words and she might put together what was going. And there would be no way he could just tell her he was talking to Faith in secret every now and again, aside from the religious mumbo jumbo, she was different from her brother's by leaps and bounds, it may have been a while ago but he still remembered his face to face confrontation with her on the lookout tower, how she told him about her life and how she ended up where she was now, but still after all that and how she stood on the opposite side of the law, she had been nothing but friendly to him, some would even say soft on him, she was probably one of the few people who legitimately cared about him as a person and not a tool to win a fight. Being a police officer as long as Rook has gave one a good grasp on getting a read on someone, and Rook could tell there wasn't a bad bone in Faith's body, she only followed Joseph was because he pulled her out of the dirt and cleaned her up, gave her a home and a family, sure she may not have come from a stable home before, but she had to have noticed something is wrong with how Joseph runs things, maybe if he could get rid of the Seed's besides Faith, then maybe she could get the help she needs.

Perhaps she could be saved.

"Fuck yourself she's not bad" Jess seethed, refocusing Rook's attention.

"Did you not see the fuckin' angel fuckers when we were in the Henbane, how she commanded her goons to attack the prison, the same goons that try to kill us" Jess argued.

"Ok yeah those are really bad but what if... I don't know, does she actually do stuff besides make bliss, John is like a psycho and Jacob is a for real military dude then what's Faith, what if she's a hostage with Stockholm Syndrome or something like that, I mean you remember Tracey right, back at the prison, she was in the cult in the beginning with a friend that happened to look a lot like Faith and well, Tracey jumped ship a while later, but the friend stayed" Rook offered, hoping to shed some light on the truth of the matter.

"Naah fuck that, that's such bullshit Tracey would say to get you on her side, Faith's a fucking dead woman first chance I get, you remember that next you see a drug addled, brain dead person wandering around the Henbane" Jess grumbled.

"But she's just following Joseph's orders, it's either that or who knows what he'll do to her" Rook retorted.

"Well I hope she get's in shit then, maybe Joseph will take care of her for us, but what the fuck are you doing, defending a Seed, you trying to get shot or something" Jess asked suspiciously, giving Rook a less then playful punch in the shoulder.

"I'm just trying to take the path of least resistance, if the safest and or quickest way to take her out of the picture is non lethal then so be it, all the more easier for us" Rook shrugged.

"Uh huh, I bet you do" Jess said, coldly.

"So how much further till the next place?" Rook asked, trying to change the subject.

Jess was silent for two beats.

"It's just up ahead, we're almost there" She replied, sounding a little off.

"Ok but what is the place?" Rook asked.

"I think it's some dingy old grain making place" Jess shrugged.

"You mean a farm?" Rook questioned again.

"No after you harvest it, you take it to a place to make it edible" Jess explained.

"I think your talking about a grain elevator" Rook said.

"A what?" Jess replied.

"A grain elevator, it's like a silo but rectangular, it almost looks like an elevator" Rook explained.

"No that's stupid, you're just fucking with me" Jess accused.

"No, I'm serious, just you wait, you'll see it soon" Rook said, trying to reassure her.

"You're a fucking liar, come on, I'll prove you wrong" Jess declared before breaking out into a jog.

"Come on Boy Scout keep up so I can prove you wrong" she called out.

Rook also broke out into a sprint and chased after his friend, they moved at a quickened paced for a short time, occasionally spooking an animal or two, and as they went, the vastness of the trees of the forest they were in were steadily thinning out until they could see the woods end, causing them to slow their pace as they were about to properly exit the woods, as they did, they both crouched down so they could properly see the property Jess had led them to, across a asphalt road that split the landscape, was a chain link fence surrounded a large wooden, rectangular structure that stood four stories tall, it stood a dozen meters away from a large warehouse looking structure both emblazoned with multiple Eden's Gate logos.

"See, grain elevators look like that" Rook said, pointing at the elevator.

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you too, come on, let's do this song and dance again, follow me" Jess said before taking the lead again, and crept towards the fence.

Rook was silent as he followed, he kept the shotgun close to his chest, what they were about to do had been practiced a few times as they had done surface level searches on previous peggie holdouts, just a quick hop over the fence, a quick look into the center of the property then leave. Thankfully there wasn't as many peggies as other places did, making it quite easy to get close to the fence as the grain elevator obscured them as only a few meters were between the fence and elevator.

"Come on help me up" Jess said quietly, as they reached the foot of the fence.

Rook wordlessly placed his shotgun on the ground and laced his fingers together and held his hands close to his chest, creating a foothold for Jess to boost herself up so she could sit on top of the fence without creating a sound, once her balance was stable, she extended a hand towards Rook, he gladly took her hand and she pulled him upwards, allowing Rook to use that momentum to pull himself up onto the top of fence silently, then, they both dropped down on the other side, just as quietly.

Once in, the duo did a quick look around to make sure the coast was clear before moving deeper into the base, thankfully, no one thought patrolling the edge was a good idea, allowing Rook and Jess to sneak around the side of the grain elevator and peak into the compound proper.

From where they sat, crouched by the edge of the elevator they could see the warehouse looking building more clearly, it was a standard wooden warehouse with a large barn door on the front, it could be used to store many things, or even one large thing, around it was a few peggies that leaned against the side of the warehouse, idly chatting about something to wile away the hours until next shift change, Rook could only assume there were more on the sides they couldn't see.

"I bet that fuckin' truck is in there" Jess whispered, nodding to the warehouse.

"Or it could be full of grain or whatever" Rook retorted.

"Seems awfully guarded for grain" Jess stated.

"Do you think we should check it out or what?" Rook asked.

"Show some fuckin' initiative dude" Jess retorted.

"But this whole thing was your idea" Rook almost whined.

"I'm trying to te-" Jess hiss before sharply cutting herself off and began her sentence anew.

"Just fuckin' watch this and pay attention" she gripped.

"Watching" Rook whispered back.

Jess grumbled something under her breath and extended a hand into the dirt beneath her, grabbing a pebble on the ground and gestured over to the right of the compound, away from the warehouse, Rook followed her direction down the worn path that connected the warehouse's entrance to opening in the property's cabin link fence; presumably the front door, near it was a single peggie leaning against a concrete roadblock blocking the way from vehicles from speeding into the property, thirty feet away from the duo and a few meters from the entry way and aimlessly staring off into the horizon, clearly bored. The Junior Deputy and the huntress were comfortably positioned to the peggies immediate right, out of her vision but if she turned her head, they would be spotted.

Before Rook could ask what Jess was planning, Jess threw the rock at a high arc, sailing forward and over the peggie before bouncing off the ground, making a dull thump, the noise was just loud enough to startle the lax peggie, causing him to flinch before quickly pointing his rifle at the source of the noise, but as soon as the woman turned, Jess rose to a standing position and in one quick motion, loaded her bow and fired, sending a arrow through the air and buried itself into the back of the woman's neck, causing her to drop to the ground without a sound, her body concealed by the roadblock from anyone within the compound.

"Badabing, badaboom, dead peggie, quiet as the grave" Jess whispered, as proud as she was quiet.

"Nice shot" Rook whispered back.

"C'mon, let's get going, never stay in one place for to long" Jess whispered before moving out from the side of the elevator.

"Uh, ok" Rook stuttered as he pushed himself forward to follow after her.

He wasn't expecting her to just move forward like that, not with the peggies idling a thirty something feet to their left, leaning against the side of the warehouse, to him, it seemed to risky, but then again he probably would have been spotted by now. As the duo made their way across the space between the two buildings, the second they made it to the safety of the warehouse , Jess suddenly stood up and quickly crept towards the warehouse entrance, Rook, again wasn't expecting such a bold strategy, he certainly wouldn't do such if he was on point, he would be much more cautious, but Jess was anything but cautious, leaving Rook no option other then do as she did and hurry to the warehouse entrance.

As Rook quickly approached, he watched Jess reach the warehouse's door, and instead of opening it like he thought, she pressed up against the warehouse's front door, palms and chest pressed firmly against it.

Confused to what she was doing, Rook slowed down a little to try to figure out what was happening, but his reduced pace was short lived as Jess then motioned for him to join her.

Still unsure of what she was planning, Rook picked up his pace again and caught up with his friend, pressing up against the door right next to Jess, the two almost touching each other.

"What are we doing?" Rook whispered.

"I don't think anyone is inside" Jess whispered, somehow even quieter than before.

"So, what do we do?" Rook asked again.

"Very carefully, we open it" Jess replied.

"What about the guys around the corner?" Rook asked.

"What part of quiet don't you understand?" Jess responded.

"Ok, ok, ok, I'll do it just cover me" Rook whispered back quickly.

Jess took a few steps away from the door and loaded another arrow into her bow and prepared herself in case any peggies caught wind of what was going on, while she did this, Rook grabbed a hold of a door handle attached to one of the barn doors and gradually pulled open the door, thankfully the door was unlocked, but as the door slowly swung open, causing a soft light to leak out from within, as the door opened little by little, a long creak rang out from the hinges, causing Rook to momentarily stop, silencing the noise, then cautiously opened the door ever so slowly again.

Once the door was open just enough for a person to squeeze through, Rook looked over at Jess who still diligently guarded them.

"Hey, it's open" he uttered.

"Then get inside" Jess returned, flicking her head towards him.

Rook didn't need to be told twice, upon hearing that he swiftly turned around and pushed himself through the newly made opening in the door, and once he was through, he intently watched the ajar door, waiting for Jess and a moment later, her smaller frame, easily clambered on through. The second she made it through, Rook very meticulously shut the door behind them.

* * *

Now that they properly entered the building, it was quickly apparent that they were not standing in a food warehouse, but a vehicle warehouse as several tools, parts and tires littered the walls of the building, suspended by hooks and shelves. And in the house's center, sat a big rig.

To Rook, it was very obvious they were looking at the Widowmaker and it looked just as Rook expected from a man who once ran a bar and chased cultist out of town; the big rig in question was painted in a myriad of blue and purple, topped off with a bald eagle, American flag, paired with flames pouring off the hood, two big machine guns attached to the large grill.

"Told you it was here" Jess said in a low voice.

"Yeah, yeah, you win" Rook replied as he approached the driver side door.

"But all jokes aside, how do you wanna get this out of here?" Rook asked, looking at his friend.

"We could just drive it out of here" Jess shrugged, walking towards the front of the truck.

"But there's a roadblock in the way… and a dead body" rook replied.

"Well yeah, but look at this thing" Jess said, lightly kicking the front grill of the truck.

Rook examined the front grill; it was one solid block of polished steel that went across the width of the truck's front and bent upwards to form a barred nose piece, coupled with two large machine guns just beneath the headlights. The whole thing looked cared for and immaculate as if it was never stolen by cultists.

"Well I guess that could punch through the roadblock and the doors if we go fast enough" Rook said, looking up at the doors they had just entered from.

"But what about the whole being quiet bit, what your proposing is just going to let everyone know where here, I mean look at this thing" Rook said, pointing a hand at the truck.

"This thing looks brand new, if this thing starts up everyone will know about it, big rigs and stealth don't go together" Rook argued.

"Well yeah sure, but I mean come on this is _the_ Widowmaker, this thing chased out fuck knows how many peggies, this thing scared the shit out of each and every one of them, if they see this thing rolling down the road again, after hearing it was stolen will fuck them up all over again, no one will be one the roads for awhile after we spring this thing" Jess retorted.

"Ok yeah, I can believe that, but if anything, we need to find a way to get this thing started, I doubt they leave the keys in the in the ignition" Rook offered.

Jess made a noise of discontent before speaking.

"Yeah I guess" she said indifferently before turning away from Rook and walked over to one of the few tables that lined the room, sifting through whatever sat atop them, trying not to create any noise.

With her doing that, rook looked around his surrounding also looking for a place to search as well, but his eyes couldn't help but keep resting upon the Widowmaker.

Despite saying what he did moments ago, Rook wanted to do a quick search of the truck's interior just in case. He turned to the truck and approached it, opening the driver side door and climbed into the bid rig, shutting the door behind him.

As he sat down in the seat, he saw that the truck's interior was not what he was expecting, the dashboard was lined with all sorts of buttons, LEDS and switches, most of which Rook could only assume were connected to the guns attached to the front. With the interior looking like a mess, there was no way the keys couldn't just be sitting on the dashboard, so why would they even be in the cabin. As Rook was about to leave the truck, his eyes glanced up to the sun visor above him, he had seen in countless movies where someone pulls it down and the keys come sliding out, it was a logical place to store the key's, they were inside after all so why open it?

With nothing to loss, he pulled down the sun visor; the second he did a small metal object slid from where it hid and fell into the Junior Deputy's lap; Rook looked down to see what the item was, and sure enough the item was a set of small key's presumably for the very truck they sat in.

Seeing it, Rook sighed in a weird mixture of joy and confusion over the sheer simplicity of the inner workings of the common peggie mind. With one hand he picked up the keys and with the other, rolled down the window next to him.

"Found them" he called out, just loud enough for Jess to hear.

As he raised the window back up, he heard Jess say something in a not to happy tone, before she turned away from where she was searching and joined the Boy Scout in the truck.

"Holy shit look at all this" Jess said, once she got comfy in her seat, grinning like a child at a candy store at all the switches in front of her.

"Now hold on a minute" Rook said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's curb the blood lust for a minute and think about what to do next" Rook stated.

"Fuckin' floor it, ram everything" Jess declared.

"But what about are stealth approach?" Rook asked again.

"Dude who cares, this thing is a war machine, it probably killed so many peggies, do you have any idea what we can do with this thing" Jess said whimsically as she slid a hand over an open space on the dashboard.

"I feel what your saying but, we can't lead them back to town, we can't have another slaughter, we should take out the remaining guys silently like you said we would" Rook argued.

"Dude" Jess groaned, turning to look at her friend.

"This thing is the peggie Bogeyman, more so then me, they ain't gonna chase after us, they'll try to stop us but nothing major" she stated.

Rook stared at Jess for a few seconds, he wasn't getting frustrated somewhat at her flippancy towards her goals since they entered the warehouse, he knew he should have said something when they cased the first few places they stumbled upon and Jess didn't show him anything, but now he wasn't sure what she was truly after, but whatever it was, hours have been wasted doing it.

And it pissed him off.

"Fine" Rook said gruffly, turning forward and inserting the keys into the ignition.

"Wait, really?" Jess asked, surprised he was actually going through with it.

"Uh huh" Rook grumbled as the engine roared to life.

"Aw fuck yeah" Jess grinned as she excitedly put on her seat belt.

With the engine rumbling, Rook slid the stick shift into drive before putting on his seat belt on.

"Holy shit this is going to be sweet!" Jess giggled as she held on tightly to the seat belt across his body, staring at the warehouse doors, the truck headlights illuminating them.

As Rook also stared at the doors, a part of him desperately begged him to stop, how what was a bad idea and all the ways it could go wrong, but the majority of him told him to go for, to do as Jess said and ride the Bogeyman on wheels all the way home, to take his pent up frustrations on a slim hunk of wood and concrete, but then again, he had been through much worse, making this not that big a deal in his perspective, and with Jess egging him on at his side, his foot felt heavy and allowed himself to slam on the gas.

* * *

The truck shot forward, slamming into the doors, slamming the open and against the sides of the building, the harsh slamming of wood on wood rang out like gun shots into the late evening.

The truck surged forward, bounding down the road towards the roadblock.

"Aw shit, here we go!" Jess grinned wildly.

But Rook remained silent, his whole body clenched up in anxiety, every fibre of his being told him to swerve away from the thin concrete barrier, to avoid it all together, but that small defiant part of him spoke up once more, it spoke of how Jess was right in her assessment of the truck's grill, he knew she was right, but it didn't make the whole thing any better, making him only step down and the gas even further, the truck closing in on the concrete barrier between him and freedom.

The second the truck connected with the roadblock both Rook and Jess lurched forward in their seats before being pulled back thanks to their seatbelts, the truck itself almost came to a stop for a moment as the roadblock cracked and shattered, before the truck sped up and powered through, a solid beat passed by before a wet squelch emanated from underneath the truck, Rook's skin crawled as he knew that noise was a body being run over. he did his best to push what the body might look like now as he passed through the fence opening and pulled the wheel hard to the left, forcing the vehicle onto the asphalt, making the truck lean hard in the process before regaining speed again and shooting down the road, as Rook could hear gunshots and the sound of bullets bounce off the truck's superior hull.

With the Grain Elevator slowly disappeared in one of the sideview mirrors, Rook could help but feel relieved, he didn't see anyone giving chase Just as Jess said, he could even see a few blurry peggies standing on the road, watching the truck speed away. He was glad to see none of them were stupid enough to engage the heavily armoured and armed vehicle. Without even looking at Jess he could tell she was bummed out she couldn't use any of the on board weapons, but Rook didn't care, he liked to think it was a little payback for her inconsistency with what she wanted done today.

And with that, Rook relaxed into his seat, he enjoyed it when things went off smoothly.

Then his walkie talkie crackled to life.

"Deputy! What the hell do you think your doing!" John Seed's yelled through Rook's walkie.

Rook wasn't one to use his cellphone while driving, but he felt it was ok, just this once, he ripped the walkie from his waist and brought it to his mouth.

"What's it sound like, you son of a bitch!" Rook cried into his walkie; he couldn't help but grin wildly as he did.

"Yeah, you tell 'em!" Jess cheered.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Deputy you are making it very hard for me to keep everything in line long enough for me to get you back in my gate, but wonton acts of defiance such as this is not going to go over well for you once I have you in my chair again!" John seethed, struggling to contain his anger.

"Listen John, I don't care about what you have to say, if your guy was smart, he would have delivered my message, and I intend to keep my promise, John; I _am_ coming for you, so watch your back!" Rook said confidently.

"Fuck yeah!" Jess incited.

"Listen to yourself!" John snapped back.

"Where's that holier than thou, do no wrong bravado you once prided yourself on, you know, at one point I could almost see what the Father sees in you, but now look at you!" John spat, his anger slowly overtaking him.

"You've succumb to your wrath just as I told you when we last saw each other, your just like everyone else in this putrid county, you have fallen to your base desires and you do what you damn well please, killing and taking whatever you like, and to think Joseph actually believes you are to be the lynchpin to creating a world where Eden's Gate thrives!" John yelled through the walkie.

"But that's quite alright" John said, his voice dropping back down to that calm, eerie smoothness.

"Once I get you back in my hands… we'll have all the time in the world to… play around and find out all your… dirty little sins" John almost breathed.

"Watch yourself Deputy, we will meet sooner then you think" John said

"Yeah, yeah, do whatever you want, I'll take out whatever you throw at me then, I'm coming back for you and Hudson" Rook challenged.

"Oh, if that's how you want it then very well Benjamin Rook, I'll cook something very special for you" John said in that same calm voice but this time something sinister lurked within his words.

"Sounds good to me" Rook replied uninterested before clicking off the walkie and dropped it in his lap.

"Fuck that guy" Jess laughed, putting emphasise of the swear.

"I know right" Rook sighed in annoyance.

"I'm getting real sick of that guy" he said shaking his head.

"Then we should tell everything to fuck off and you and me go get him" Jess offered.

"I can't just abandon the rest of the valley, if I can save a life, then I'm going to save a life" Rook sighed.

"With how badass we are, we can kill John then you can go right back to your bullshit, we're that good, we can totally wrap him up before anything big happens" Jess stated.

"Jess, I can't, I'm not going to just run off, I need to help people, I want to keep people safe" Rook replied.

"Look what we did, you and me, no one knew what happened, in and out, we stole a fucking big rig, a big rig, could you have done this on your own, see, if you take yourself off your leash, you can do some hard shit, no one will fuck with you if you do what you want and not be dragged around by your friends in the bar, don't let them tell you what to do, they should be giving you the info to decide what you wanna do" Jess preached.

Rook was silent as he thought over what Jess told him, as much as he want to disagree, she had a point.

"Maybe it's time I say something to Mary and Jerome" Rook guessed.

"What no, not maybe, you should Dude, you're the one who stole this truck, you're the one making a chance around here, you're the one who scaring the shit out of the peggies, you're the one who will take out Joseph, you can do it, you just need to stop taking orders and follow your instincts, I've seen you do this shit over and over again, I believe in you, just believe in yourself and what you can do" Jess said passionately, trying to rouse something from Rook.

"I get what your trying to say Jess, not being on a constant schedule does sound nice but I don't want to crew things up with my relation to the resistance" Rook offered.

"Fucking listen to me" Jess growled, leaning over to Rook and grabbing a handful of his sleeve.

"All you should be focused on your foot's relation with Joseph's face, just think about it Benjamin, you can't save everyone so stop acting like you can, even the dead wouldn't want you running in circles like you are, if you want to stop the cult you need to think about what you need to get done and do it, don't let others order you around, you are the Deputy, act like one and deal with it in that gross, sickly sweet, goodie two shoes, boy scout way, you're the only one who can actually do something around here" Jess said, her voice losing it's bite as she went on before letting go of his sleeve and slumping back into her seat, falling silent.

Rook was stunned into silence for once, what Jess had said actually made sense, it was probably the most meaningful thing she had actually said to him.

And it made him really think, if Jess was capable of getting a message like that through to him then maybe it was time to actually say something to Mary and the rest of the gang. Rook wanted to reply to Jess for such a sterling response, but all he could muster was a quizzical hum, to conflicted with what was on his mind to conjure an actual response. Leaving a silence in the cabin for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

The Widowmaker rolled into Falls End, the headlights illuminating the dark streets as the moon was starting to rise once more, since night was beginning, it signified people were starting to call it a day and go to sleep, that made Rook reluctant to honk the horn of the truck, but he did it anyway as he needed Mary to come out and tell him where to park the large vehicle, as he honked on the horn a few times, he applying pressure on the to the brakes, causing the truck to a screeching halt in front of the bar, looking for a place to park the large vehicle.

But as he looked around, from the corner of his eye, he saw the front door of the bar slam open and a handful of people came pouring out of the bar door, guns in hand, probably thinking they were under attack again. Rook could now see Mary, Jerome and for some reason Sharky along with a few panicky bar regulars, ready to open fire on the vehicle parked in front of them. But any fear or adrenaline was quickly dissolved as they could the Junior Deputy sitting in the driver's seat, looking at them.

Not wanting to cause a panic or anything, Rook killed the engine and opened the door to climb out, and approached his friends, truck keys in hand, he was ready to hand them off to Mary then run off somewhere with Jess, but another voice in the distance grabbed his attention.

"Stop blasting that goddamn horn, I'm trying to do my business in piece!" the voice yelled angrily.

Everyone looked up to the source of the shouting, it was a very quiet evening, making it easy to locate the noise, it was coming form the second floor of the general store across the street, it was the one and only town grump; Mister Pracker, he was leaning out his open window, angrily shaking his fist at them.

A few impatient murmurs came from the bar regulars as Rook rolled his eyes, he really wasn't in the mood to deal with Pracker of all people, out everyone he had met in the county, he was the most antagonistic person that wasn't apart of the peggie troupe, he was always complaining about something, this time, it was the truck horn, after a few encounters, Rook learned there was no reasoning with him, the elderly man always believed himself to be right, at that point there was no reason to argue, all he could do was try to get him to leave on his own accord, Rook brought his hands up to his mouth to amplify his voice.

"Go back to bed, Old Man!" Rook yelled back defiantly at the elderly man.

"What the hell did you say to me punk?!" Mister Pracker yelled back.

"Dude just go back to bed, the noise is gone so just chill out" Rook replied, really not wanting to deal with the man.

"Don't tell me what to do you damn kid, when I was your age, I was captain of my boxing league, I'll show you a thing or two about respect!" Pracker shouted.

"Then how instead you use that to fight the peggies instead of leeching off the town!" Rook retorted, starting to get angry at the man and his gull to threaten him after everything he had been through for the sake of the town.

But before anyone could say anything else, Jess quickly stood next to Rook and raised her hands to her mouth.

"We'll fuck you up Old Man, we're your worst nightmare!" Jess yelled with a dangerous smirk on her face.

"What the hell is your problem, we are at war here in case you didn't notice, how about you focus on those damn cultists for once instead of bothering some hardworking old man!" Mister Pracker yelled back.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Geezer!" Jess yelled back.

"What you call me!? Why you no good-!" Pracker hissed before retracting his torso back into his room and slamming the window closed.

"Ha! you see that, no one can stop us" Jess said with a shark tooth grin, looking at Rook.

"Yeah, screw him right" Rook sighed with irritation in his voice, he was starting to get tired of dealing with people who kept getting in his way, but with that line of thinking, he turned back to the still awestruck townsfolk who still watched and Mary, who stood a mere few feet from him, what Jess said to him, still fresh in his mind.

"Here's your keys" Rook stated as he limply tossed the keys towards Mary.

The second the keys went airborne, Mary's arm shot forward, grabbing it out of the air like her life depended on it, once it was firmly in her grasp, she held in close to her body and looked down at it, by the look on her face it was just as she remembered, once she got her fill, she looked back up at Rook with those same big eyes Rook was accustomed to whenever something big happened

Then, she threw herself at him, arm outstretched an embraced him in a hug.

"You have no idea how much this means to me" she muttered as she buried her face in his chest.

"Uh, sure" Rook said as he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, now feeling a little about what he was going to say.

Something ugly rolled over in Jess's stomach when she saw Fairgrave throw herself at her Boy Scout, going for the hug, she had never cared before about who did what to him so the feeling caught her off guard, she wasn't sure what exactly made her detest Fairgrave hugging Rook, but one thing she knew for sure, she did not like that woman touching Rook like that again.

As Mary still clung to his torso, Rook couldn't help but look around at everyone one who was still gathered around the truck to see the spectacle; Mary, Jerome, Merle, Sharky and a few bar regulars, now was a good a time as ever to voice his proclamation.

"Since everyone is here, I have something I really need to say" Rook said, loud enough for everyone to hear as he pulled on Mary, hoping to let go.

And just as he hoped, Mary let go and took a few steps back to look at him.

"What's up, Ben?" she asked, looking a little concerned over what he had just said.

"Since y'all made it clear I'm the only one who can pull off the big stuff like this, then by that right, I should be calling the shots in regard to the high priority stuff!" Rook declared.

"I'm the one doing it, so I should make the rules when it comes to this sort of thing, besides, I am the Deputy here, I am the law, and I will use that law to relieve you from the duty of managing me!" he huffed.

"Now hang on a moment, Deputy let's talk about this" Jerome said nervously as he quickly maneuvered around the people listening.

"Let's not be hasty now, let's talk this through, hm?" Jerome said, trying to placate Rook.

"I'm sorry Jerome, but this is how I feel, Jess has reminded me that I'm the one doing all the shooting and work, I need to decide how I need to operate if I am to arrest the Seed's in a timely, respectable manner" Rook said confidently.

"Benjamin, please" Jerome tried to say but was cut off by Jess.

"Hey, you heard the man, he ain't your work horse, let him do his thing" Jess smirked.

"Ben, I think he's right, let's talk about it at least" Mary offered, trying to ignore what the rude hooded woman had said.

"Let's roll, dude, I got a place" Jess said as she held the shirt fabric that covered his elbow and not so subtly tried to pull Rook away.

"Mary, tomorrow just give a few things that need to be done, and I'll decide what I want to do" Rook declared.

"You Deputy Destruction, what's going on?" Sharky finally spoke up after watching silently for so long.

But nobody gave the pyromaniac the time of day as the conversation kept going as if he didn't speak.

"Ben this is a team effort" Mary tired to say as Rook began to step away from the crowd.

"Mary I would appreciate it if you would just stow it for now, unless you want to grab a gun and help then I think I'll make some changes on how we do things" Rook decided.

"Ben come on; we-" Mary tired to say but Jess spoke up once more.

"You heard the man, we're out of here!" Jess loudly declared as she tried to walk away, all the while pulling on Rook's sleeve, but Rook remained unmoving.

"Now again" Rook said, looking at Jerome and Mary.

"I'll come around sometime tomorrow, and we can figure something out then, ok?" Rook said.

Both Jerome and Mary were silent, they watched the Junior Deputy with worrisome looks on their faces as Jess continued to tug on his sleeve, it was fairly obvious to them Jess had played a part in Rook's behaviour and saw there was no point arguing further as Jess always hung around him like a moon orbiting the earth.

Seeing as they weren't going to speak, Rook finally began to move, obviously where Jess tried to pull him to. Jess, now seeing her Boy Scout moving now, see tightened her grip and pulled Rook down the street, towards his house, as they left they could hear Sharky trying to talk Mary into letting him drive the Widowmaker so he may fight the cult, but as they moved away, Rook didn't hear Mary's answer, instead he was curious to where Jess was taking him, they were moving down the street towards his house, but he had a sneaking suspicion that's not where they were going.

"So where are we going?" Rook asked.

"You'll see" Jess replied.

Rook couldn't see her face, but he could tell she was smirking.

"Can I at least have my arm back?" Rook asked.

"Ok fine, just don't fall behind" Jess instructed as she let go of his arm and picked up her speed.

With Jess hurrying away, Rook was left to just about chase after her again, leaving him to follow her, down what was reaming of the street around the auto shop and into the strip of land between the auto shop and his house. Before he could ask her why they came her, she quickly climbed up the ladder attached to the auto shop, curious to what she could be scheming and wanted to be sure she wasn't doing anything that would cause problems, he climbed the ladder to it's top and stood up on the roof and took in the sight before him; Jess was sitting in a lawn chair by the far edge of the roof, facing inwards, an empty chair identical to hers a few feet next to her. She used an upturned milk crate to prop her feet up, a second milkcrate sat in between the two chairs, a dozen or so small green apples rested inside, most likely apples he retrieved from the produce plant.

"Check it out Boy Scout; Fort Cash Money" Jess declared proudly as she held her arms out of either side of her to emphasize the glory of her little hideaway.

"Jess... This is cool and all but like... You can't just go making little campsites or whatever on top of other people's work places" Rook said, trying his best to recover from being thrown caught off guard by what she had made.

"Oh come the fuck on!" Jess groaned like a child who wasn't getting their way, tilting her head back against the back of the lawn chair.

"Just enjoy a sweet fuckin' spot when you see one" she moped.

Rook wasn't really enjoying the idea of Jess building an impromptu campsite on someone's place of business, but if he were to set aside the rules and regulations that were ingrained within him as an officer of the law, he would probably agree with her.

"I thought you would think this shit would be cool" She sighed indifferently before getting up and wandered over to the edge of the roof and leaned against low wall the ran along the edges of roof, looking over the town.

"With you all hot and bothered by that old fucker, I'd thought you'd overlook this" she continued to mope.

"Jess come on" Rook argued as he slowly approached her, but after a few steps, Jess spoke up again.

"Hey there's that old fucker now!" Jess cried, pointing over the side of the building.

Rook believed her, but yet he couldn't help but look, he marched right up next to her and peered over the edge of the building and looked down at the street below and sure enough he was, on the opposite side of the road, walking passed the general store and presumably towards the church, if Rook was a gambling me he'd bet Mister Pracker was still mumbling a one sided tirade over the truck horn that sounded earlier.

"Doing business my ass, look at him doing nothing, waddling around town like he owns the place, he just wanted to yell at you for the hell of it" Jess griped.

Just watching the man go down the sidewalk pissed Rook off to see that man still go on and on about how everything little thing that bothered him and how he did nothing while everyone else fought and bled for their home.

Rook already had enough people making things harder then they needed to be for him from the peggies, John and the rest of his monstrous family, Pracker might as well be working with them with how disrespectful and aggressive he is.

And it relit the deep fire within him.

In a fit of defiant anger, Rook stomped over to the milkcrate with the apples grabbed one before marching right back to where Jess was and threw it as hard as he could at the older man below, it felt good to watch to fruit sail through the air and directly towards Mister Pracker as Rook had a pretty good trajectory as he had ample practice from throwing grenades.

Then it hit him on the side of the head, causing him to stumble forward a few steps while bringing his hands over his head to shield the assaulted area, he curled inward slightly on protective instinct as he had no idea if he would be harmed any further, he stood like that for a few seconds before slowly uncoiling and stood up to full height, hand still on the afflicted spot, now turning a healthy shade of red,

He looked around his surroundings quickly, looking for his aggressor, but found nothing, angry and confused, he began shouting angrily at his surroundings, about how disrespectful they were and how he'd kick their asses given the chance.

Back on the roof, Rook looked down at the furious man angrily spitting his spiel, it was then he realized what he had just done and felt guilty for his actions, it had to have been a heat of the moment thing, this was something he wouldn't normally do, feeling bad, he quickly looked over at Jess, hoping for some sort of acknowledgement, hoping what he just don't was some sort of lucid dream but deep down he knew he was awake.

Jess was staring at him, wide eyed and mouth agape, she couldn't believe what he had just done, they stared at each other for a few seconds in shocked silence before Jess finally made the first move, instead of admonishing or congratulating him, she broke down into a fit of laughter, it wasn't a wicked cackle or the hideous laughter she let out when she found enjoyment in intimating the more timid members of the resistance or basking in the fear and lose of hope that she created when she picked off peggies.

It was a normal happy laugh that would come from a normal happy person, for once in her life, Jess sounded like she was genuinely happy, it made Rook happy.

Seeing her laugh the way she did, he couldn't help but laugh along with her.

He didn't know why he was laughing as he just did something awful but he just couldn't help but notice Jess, he couldn't help but look at her, not a casual glance at a friend, but for the first time he felt like he was really looking at her, as a woman as a valued partner in crime.

He couldn't help but notice the way she pulled off the same blue flannel shirt and green jacket she wore for presumably months, the way she was able to make herself laugh the way she did after every horrible thing she had been through, albeit what was making her laugh wasn't the nicest of things.

He couldn't help but notice how their clashing personalities would have put them at constant odds, but still they were able to push past it and stick together no matter how much they pissed each other off.

He also couldn't help but notice just how underneath the scars, anger problems and murder obsession, she was actually quite pretty.

* * *

The Grain Elevator work site was alight, the handful of peggies that were stationed there buzzed about making sure everything was alright. Of course once they understood everything was alright, the one in charge called John to inform him of what had happened, the truck being stolen, he was understandable furious with their lack of awareness and where the keys were stored, once he was done with tirade, he informed the survivors that he had just dispatched his three best to investigate the area in hopes of piecing together something that would lead the Sinner's downfall.

Some time passed and the trio arrived, it was clear who the leader of the trio was as he got straight to the point and began questioning everyone present with the same grit any of Jacob's men had, while he did so, it was blatant that the other two had no idea what they were looking for as they looked around the area, it angered the man heading the investigation.

Once the leader finished his interrogation, he turned to the only fatality on site, a dead woman, bifurcated at the waist, organs squished and leaking from their exposed housing, an arrow protruding from the back of her neck. He dropped down one knee to inspect the body closer, only to reveal the tire track that was imprinted into the ground and organs, obviously belonging to the only vehicle that was stolen.

Feeling that their investigation was done, the other two returned to the kneeling man.

"So uh, why are we 'ere, shouldn't we be aft'r th' Sinner?" Frank asked uncomfortably as he eyed the remains of his ally.

Then he turned his gaze to Gordon, who was still down on a knee to look over the body.

"To kill our enemy we must know him first, study and learn about him" Gordon responded as he studied the arrow protruding from the neck of the dead woman.

"Wait why are we killin' th' Deputy again?" Frank asked, earning a disappointed sigh from Emily.

"How many times must we go over this?!"Gordon exasperated as he stood up, facing his allies, pulling the arrow free from the corpse as he rose.

"God won't let us take him alive, he must come to the Father on his own accord, trying anything else will only get us killed, so we need to learn as much as we can about him and plan are attacks, we must show him that the only way he can truly be free of Eden's Gate is to kill all of us and become the sinner we believe him to be or, he joins us becomes part of our family, regardless, I don't care what happens I merely wish to secure a future for the Father and his visions of God" Gordon preached.

"But are you sure that's wise?" Emily spoke up, looking at truck tire tracks imprinted in the dirt and grain that littered the ground.

"To blindly follow the word of God and not the finer points that the prophet spoke of?" She asked.

"Look at this" Gordon demanded as he held out the arrow to his compatriots.

"The Sinner is not known for using arrows much less running over corpses, this isn't his usual M.O. if this was the Deputy, then something is off, he's either trying to throw us off his trail by sending others to do his work or he's showing his true colors" Gordon spoke.

"As he evolves, so to must we, to grow stagnant is to rot, and if we rot we may as well lay down our weapons and let the sinners walk over us, we need to be ready and alert, to set the example for the rest as the Father's army, so that's why I need both of you to be prepared for this, to be ready for a arrow in the dark, to be assassinated silently, as of this moment, no one goes of by themselves, use the buddy system" he declared.

Emily stared at Gordon, scrutinizing what she heard, she didn't trust him as he seemingly escaped the Deputy when had him hostage at the packing plant with no survivors, but John asked her to trust him, how could she say no of all words to him.

"So what should we do in terms of catching the Deputy?" She asked.

"Well" Gordon began.

"When John informed me of what happened here, he also told me he had a quick parlay with the Deputy and how he openly challenged John to take action against his sinful ways, John of course has taken this in kind, he has set in motion the wheels and progress, and by tomorrow, the Deputy will be tested, he will either surrender to John and save countless, sin filled lives, or have the town of Falls End razed to rubble, if he chooses to give up the town rather then himself..." Gordon trailed off.

Before he continued, he clenched the arrow in his hand, causing a soft crunch to emit from his palm, signalling it's shaft had been broken, then he opened his palm, allowing both halves to fall to the ground soundlessly.

"Then we will swoop in and grab him amidst the rubble and dead" he said grimly.

"Ok but uh..." Frank murmured unsurely.

"What is John going to do?" He asked.

Gordon looked Frank dead in the eye before responding.

"He's bring out a revelation"


	38. Chapter 38

"I, am going to teach YOU, courage, teach you how to say YES, so you can confront your weaknesses, CONFRONT your sins, YOU WILL SWIM ACROSS AN OCEAN OF PAIN AND EMERGE FREE!" John screamed as he stood in front of Hudson, long dead and dried blood surrounded the several stab wounds along her body. Rook, who was tied to chair watching all this, was powerless, all could do was watch the horror show before him, watching the mad man scream and pace violently, completely at John's mercy, about to met the same fate as his co-worker or worse, and it absolutely terrified him.

Then Rook woke up in his bed.

He quickly sat up in his bed as soon as he did, he did so in silence, he was getting used to awaking with a start which was fine with, but the only problem was his brain moved slower than his body. He sat there in silence, his memory slowly chugging along, after a few moments he remembered what happened after his little fit of anger involving the town grouch, he had stayed on the roof with Jess for a time, cracking jokes and poked fun at each other as they watched the waxing moon slowly drift into the sky, he enjoyed it, being able to sit town with someone he cared about and talked about whatever even though the person he was talking to had the sole interest in murdering cultists, to counter it, he tried to get her to explain her favorite movie again; Blood Dragon Two, but the change in subject was short lived as she began talking about bio-luminescent animals, predominantly Tyrannosaurus Rex's, corrupt military figures fighting their supposed allies in a post apocalyptic setting and a meaningless training montage. All of it made no sense to Rook as he had not seen the previous film, leaving much to be misunderstood, Jess refused to explain the prior movie as she did not wish to ruin the cinematic masterpiece that was the Blood Dragon universe, and instead began talking about her theories on what would happen in the next movie.

His lack of understanding allowed him to switch to a subject in which he enjoyed; music, he talked of various artists and bands he had idolized one time or another in his life, but of course just as Jess's words flew over his head, his words went right over hers, leaving him to give a catch up speech of how impactful of some of the most famous bands of the last thirty years have been. Jess merely feinted interest for a very short time before moving the conversation to something both of them could understand. And they continued to talk and joke for a few more hours before they called it a night and Rook retired to his bed.

Mentally caught up, Rook slowly rose from his bed with a groan, now a days his body was sore in some compacity, his body ached and his head hurt, it was a small price to pay for being able to survive what he had been through. He grabbing his shotgun that hung around one of the bedpost, hung by the vinyl wrap attached, he looped his arm through the strap, allowing it to rest comfortably on his back, once he was ready to go, he slowly shuffled towards the door, still not fully awake, he meandered down the hall and into the living room, hoping he didn't sleep in to late again, the last thing he needed was to give John get a step ahead of him again.

As he entered the living room, and quickly found that Jess was asleep on the couch, a small pillow under her head and her jacket draped around her, using it as a blanket, Rook couldn't help but marvel at the sight, it was one of those rare times where Jess had taken off her jacket. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen it off her body let alone if he ever had before, as he watched Jess he could see out of the corner of his eye a familiar ball of grey, sitting in the corner left of the couch. Rook drifted his eyes over to the swathe of grey to see Boomer sleeping in the corner of the room, curled into a ball, sleeping peacefully.

Seeing the two resting tranquilly, he decided to leave them be, he knew better not to wake a woman with such a short fuse, instead, he tiptoed over the door and quietly let himself out of the house.

The second he opened the door, warm sunlight shined down on him, blinding him slightly, making him grown his disappointment as he brought up a hand to block the light. The light was as harsh on his eyes as it was on his mind, by the height of the sun he could guesstimate it was around ten in the morning, with it being so late in the morning Rook didn't put it past John to put out some scouts to case the town or something just as sinister, after depriving the town of food, gas and electricity, and an attempted purging, who knows what other lows he'd stoop to get his way, more so now that all attempts to wipe out the resistance has been futile.

But seeing as the town looked like it was still in one piece from his front porch, perhaps everything was alright, but that little nagging voice in the back of his told him something was going down and wouldn't rest until he made sure everything was ok and Rook wanted to sate the voice and the only way he could think that would do the trick was to do a lap or two around town to make sure nothing was amiss, it was also a good way to stretch the legs.

Rook closed the door behind him and stepped down off the porch, he worked his way to the church and did a loop around the far side before swinging around and crossed the road towards the general store. But as he crossed the street, a voice called to him from behind.

"Oh shit, hey there, Partner!" the voice cried.

Rook turned to see Nick trying to catch up to him but struggled as he didn't have his usual gait, instead he hobbled forward as if his right leg didn't move as it should, like it was made entirely of wood. Memory flickered through his mind and told Rook he walked like that because he was shot yesterday.

"Dude, are you ok enough to be moving around?!" Rook asked, quickly moving towards his friend as he eyed his bad leg, ready to catch him if he fell.

"Yeah it looks bad, but it's all good, didn't hit bone or anything... Tis but a flesh wound" he said overdramatically in some European accent.

"But yeah, Kim wasn't exactly thrilled to find out what happened, I'm kinda glad the docs kept me overnight, otherwise I woulda been in the dog house when I got home" Nick sighed as Rook cleared the distance.

"But your totally fine right?" Rook asked, carefully watching his friend for anything that looked like injury.

"Yeah, I'm sore as hell, but yeah, probably shouldn't go jogging, the docs in the church patched me up real good" Nick shrugged.

"But other then that, your fine" Rook asked again.

"Yeah man I'm fine, chill, your starting to sound like my wife" Nick said, waving a limp hand at Rook.

"But what are you doing man, working on something to stick it to John?" Nick asked mischievously with a matching grin as he rubbed his hands together.

"Naah, not really, just doing a quick patrol around town, making sure everything is ok" Rook replied.

"Sweet, I'll keep you company, could use the walk anyway" Nick said, giving Rook a solid pat on the shoulder before shuffling passed him.

Rook quickly spun around face his friend again and took a few large steps forward to catch up.

"You sure, I got to go around the whole town?" Rook offered, hoping to dissuade him from overexerting himself.

"Yeah man, I can do more then just fly a plane" Nick grinned as Rook matched his stride.

The two now moved at a comfortable pace as they crossed the street, towards the back of the general store, not a walk and not quite a crawl.

"Alright dude, I trust you" Rook said as he still eyed his stride nervously.

"So, what you been up to after we scored that food?" Nick asked.

"I uhh, stole a truck" Rook stuttered, looking back up at his friend.

"Oh shit!" Nick laughed.

"Fuckin' cop man steals a truck, what's this world coming to?" he chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, the worlds coming to an end real soon" Rook jokingly agreed, not wanting to get into the escapade that was the Widowmaker.

"But what about you, besides the leg and stuff, what's up with you?" Rook asked.

"A whole lot o' nothing" Nick sighed loudly.

"Just the doctors poking and prodding me for a bit then Kim came down here with Carmina and gave me the gears for getting clipped, Oh Nicholas, what if you got killed, what if this, what if that" Nick paraphrased.

"So, I guess your grounded so to speak until you get better" Rooked offered.

"Well I'm not going anywhere even if I want to, Lord knows I can't hoof it with you on your next shindig and I can't get my plane in the air on account of John's planes so I guess I got to sit my ass down until you do something I guess" Nick groaned.

"Don't worry man, you won't miss a thing with everything going on, it's all highly dangerous stuff that for some reason only I can do" Rook said, accidentally sounding a little more grumpier then he want to sound.

"I don't know about that but uhhh… speaking of highly dangerous things" Nick said, as he couldn't help but hid a sinister smirk.

"How's that Jess lady you hang out with all the time" he grinned.

"She's fine" Rook squeaked.

"Uh huh" Nick nodded with a knowing grin.

"So, you gonna tell me how you two are or what?" Nick asked.

"We're cool, just hanging out, doing our thing, killing peggies and all that, y'know, the usually" Rook said dryly, unsure how to quantify his relationship with Jess.

"And where is this mystery woman now, I hope not wondering where you are" Nick questioned.

"She's sleeping back at my place" Rook shrugged.

"Hoh, Hoh, Benjamin, you sly dog, you!" Nick laughed as he elbowed Rook's side.

"No, come on Dude, it's not like that, she's just sleeping on my couch, it's the safest place to be" Rook said, almost whining.

"You got a lady sleeping at your place, come on man, seal the deal" Nick leered.

"She'd rather kill me then do anything like that with me" Rook said, his voice cracking slightly.

"Then apply some of that Benjamin Rook charm that you seduced the resistance with" Nick grinned as he wiggled his fingers to add to his point

"Trust me dude, she's not like other girls, she's completely self sufficient and all that" Rook explained, slowly losing his awkwardness and recomposing himself again.

"Oh, I sure she is Partner" Nick grinned before falling silent for a few seconds.

"But uh, speaking of those types of woman, I actually, I heard ol' Addie is in town, her and her boy toy what's-his-name, spent who knows how long fixing her helicopter, and are at Mary's bar now, celebrating" Nick explained.

"Oh shit, really?!" Rook questioned, he was surprised at how fast they worked.

"Yeah, it's not hard to miss her, especially if Hurk and Sharky are also there, enjoying the festivities" Nick sighed.

"Damn, I can't imagine what a party with three of them if like" Rook said, shuttering ever so slightly.

"Trust me dude, it's not fun, take from me, they're to much" Nick preached.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Rook asked.

"Do you know what a twisted raccoon is?" Nick replied, sounding like he had just stepped into a cold spot.

* * *

Rook and Nick spent the rest of the slow walk around the town talking about this or that, Rook was quick to change the subject after Nick explained some of the Drubman party rituals, despite catching up with his friend, Rook made sure to keep a keen eye out into the distance, watching for anything that looked like a peggie, but thankfully he didn't see anything suspicious. As the two men just about looped around the town, Rook noticed he looked a little worse for wear, the wounded leg appeared to be slowing him down, but seeing as they were in close proximity to Mary's bar, Rook asked him if he needed a breather as he pointed to the bar to which Nick happily agreed before moving towards the bar, leaving Rook to watch him shamble over to Mary's bar despite the Drubman family partying over something inside, Rook wanted to offer to help him get to the bar but he had a feeling he would be rejected. But with Nick gone, it left Rook to do one more loop around the town, just to be safe, as he went about his patrol, and circled the town with ease with nary a peggie or anything that even resembled a threat, it made him feel safe to see everything looked ok, but as passed the church and headed for the general store, with the crackling of his walkie talkie, signalling someone was trying to reach him, how he felt was about to drastically change.

"Deputy, are you there, Deputy you must answer right now!" John Seed demanded, frustrated.

Rook thought about just clicking the walkie off, just hearing his voice made his skin crawl with anger, it reminded him of all the mutilated corpses and needless slaughter for something that wasn't coming, it reminded him of being in the chair, he just wanted to forget it all.

But that little voice in the back of his head spoke up once more, it yelled in defiance to answer the call and tell him to fuck right off. But before Rook could make a decision, John kept on talking.

"Do I have to make another attempt at burning down your disgusting little town again to get your attention" John gripped, tired of not getting his way.

Just hearing the idle threat, twisted Rook's stomach in anger, how dare he casually threaten more innocent lives like that in an attempt to goad him into a conversation.

It was all Rook needed to tear the walkie from his belt and bring it to his mouth.

"The hell do you want?" He spat.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully, Benjamin" John seethed, saying his name slowly as if he was sounding out each syllable.

"With each passing day you make it harder and harder for me to do my job, the Father is growing impatient and so am I!" He cried.

You are making things so much harder than they need to be, can't you see how many would be alive if you just say yes?!" John barked before signing heavily in discontent.

"You are capable of doing so much good, but yet you squander it and try to save every sinner squirming in the mud, forget about them, we have done the work for you, the saved are ready to file into our gates, all we need from you is to help us prepare" he sighed, clearly tired.

"I am saving people, John" Rook replied gruffly.

"I'm saving people for a cult run by family of assholes, who are preying on the mentally fragile and making them murder, loot and destroy everything in an innocent little county just for a spot in a hole in the ground for an apocalypse that is never coming!" Rook barked, getting riled up.

John was silent for a few seconds after Rook stopped talking, he thought he was just stuffing his anger down before preaching more bullshit at him, but when he spoke, it wasn't what he was expecting.

"You know Deputy, a part of me was hoping you wouldn't saying something like that, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt like the Father has but you make it oh so difficult, as yet again, you are sinking further and further into your wrath, you just lash out at anything you don't like without even taking a moment of consideration and the opposition and what they have to offer" John seethed with quiet anger.

"Are you being serious right now, asshole!?" Rook cried into his walkie, unable to believe the angle John was playing at.

"After every little thing you've done how could you possibly, POSSIBLY expect me to just look at the benefits of signing up with you god damn psychopaths, you friggin' ordered people to murder a whole town of people a few days ago, you starved and tortured people! you're a manipulator and a liar! A monster and a coward who hides while people do your dirty work, why the actual hell would I ever think it's a good idea to join you, you terrible, terrible person?!" Rook yelled, getting louder and louder.

"Of course I'm wrathful John, anyone would be angry over the atrocities you and your family have committed on American soil, you, you make Jones-town look like an accident compared to this shit! If your really are trying to swing me around to your side like you say you are, your doing a god awful job at it, just threatening and strong arming every problem you have isn't going to solve everything, I'm not some unaware civilian, worried by your little congregations, I'm not some mentally fragile person you can push around, I am the guy who will arrest you! I'm the guy who will shut everything you made down!" Rook screamed his tirade, lightly panting once he was done.

"But I can fix you! I can cleanse you, God dammit! All this fucking needless bloodshed can stop if you can just get it through your thick! Fucking! Skull! And just let me pull those revolting little sins out of you! Then Joseph will allow you and me to just walk through Eden's Gates and we will be saved, we will survive, we will see the new dawn of man! I know you have done something wrong, there's no point in hiding it, just tell me what it is, you know I'm right! just say yes! Just say yes! Just say yes!" John yelled through the walkie.

As John yelled and preached, he started to sound less of charismatic Yes Man and more of a desperate man, clutching at straws, trying to get his way, but as quick as that desperation creeped into his voice, it disappeared.

"But then again" John said, skipping a beat, sounding as calm as can be.

"Perhaps your right, perhaps with you I need a more personal touch, maybe if you won't come to me, then I'll come to you... And then we'll see how willing you are to say yes, but who knows, maybe I can still have you see the light and that magic word" John mused.

"Thanks to you, the Sinners of Hope's County are getting more and more defiant, always fighting to take more, kill more, celebrate more, be more then they actually are, and I'm sure you can see why we can't have that" John said with that shit eating, better then you voice.

"Are you familiar with my brother; Jacob's methods?" John asked, sounding almost bored for some reason.

"What, no?" Rook replied disgustedly, unsure of where John was taking it, a little creeped out by John's sudden mood swings.

"Well, since you and your little resistance are sprouting like unkempt weeds, destroying the immaculate garden that is Eden's Gate, then it's time to put on the work gloves and do some work, to… cull the heard… so to speak" John supposed.

"What the hell are you talking about, your terrible with analogies!" Rook spat irritably.

"That's quite alright, you'll know soon enough… I need you to listen very carefully, Deputy" John said, his voice dropping low into a deep gravelly his, steeped in distain.

"I'm going to give you one last chance, _one_ last chance Benjamin, to surrender yourself to me, or I will have everyone in your precious little town killed, including you, it won't be anything like my capture teams a few days ago, one way or the other, this will be your last day as the hero of your little so called resistance" John declared vehemently.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Rook exasperated.

"Threats and strong arming, that's all you know how to do, what are you even talking about, what could you possibly do that will kill everyone, are you going to bore us to death with your horrible sermons, oh god please no!" Rook moaned, Rook yelled, feinting fear.

In truth he was just sick of John's shit, he was like a broken record; going on and on about how he'd rue the day and when the threats didn't work, he'd resort to more threats. At one point Rook remembered what John was like when he thought nothing of him, a charismatic smooth talker that had made so much money for his brother with his knowledge as a lawyer, allowing them to buy untold acres of land, a man who ordered his troops he personally charmed, with no hesitation or concern, making sure his chokehold on the valley was still strong, but now, he sounded like a sick dog, barking and yapping at everything he disliked, trying desperately to hide his decay.

And he needed to be put down.

"No Deputy, I am using my ace in the hole, a little contingency I set up in case the valley's status fell into the red, I am deploying my Revelator to restore order to restore order to the valley and remove the thorn in my side that is you!" John declared.

"Your what?" Rook winced.

"Are you sending a Dungeons and Dragons monster after me?" he questioned, refusing to believe what he heard.

"No, you idiot!" John snapped.

"You'll see soon enough! Enjoy what little time you have left Deputy; everything is about to change!" John yelled before the walkie clicked off.

Rook stared down at his now disconnected walkie talkie, despite John's voice now gone, anger still boiled within him, and with John now gone, he had nowhere to direct that anger after hearing threat after threat after threat.

"Screw you!" Rook yelled at the silent walkie, hoping it would make him feel better.

But it didn't.

With angry grumbling, Rook harshly reattached the walkie to his hip before clutching his shotgun with both hands, sparks of pain dithered in his fingertips as he tightly gripped his firearm.

He stood there for a few seconds to process everything that happened, only making his anger grow, he tried to push it down like he had so many times before but found that it didn't do much for him.

Seeing as there was nothing he could nothing, with an loud, angry sigh he continued his patrol, nearly stomping around town from the general store to behind Mary's bar again, all the while grumbling hate under his breath, this time around, he didn't give as much care keeping an eye out for suspicious, he was far to distracted with how he felt about John and the things he would do if he got his hands on him, how DARE he threaten him and Falls End for merely not answering his walkie talkie in a timely fashion. If he went that far for not answering a call, he couldn't fathom what John does when something really went wrong.

But as he completed his second loop around the town, he stood behind the bar, he understood he was still to angry to do anything productive for the resistance, he needed to calm down and think clearly, he desperately struggled to think happy thoughts but all the things John had said and done danced in the back of his mind, keeping the anger lit. it was clear to him he need to do something, anything to take his mind off how much he hated John, but he didn't know what to do, there was no way he could take his anger out on patrolling peggies on their territory as his anger could very well cloud his judgment, Rook knew there was a few books littered around his home, but felt there was no way he could sit still and focus on the words on the pages, and when Jess who was still there, woke up, would most likely egg him on to do something he'd regret.

While standing there, trying to focus on something, Rook's eyes eventually looked over at the bar, seeing it made the things Nick said to him earlier echoed in his mind, about how the Drubman family is in there, maybe he could calm down via osmosis from the Drubman's little celebration party, it wasn't like they were ones to turn friends away, and Nick was also in there. But if Mary started giving him grief over what he said yesterday, he couldn't imagine anything good would follow.

With another angry, defeated sigh, he turned and marched around the side of the bar and approached the front door before he pushed open the door. He expected to see the Drubman family partying it up over something as Nick tried to stay as far away as possible, trying to gather himself after the strenuous walk around town, but as he entered the building he saw a few of his friends and a few regulars scattered around the bar and Mary behind the counter just as he expected, but instead of the loud boisterous attitudes he come to know from the Drubman family, they and everyone else who loitered around the bar was deathly silent.

Everyone stood in place, looking up at the old, grainy CRT TV that hung from the ceiling in the corner, right of Mary's counter. Once upon a time the beat-up television either displayed news or sports, but this time, it displayed John Seed.

He was monologuing about something with that usual charismatic smirk, perfectly manicured hair and faultless black vest over a silk blue button up that he wore every time he appeared on a broadcast. It looked like he was giving another one of his spiels, probably trying boast how great Eden's Gate is and how they are nearing their goal.

But whatever John was babbling about was wrapping up as he was bidding his goodbyes to the camera as he held and Eden's Gate bible close to his chest, blessing God for everything that had happened thus far. Then the TV cut to a large Eden's Gate logo that stretched across the screen's entirety, the second it did, the room exploded to life.

Mary, still behind the counter and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket as if it was burning her and began erratically locking the cash register, then a few cabinets behind her as the Cook in the kitchen behind her began grabbing a few important looking things before running out of the kitchen. The bar regulars shot up from their chairs, a choir of scarping wood on wood filled the bar as the chair legs skidded back, a few even falling over, Adelaide, Xander, Sharky and Hurk, who had claimed the back corner of the bar were doing a poor job of climbing out a nearby window, Addie ordering all of them to regroup at her Tulip, even Nick shot up from his seat, almost falling backwards as he did and limped away from the bar as fast as he could, not even placing down a few dollars for his drink, but with how everyone was reacting to John's broadcast, no one seemed to care, including Mary.

He ran straight for the door Rook came through and as he closed the distance to it, his shoulder slammed into Rook's as if he didn't see him, causing him to stumble to the side, his hand shot out and grabbed the edge of a near by table, feeling himself grow stable again, Nick stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath, unsure of what just happened, he looked up at what he ran into with frightened eyes.

"Shit Dude, sorry, I gotta go, gotta get back to Kim, you can come to if you need to hide!" Nick quickly as he saw who he bumped into before pushing himself for the door again and hobbled as fast as he could to the exit.

"Nick, what's going on!?" Rook asked, taken aback and scared of what was happening.

But Nick offered no response, instead he flung open the door and bolted out, a few of the bar regulars following close behind, nearly clogging the door with their bodies, just about clearing out the entire bar, leaving Mary and Rook alone in the bar.

As Mary still locked away everything that was important or nailed down behind the counter, Rook approached the unaware bar owner.

"Mary! What the hell is going on!?" Rook called out.

Upon hearing her name, Mary quickly turned to her caller, allowing Rook to see how she looked truly terrified.

"Ben!" She cried, seeing her friend, pushing herself up against the counter.

"John made just made valley wide announcement; Joseph is getting tired of John's progress at taking care of us so he's going to try to kill us all with the Revelator!" she cried.

"What the hell is a Revelator?" Rook asked again.

For a split second, Mary looked at him like he was possessed before remembering he was not around the last time the Revelator roamed the roads.

"The Revelator is John's ace in the hole, he brought it out only once before when you were in the Henbane, he paraded it around to remind people who's in charge, it's a weaponized big rig like the Widowmaker but much, much worse, it looks like something Sharky and Hurk would make if they had the know how, this thing could be the most dangerous thing we faced so far, I mean it Ben, no one will hold it against you if you want to hide from this one, I don't think even you can save the day on this one, just stay with me and let the thing shoot up the town, a resistance is a group of people not a town!" Mary explained, scared.

Hearing Mary explain what was going on and how frightened everyone was made everything click in his head; everything John had said to him earlier, what he meant by saving the town or save himself, normally as the clearheaded individual Rook was, he might have actually listened to Mary after making sure everyone was safe but anger was still biting into him and winding him up at the thought of John killing even more people and desecrating more homes.

Mary watched Rook, both in silence, she watched him as he was in deep contemplation, thinking up who knows what, and after waiting in silence for a few moments with bated breath, Mary watched him exhale before speaking.

"Alright, I have a terrible idea" Rook grimaced as he approached the counter and sat down on one of the off center bar stools, walkie talkie in hand.

"Care to share?" Mary asked nervously as she watched Rook fiddle with the settings on the walkie.

With another long exhale, Rook shared his thoughts.

"Your right, I can't save the day... Not by myself anyway" he muttered has he still fiddled with his walkie.

"What, you know someone with a tank?" Mary asked.

"No, but if we're lucky, we can hit like one" Rook offered as he appeared to be finished with the adjustment on his walkie.

Unsure of what he meant, Mary stayed silent once more, watching and waiting to see what the Junior Deputy could possibly be thinking.

In truth, his plan consisted entirely on gathering all his friends and allies together in a single concentrated attack, the combined strength had to be enough to stop just one big rig, with the severity everyone was putting on John's newest play, how could he do it alone.

All Rook could hope for at this point was all his immediate friends kept their walkies on the same frequency. Ready to speak he brought the walkie to his mouth and pressed the button and begun to speak.

"OK everyone, listen up; Junior Deputy Rook here, I know your all afraid, I don't blame you, I don't know what the Revelator looks like and I'm scared too, but we can't just run away when we see something truly scary, if we do then what's been the point of this whole thing, if we just give up and run now then everyone we lost, every home taken, every sacrifice made and every bullet fired would have been for nothing, a resistance is a group of people who stands up to an established organization, we can not resist if we are not there to resist, now I can't order and tell you what to do, but I'm going to try to stop this Revelator, and as of right now I'm doing it by myself, if anyone wants to help, come on down to the spread eagle bar in Falls End, I don't really have a plan besides hit it with some explosives or something, any help anyone can offer no matter how small will be a great help... God bless and please stay safe... Junior Deputy Rook, out" Rook said, then clicked off the walkie and placed it on the counter once he was done.

"Jesus Ben, you can't be serious?!" Mary cried in disbelief.

"What else do you want me to say Mary?" Rook said somberly, look up at her from the walkie.

"Like you said, I can't save the day this time, if it's really that bad what can I do?" he asked.

"Well you have to do something more then that, people are counting on you!" Mary practically begged.

"But I don't know what to do!" Rook cried, his frustration slowly coming back to him.

Then the Bar's front door flew up and Jerome hurried inside before closing it behind him, then turned to face the two people who watched him expectantly.

He wore his usual Pastor attire, but this time he wore a thick Kevlar vest over it, a pump action shotgun in his hands, and of course, just like everyone else, he looked quite nervous as beads of sweat dotted his brow.

"Glad to see not even you are bowing out of this fight" Jerome said, nodding towards Rook.

"Jerome!" Mary called out nervously.

"Is everything ok out there?" She asked.

"It's become a ghost town out there" Jerome replied as he marched up to the counter next to Rook and Mary.

"But I've come to lend some aid any way I can" he declared.

"I appreciate the help Jerome, I really do but by the looks of things, it might be just you and me out there" Rook said sadly as he looked down at the walkie on the table, causing everyone else to look down at it as well.

"Well, it's like you said, we can't make people fight" Jerome grimaced.

"I don't suppose you got grenades laying around or know how to stop a truck with two shotguns then?" Rook asked out loud as he removed the shotgun on his back.

Whatever Jerome was going to say was cut off by Mary who spoke loudly once more.

"You guys can't be serious!?" Mary cried, slamming a hand on the counter.

Rook turned to Mary to address her again, expecting her to be angry to some degree, but when he actually looked at her, he saw the opposite, her jaw was clenched and stared at him with big wet eyes, she was scared of what could happen and what was going to happen.

"Mary, we can't just let John roll over us, we need to do something, if we don't what's stopping John from having this Revelator from rolling around the valley or even worse the whole county, all day everyday" Rook said trying to reason with her.

Mary was silent for a few seconds as her clenched jaw relaxed and began quavering lightly.

"What your going to do is insane, even for you, I ca- we can't lose you" Mary implored Rook, pointing a finger at him.

As Rook stared at her trying to think of a counter, he couldn't help but notice her hand was shaking slightly.

"I gotta try always" Rook said softly.

"But there's no one there to back you guys up" Mary said timidly.

Then as if on cue, his walkie crackled to life

"I'll gas up the Carmina and swoop in… Doubt other planes will be out and about with how fuckin' smug John was" Nick's voice came through the walkie somberly, almost defeated.

"Just make it sound like I was crucial in this shit when it's over, I'm already on this ice as is with Kim" he said.

Just hearing Nick's voice was like a breath of fresh air to the three of them, there was one other soul willing to fight the rolling terror and having air support, no matter how long was a marginal improvement to the eventual face off.

Once Nick stopped speaking, Rook quickly picked up the walkie and spoke into it.

"You got it, Partner" Rook grinned, feeling some sense of hope.

"Sweet… I'll like fly around town or something until we're ready to go or whatever" Nick said, sounding not very enthusiastic.

"Sounds good Dude, I doubt we'll be long" Rook said before placing the walkie back on the counter.

"There we go, see, things are looking up" Rook offered to Mary who was looking more relaxed down, but still wound up.

"But you still don't have a plan" Mary said loudly, rapping her fist on the counter.

"Yes, we do" Rook responded quickly.

"We do?" Jerome piped up.

"Yes, we do, Jerome and I will distract the Revelator somehow while Nick just dumps on it" Rook offered as he looked back and forth between Mary and Jerome.

"This thing has heavy machine guns, it will tear both of you apart!" Mary countered.

Then the walkie crackled once more.

"I know a desperate man when I see one, and John's really trying to score here let's show that Fuck Trumpets we're not that easy, huh?" Adelaide said in a somewhat confident tone over the sound of a whirling helicopter.

Hearing her voice, Rook immediately scooped up his walkie again and responded to her call.

"Thank you so much Addie, anything you and your tulip can do will be a massive help, you're the best" Rook praised into his walkie.

"You sure know how to flatter a girl Hun, let me just let me drop Xander off somewhere safe" Addie replied before the walkie clicked off again.

the second the line was dead, Rook let out a deep sigh

"Oh thank Christ" He sighed.

With Addie now on board, his hopes creeped up higher, he liked the idea of a helicopter and a plane laying into a big rig while the driver's focus is not on their attackers.

"Ok now you got air support, but we don't know if there are any peggies in the air or not so we got to hit them fast" Mary spoke up again, her voce sounding lighter again.

Then the walkie crackled a third time.

"Ok, Deputy Destruction, me an' Hurk are in, we're commin' back with Aunt Addie" Sharky said unconfidently over the sounds of the helicopter.

"Thanks man, I could really use your guys help, I need something crazy" Rook asked.

"Shit man, things are already crazy, have you seen the Rela-thingy, fucking crazy! It's all Mad Max up in this bitch, whatever we're doing better be supreme" Sharky responded before the walkie went dead again.

"There we go" Rook sighed, feeling like the day could actually be saved, placing the walkie back on his belt.

Hurk and sharky carried an aura of _je ne sais quoi_, two wildcards that marched to the beat of their own drums, despite their preceding reputations, he need crazy to fight crazy.

Then Mary chimed in to remind Rook about his plan's lack of detail.

"But what are six people going to do, you can't just wing it Ben, you could really die this time you really can?!" Mary

"Yes, Mary thank you" Rook groaned.

Mary then began going on and on about how worried she was about the whole thing going bad six ways from Sunday, but Rook didn't care, he was just thankfully for his friends to come to his aid and have his back after everything that happened in the last half hour.

Then suddenly, the door flew open with a bang, hitting the wall it was attached to, causing everyone to flinch at the sudden noise before turning to the door, expecting the worse. But found the sound was not made from ill intent but instead was a drowsy looking Jess, dragging her feet towards the three of them.

"Yo, what the fuck is going on?" Jess yawned.

"Where have you been?!" Rook cried, looking wide eyed at her.

"Fuckin' sleeping back at your place until your shit on the walkie talkie woke me up" Jess huffed, not liking his tone, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Of cour-" Rook sighed in annoyance as he rubbed his brow before trying to sum up the situation.

"John's gone off the deep end apparently and he's trying to tear up the valley with his Revelator" Rook said quickly.

"The fuck is a Revelator?" Jess asked, confused.

"Forget it" Rook sighed angrily again, before turning to Mary.

"Mary, can you get her up to speed while me and Jerome talk shop?" Rook asked hastily.

"You got it, Ben" Mary nodded.

"You heard her Jess, just trust me ok?" Rook said, looking back at his hooded friend.

Jess sighed in annoyance with a heavy eye roll before wordlessly agreeing and approaching the counter, she could tell something was gravely wrong so why fight one of the few people she trusted.

With Jess distracted, Rook tugged Jerome to the side, a few steps away from bar. Once they had a little space from the ladies, Rook spoke his mind.

"Alright we got a team together, Hurk has a big rocket launcher and Shark has a flamethrower, that and us will make a great distraction for Nick and Addie to bombard the Revelator a lot, is there anything you want to add?" Rook said in a lowered tone.

"Well, Miss Fairgrave did have a point, we would be sitting ducks if we went out there, we need some sort of protection" Jerome offered, just as hushed.

"Then what should we do, maybe if Grace Armstrong wasn't in the Henbane, maybe she could snipe the driver, but seeing as she's to far, we got to try" Rook replied.

"Hold on Deputy, allow me to think" Jerome said as he tilted his head away so he could think better.

He was silent for a few moments as tumblers in his head turned, all the while Rook waited in great anticipation, every wasted second feeling like a noose ever so slowly tightening around his neck.

Then Jerome gasped slightly before facing back to his friend, an idea on the mind.

"What if we are to take Miss Fairgrave's father's truck; the Widowmaker, I wouldn't put it past John to reverse engineer it so to speak, to create the Relevator, I'm sure Mister Fairgrave fortified his truck to take some hits considering what he used it for."

Jerome's idea hit Rook like a punch to the face, he never even thought about using the big rig in a combative nature, he didn't have much experience driving anything that big before.

"Alright, Alright, that's really good" Rook nodded, patting Jerome on the shoulder.

"We can use the Revelator, but I need you in shotgun, I can't operate all the guns and whatnot, I haven't driven anything like that before yesterday" Rook asked.

"That's understandable, I can learn the buttons as we go, if we act fast, we will have ample set up time" Jerome nodded, agreeing with Rook.

"So, what are we talking about?" Jess's voice suddenly whispered.

It was as hushed as his and Jerome's and it was directly in Rook's ear, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

With a muttered curse, Rook took one step forward instinctively as Jess's auditory proximity spooked him.

Rook then turned to see a surprised Jerome looking at Jess who stood right next to them, looking unamused and ready to go.

"So, let me guess, your going to do something stupid rather then hide like everyone else?" Jess sighed.

"Well of course, what else would I do?" Rook asked.

"No, dude, let's just go hide, he's after you right, so just hide and let John tank the town, the resistance or whatever can just move somewhere else" Jess shrugged.

"No Jess, I'm not abandoning anyone, I'm here to save everyone!" Rook declared irritably, verbally putting his foot down.

"What I believe the Deputy is trying to say is; to run away is to admit defeat" Jerome said nervously.

"Yeah, yeah sure whatever" Jess said, annoyed as she pushed passed the Pastor to get to the Junior Deputy.

With Jerome out of her way, she cleared the distance and got right up in Rook's face, almost pushed against him.

"Fuckin' come on asshole, don't get yourself killed over this shit, so what if he takes down the town, they can rebuild, they can't rebuild you" Jess demanded, prodding a finger into his chest to drive the point home.

"No that's not the point, dammit" Rook spat, smacking the finger in his chest.

"You know what I mean fuck face, just fuckin' come on, I got bunch of camps all over" Jess growled.

"Jess, screw off, I'm not abandoning my job, I'm going to take out this Revelator then I'm going for John, if you want to help on either project then great but if not then run away again" Rook barked.

But Jess's response only garnered more swearing and order giving, and this went on for a few minutes, they went back and forth arguing what do to until the sounds of a helicopter getting closer and closer could be heard from outside, it had to be Addie, landing her helicopter very close by. Hearing it, Rook looked at the front door briefly before turning back to Jess.

"Ok, whatever, we'll put a pin in it, help is here" Rook said, trying to wave Jess off.

Jess scoffed and said something rude as Rook moved back to the counter by Mary, Jerome joined him once he figured out what was happening.

With the previously loud helicopter now silent, an air of uncertainty filled the air, the helicopter was silent for a little bit now and no one had come through the door yet, a part of Rook's brain told him it was the peggies trying something fishy. He tightened his grip on his shotgun as his imagination began suggesting horrible things, but before he could voice any of them to his group, the door flew open again, not as hard this time, and sure enough, Addie, Hurk and Sharky piled in before slamming the door behind them. Somehow, they had flown here in the small helicopter with three people and rocket launcher and flamethrower that were now in their respective owners' hands. As the family sighed in relief that they made it to the bar safely, Rook didn't need to get a good look at them to tell they were shaken, just as everyone else, Addie seemed almost sunken down into herself, Hurk was trying his best to look confident but fear was slipping through the cracks, where as Sharky clearly looked uncomfortable.

"Thanks for coming guys" Rook offered lightly.

"No worries Bro, bro's don't leave bro's hanging" Hurk said, trying his best to sound as confident and boisterous as usual as he hurried away for the door and towards the group.

"Alright Hun, I don't suppose you have a plan?" Addie asked expectantly, following her son.

"I got something cooking up" Rook responded as he pulled the walkie off his belt again.

"I'm down for some big brain police planin'" Sharky said warily as he finally approached the counter as well.

As the family reached the counter, Hurk and Sharky put down their highly dangerous weapons, leaning it against the counter, then turned to the Junior Deputy.

"We're ready when you are, Hun" Addie said, tired.

Rook silently nodded then brought his walkie to his mouth and pressed the talk button to call Nick who he hoped was still in the air.

"Nick, you there?" Rook said as the walkie crackled.

"Loud and clear" Nick replied a few seconds later over the sounds of an active plane.

"Ok, I'm going to lay out the game plan" Rook declared as he looked at all his trusted friends that gathered around him.

"Roger that" Nick responded.

Rook took once last look at his friends before he spoke, he could feel a lump in his throat form, he was not one for public speaking, and the situation at hand didn't help, but he had to push himself into doing it if he wanted to save everyone, ready, he cleared his throat and activated the walkie.

Ok everyone, we're going to stop this Revelator by me and Jerome going head to head so to speak, with Mary's Widowmaker, drawing most of the attention, as that happens Hurk will hit the thing with his rocket launcher and Sharky will try to melt the tires with his flamethrower, Nick and Addie while bombard it from above" He declared.

Once Rook finished speaking, the group except for Jess murmured their thoughts on the plan, especially Mary, who mainly voiced her many concerns.

"Yeah, sure sounds good" Nick offered through the walkie.

"It is indeed the best we can do" Jerome stated.

"Fuck it, let's do it" Addie added.

Hurk made some obscene reference to something, all the while Sharky remained uncomfortably silent.

"Addie, on your way back here you didn't happen to see this Revelator?" Rook asked.

"I actually did" Addie replied.

"it's headed here, hitting up all sorts of places the resistance has on the way, I'd say we got maybe fifteen minutes tops" she guessed.

"Alright right, that's more then enough time to get ready" Rook said as he marched forward through his group of friends towards Mary and held out a hand.

"May I have the keys, please" he asked.

But Mary offered no response, instead she regarded him for a few moments.

"Jesus Ben… you're really going through with this, huh?" she said gently

"Unless you got a missile or something, we got no other choice" Rook responded, just as gently.

Mary sighed gently before sticking her hand in her pocket, before rummaging around for a few seconds before pulling a set of keys out and dangled it inches above Rook's open palm.

"Promise me you won't do anything extra crazy" she almost begged.

"I promise, Mary" Rook said.

"Thank you" Mary replied, almost sadly as she dropped the keys into his hand.

With the keys in his hand, Rook looked down at the for a second before clenching his fingers around it, then turned back to his waiting and nervous friends.

"Alright folks let get to work" he proclaimed.

As the group began to make their proclamations of being ready to go, Sharky finally spoke up.

"Heyo Dep, can I uh, talk to you, Amigo?" Sharky said nervously.

"What's up, Shark?" Rook replied, pocketing the keys.

Sharky didn't reply, instead he walked up to Rook as he pulled a phone from his pocket.

"So uh, on the way here, when Aunt Addie flew us here, we uh, kinda flew passed the Reve-whatever and uh, I kinda took a picture of that mean machine on account of how fuckin' awesome it looked, all things considered but uh... You might wanna check this" Sharky said anxiously as he held up a cracked smartphone.

Rook leaned in to see what he was being shown, the photo was slightly blurry and out of focus due to it being taken from a helicopter, but Rook could still see what the Revelator looked like..

It looked like a big rig, the same model as the Widowmaker, but it was much different, it was plated with heavy looking metal that cover every window, openings or anything that could be considered vulnerable, making the drivers cabin and engine completely protected, attached to the grill was a large pointed cowcatcher, more then enough to stop vehicles or people, attached to the big rig looked like a semi trailer, it was just as heavily armored, covering every square inch of the trailer and wheels, the top of the trailer was lined with sheets of metal and heavy machine guns attached to the front and back, two peggies in bomb refusal suits manned said guns.

But the worst thing to Rook, about this rolling death machine, was what decorated the sides of the trailer; on either side of the trailer was three people, men and woman, chained to the sides, shirtless with various sins tattooed to their torsos, blood leaking from their wrists and ankles as the chains pulled and chaffed their limbs. They didn't look like they were screaming in fear, but who knows how long they had been strung up there and they had already screamed their throats raw.

"Holy shit" Rook muttered in horror.

Rook was in absolute shock, he couldn't believe how John would allow such an atrocity to be committed, there was no way Joseph was even aware of this, how could he justify this to his masses, meaning this disgusting act of evil had to John's desperate attempt to regain control over the valley. But despite the horror of it all, it made sense to Rook, the chained victims made a perfect defense, and John's defense was working, with the six tortured people hanging on the sides, he couldn't order Nick and Addie to open fire on them or he'd feel just as unethical as Joseph himself.

"We can't go through with the plan anymore" Rook cried vehemently.

The room then became alit with confusion and disbelief, once the initial wave calmed down, Jerome's voice fought to the forefront, asking him what he could have possibly seen.

"Look for yourselves!" rook cried as he pushed Sharky's extended arm, so his phone faced the group.

With Sharky's phone now facing the group, they all almost huddle together in an attempt to see what was on Sharky's screen, and after a few screen of leaning in and squinting, the bar was alit with outcries once more, but this time in horror and disgust.

As Rook's mind raced to figure out a way to save the six captives and stop the Revelator as his friends made their appalled comments to what they saw and Jerome explaining to Mary what the problem was.

"Jesus H. Christ, I was too focused on getting us away, I didn't notice it!" Addie cried in disbelief.

Addie's comment somehow cut through Rook's frantic brainstorm, pulling him back to reality long enough to watch Jerome then took a few steps forward before turning to the group trying to clam them down so they could plan accordingly.

"Now everyone, I know we are all disturbed by the recent turn of events, but there is still a problem that needs to be dealt with" Jerome said, trying to restore order to the bar.

"What are you trying say?" Rook demanded.

Jerome then turned to Rook, revealing an uneasy look on his face.

"Now Benjamin, I can understand you do not wish to engage our assault on the Revelator but… we must follow through regardless… if we don't, countless will die" Jerome said, trying to be as gentle yet matter of fact as possible.

"What you can't be serious?!" Rook barked.

"Now hold on Deputy, let's just talk about it" Jerome quickly offered.

But Rook did not calm down, nor stop.

"There are _people_ strapped to this thing, _our_ people, we have to save them, or we would just be murderers if we carried on!" Rook cried.

"And if we all stand around and refuse to do anything we will be murdered" Mary said.

"But we're not going to do nothing, we're going to _save _them!" Rook said, slamming his fist on the counter.

"Ben, it's to risky, there's no way we can free them, you saw the photo, there's a big cow catcher looking thing and at least two fifty calibers guns mounted on it, how can you get close, let alone make a meaning effort… Ben I really want to save these people, but I really do, but we have no other options" Jerome begged Rook to see the only answer to this problem.

"Well I'm in charge of all the high priority stuff, remember so I say no, we aren't doing this!" Rook demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Jerome.

"But you're not the only one going into this, you said we can't make people fight, but you also can't make people not fight, we have a right to protect ourselves" Jerome said quickly, taking a step towards Rook.

"But we can't just start justifying us murdering our own to accomplish our goals, we would just be just like the peggies, we're not murderers!" Rook cried.

"Benjamin, we are just going in circles now" Jerome responded.

"fine!" Rook bellowed.

"Let's put it to a vote, we all decide what to do!" Rook cried as he turned to the group that watched him nervously.

"What do you guys think? Should we kill the people that depend on us to keep them safe just because it makes the job easier?" Rook demanded.

"People depend on me?" Sharky muttered to himself in confusion.

But aside from Sharky's almost inaudible the bar was uncomfortably silent, everyone all looked away, to afraid to make eye contact with Rook or Jerome, one or two of them muttering a half comment to themselves.

"Guys this is ridiculous, this is what John wants, the longer we stand around here, the more people will be hurt if not killed" Mary argued.

But her comment fell on deaf hears as no one responded to her, especially Rook.

"Guys, we don't have all day!" Rook ordered.

"I don't think we should do the thing" Sharky said awkwardly, causing everyone to turn to look at him, the room somehow become even more quiet.

It was clear he wasn't expecting to have all eyes on him as he looked even more uncomfortable as he looked at everyone looking at him, but still he spoke his mind.

"I'm not really one for killin' dudes who didn't do anything bad, and well… I know I don't make the best choices every now and again, but I feel that… I should listen to Benny on this one, I trust him and this whole thing feels… fucky" Sharky said carefully, as if trying to choose his words.

"Thank you Sharky, I'm glad someone is using their head" Rook groaned, before addressing his friends as a whole once more.

"With Sharky's flamethrower, we can melt the rubber tires and then we can make a move after we take out the gunners somehow" Rook began saying quickly, trying to not let anyone jump in.

"To take out the gunners, we, we, shoot them… with, with, a gun, _a sniper rifle_ from Addie's helicopter, it will be a tough shot but we can do it, and if they start shooting the helicopter then, then…" Rook stuttered and repeated himself as he desperately tried to keep the train rolling.

But he just couldn't come up with anything concrete, he knew he was struggling, and he could tell everyone else knew.

"Guys, while Dep comes up with something, lets all take a minute and let your good friend; Hurkmungous lay down some truth" Hurk said loudly, holding out a hand to get everyone's attention.

"Now I'm sure your all aware I've travelled the world, fighting all sorts of bad guys; pirates, militias, royal armies or whatever and yeah sure I had fun and did so cool shit, but… I saw a lot of horrible shit as well, and well, I know I may not be the smartest or the bestest with my words like my cousin, but I think I agree with Mister Jerome on this one, we gotta stop this truckin' sumbitch before they try to kill us" Hurk supposed.

"Hurk, remember how afraid you were when John made that announcement on tv, the people on the Revelator are infinity more afraid, let's help them get away like Addie helped you get away!" Rook begged, putting his scheming on hold.

"Hold on Bro, just listen; I had a tat-bro a long time ago; Jason, one time he told me, there are no hero's or villains in war, just the winners and losers, now I don't know about y'all but I wanna be the winner" Hurk explained, for once an air of maturity surrounding him.

"If we don't stop the truck thing, we're gonna die, and a whole lot more will too, so let's get them before they get us" Hurk said.

"People are dying as we speak, there will be countless more if we don't kill these six, there is no way we can just save them Ben, I'm sorry" Mary said gently from behind Rook, placing a hand on his shoulder.

While Hurk spoke, she walked around the counter and came up behind Rook.

Rook turned his head to look at the woman behind him, he locked eyes with for a few seconds, his desperate, pleading with her big wet eyes.

Then he roughly jerked his shoulder, removing her hand from him.

"Come on guys!" he yelled, stomping a few feet away from Mary so she couldn't touch him again.

What is the rest of the resistance going to think when they find out we are murdering our own if it make our job easier, that's not what I stand for, Addie said we got fifteen minutes, we probably have ten now, let's use some of that so we can all come up with something serious!" Rook insisted loudly.

Instead or counter what Rook said, Jerome looked to Addie expectantly as she had been silent up till now and was looking more and more apprehensive with each passing moment, as he stared at her, she met his gaze.

"Hey don't look at me Sweetness, I don't feel good about this at all, I don't want no part in killing our own" Addie said, anxiously, holding her hands up and taking a few steps back as if to protect herself.

"Thank you, Adelaide" Rook sighed loudly.

But before Jerome could say anything more, Rook's walkie crackled to life again.

"What's going on?" Nick's voice came through the walkie.

Hearing Nick's voice, Rook quickly responded and filled him in on what has been happening since they last spoke, hearing it all, Nick let out a pensive groan.

"As much as it kills me to say it, I'm with Jerome, I'll do whatever I have to protect my family" Nick said uncomfortably.

"Come on Nick!" Rook yelled loudly, very upset one of his oldest friends disagreed with him.

But as much as he hated his answer and reasoning, he couldn't just tell his friend his was wrong.

"Dude, you're just embarrassing!" Jess finally spoke, sounding very annoyed and bored.

And Rook did not like it.

"Excuse me?!" Rook barked turning to the sound of her voice.

Jess was off to the side of the group; she was lazily sitting on one of the nearby chairs.

"Your embarrassing, we get it, you're a bleeding heart, just let those six people go you don't even know them" Jess argued.

"Well _excuse _me for wanting to do my job" Rook spat, stomping towards her.

"You can't save everyone so just give them an easy out and bomb the fuck out of the truck" Jess said, eyeing his approach.

"So that means we should just murder them?" Rook demanded, towering over the sitting woman.

"You're not even going to be the one to do it, you don't even have to watch, just let your buddies to it and destroy the truck!" Jess ordered, standing up, standing inches from Rook.

"I won't order their execution!" Rook returned.

"Then let someone else do it, if I had to guess, they'd be fine with begin blown up, they wouldn't want to be hostages that let John kill their friends" Jess explained sternly.

"No! I don't want anyone to kill anyone on our side, that's the whole point, we're supposed to be the hero's or whatever, so let's just try to do our jobs!" Rook yelled.

"You can't just impose your will onto the world, just because you want something badly doesn't mean it will happen! Y'know you remind me of my brot-" Jess yelled venomously. But was cut off by the crackling of Rook's walkie.

Rook also turned to the walkie on the counter and marched towards it, he expected it to be Nick asking what was going on, as Rook reached for the walkie talkie, he was ready to tell Nick to hold on for a few more minutes so they could decide what to do, but before he could Nick started yelling.

"Hey guys! Are you still in the bar, we need to get moving, the Revelator isn't going from place to place shooting things up on the way to town anymore, I think it's bee-lining to town now, we need to move, _now_!" Nick yelled.

"Son of a bitch!" Rook barked; the limited time constraint was decreasing at an alarming rate.

His mind raced to come up with something that could save the day once more, but again he struggled as he was no tactician, and it didn't help that everyone was no panicking again, unsure what to do as no one was committing to anything, and it terrified him, yet again everything was resting on his shoulders, but amidst the budding chaos, what his friends said to him filtered into his mind, if he did nothing, everyone would die.

Understanding this and everything that was happening, with a very angry sigh, Rook ripped the Revelator keys from his pocket and addressed the group.

"Alright, we go through the plan, but if I see a chance for a new plan, I will give orders, be ready" Rook ordered gravely.

"Fuck yeah, you got it Bro" Hurk said, trying to be confident and boisterous again.

"You heard the Deputy, let's move out everyone" Jerome said, stoically, pointing to the door, tightly gripping his shotgun with the other.

And with that, everyone hurried out the door.

* * *

**Thank you for reading thus far and I would like to give a special shoutout and thank you to Ragnarok666 for allowing me to use his idea on the dark twist on the Revelator.**

**Thank you for helping me make the story the best it can be.**


	39. Chapter 39

Rook regretted everything.

Even as he retrieved the Widowmaker and barreled down the road with Jerome beside him, he frantically raked his mind for some magic way to swoop in and save the poor, brutalized people chained to the sides of the Revelator and take out the rolling menace that they were tied too. But Rook found it increasingly hard to think as he was driving and it didn't help that Jess argued and bullied her way into the Widowmaker's cabin before they left, of course there were only two seats, so she awkwardly sat in between him and Jerome, making it uncomfortable for all, and just as hard to think.

But he felt a strange sense of solace as he watched Addie's helicopter flying in the distance, it was so easy to do, just sit and watch while he drove, a stark contrast the headache inducing thinking he was doing.

But he also couldn't help but worry about his friends in the helicopter, somehow Hurk, Sharky and Addie had crammed themselves into the copter and took off, they were leading the way to the Revelator as they had seen it's general location on the way to town. Right before they took off, ten minutes ago, they decided the short-term plan was to regroup with Nick before beginning the attack. Rook hoped he could figure something out before Nick was able to find them, after Mary let Nick know what was going on, she didn't give Rook or anyone an ETA on the pilot's arrival. But he didn't have as much time as he thought he had as the familiar sight of Nick's plane came into his view as they got five minutes from the town, causing him to swear mentally, biting his tongue to keep it from being vocal.

"For something that's headed directly towards us, it sure is taking its fuckin' time" Jess whine angrily, directing it at Rook.

But Rook didn't respond, he was to far into his own mind, scheming and weighing odds in his mind as he drove.

"Perhaps it is taking a different route then we thought?" Jerome interjected, he could tell what was going on with the Junior Deputy and did not want to distract him further.

Neither Rook nor Jess responded after that, just stony silence for one reason or another, the driver's cabin stayed like this for a few minutes until Rook's walkie crackled to life.

"So uh, we gonna blow the Revelator up or what?" Nick's voice came from Rook's walkie.

Rook quickly retrieved his walkie to reply.

"After we save the victims, yes" Rook send bluntly before putting it away.

"Uh ok, I hear that dude, but they got like heavy machine guns or something, they could take out me and Addie if their aim is good enough, all I'm saying is we need to move quick, even if you say no, I'm still gonna bomb the fuck outta that thing if it comes down to it, I know that sucks to say but it's them or us" Nick stated.

But this time, Rook did not fish out his walkie to respond, he just stayed hunched over the wheel, focused on the road and his plans.

"He has a point, Deputy, please think on it" Jerome said, not expecting an answer.

"A vehicle will be destroyed today; I can only pray its not ours" he said.

Still Rook remained silent, too focused on how he'd save the day, his eyes occasionally looking up at Addie's helicopter and sometimes Nick's plane as he had to do laps around them to keep pace. As he watched Addie, he could hear Jess making some rude comment on what Jerome had said, Rook wanted to reprimand Jess for her rudeness but couldn't muster the willpower as he was still too mentally divided.

As Jess and Jerome bickered back and forth for a little bit, Addie's helicopter began arching in the sky to the right, and in turn Rook did the same, turning right at the intersection a few hundred feet in front of him, opening the street up to a very long stretch of road.

And that's when Rook saw the Revelator.

It was four hundred feet away and headed right towards them, it looked just as it did in Sharky's photo; covered in thick metal plates and large, pointed cowcatcher covering the front of the truck.

"Alright ladies, there she is, how we handling this?" Addie's voice came through everyone's walkie nervously.

This time, Rook did respond into his walkie.

"No one open fire, I'm going in" Rook commanded, dropping the walkie in his lap.

"So what are we doing?" Jess asked, eyeing up the death machine in the distance, unsure of what Rook could have concocted.

Rook didn't respond again, instead he white knuckled the steering wheel, stepping down on the gas, sending the Widowmaker straight for the Revelator.

The two trucks were now barreling towards each other the four hundred feet distance fast, his walkie crackled again, someone on the team commenting on the plan or trying to dissuade him from doing what he was doing, put Rook didn't care he was to absorbed by the Revelator, it infuriated him to know such a machine roamed the roads, terrorizing and intimidating anyone that wasn't peggie, how could John commission such a thing? Why would Joseph sign off on it, and the people hanging on the sides was a unspeakable act of cruelty, this monstrosity needed to go, not because it would be a blow to Eden's Gate but it would be morally incorrect to leave it undestroyed, and it didn't help that the Revelator was an embodiment of everything John stood for and it relit the fire in him.

"Dude!" Jess angry voice came, accompanied with a punch to the shoulder.

"What!?" Rook barked, glancing over her for a second.

"Deputy! What are your intentions?!" Jerome yelled over her person.

"I'm going to save the people!" Rook yelled back.

But in truth, Rook had no idea how to save them aside from making the Revelator stop with a life or death game of chicken. And that was better than nothing.

Sticking to his guns, he didn't alter his course, instead he just pressed down on the gas, headed straight for the Revelator with anger in his eyes and a fire in his heart.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Jess yelled again.

"Making them stop!" Rook said boldly as he pressed down further on the gas.

With the newly added acceleration, the space between the two vehicles rapidly closed, the previously four hundred feet shrank down to two in a matter of seconds, the Revelator honked its horn a few times, the deep bellowing echoing throughout the area. For some reason the front facing heavy machine gun affixed right above the driver's cabin did not open fire, Rook could see the peggie manning it, but he remained motionless somehow, it could have been he was stunned by Rook's boldness, but the peggie was not the only one, the closer the two trucks got, the more nervous Jess and Jerome also got.

"I highly doubt that close proximity will make these guns more effective!" Jerome yelled as he began adjusting toggles and buttons on the dashboard.

"Dude, for real, what the fuck?!" Jess yelled as she grabbed a handful of Rook's shirt, the area that covered his shoulder.

Rook didn't respond, his flippancy from silence to interpretive comments was really getting on Jess's nerves, Rook was acting the same way when they stormed the geothermal park sometime last week or something, he got all worked up and kept charging forward with no plan or regard for himself, his _duty_ as he put it was going to get him, and them killed.

"Benjamin, please reconsider your options!" Jerome yelled as he slammed his hands on the little open space on the dashboard, not out of anger, but out of fear as he stared out the windshield.

Jess looked away from the ever-infuriating Boy Scout and also looked out the windshield to see the two-hundred-foot space between them and the Revelator had quickly become one hundred, then fifty then thirty, and closing fast.

Then the Revelator honked again, a long, deep, resounding noise, the driver blasted the horn all the way until they were a handful of meters away from one another, but before the two big rigs collided, Rook wrenched the wheel to the left, slamming on the brakes. Causing the Widowmaker to slide to a screeching halt around the Revelator and almost off the road entirely, causing Jerome to yell in fear, if not for the size of the big rig, the Widowmaker would have easily done a one eighty off the road, thankfully the impressive brakes of the machine left them at an angle on the road as the Revelator blew passed them, unchallenged and nothing stopping it from entering town, ten or so minutes away.

"What the fuck! I'm not even wearing a seat belt!" Jess yelled as she punched Rook's arm a few times.

"Benjamin! What in God's name was that, are you trying to get us killed, if your thought you could scare them into stopping, then please calm down and think again, they have the defense to stop us!" Jerome screamed, almost leaning over Jess to yell at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Rook barked; he knew his anger got the better of him and clouded his judgment, but how did they expect him to react when he saw the Revelator in person? besides, it wasn't like they were contributing to save the victims, they just wanted to kill them because it was easier.

"Is everything ok?!" Nick's very concerned voice came through Rook's walkie.

Rook quickly pulled out the walkie and spoke into it.

"Everything's fine" Rook angrily said quickly into his walkie before putting it back.

"Deputy! There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity! Please remember you are not the only one in this vehicle!" Jerome yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! I get it!" rook yelled as he stomped on the gas again, forcing the truck forward

As Rook did that, he yanking the wheel as hard as he could to turn the truck and keep it on the road, once the truck was parallel with the road again, he really pushed down on the gas, giving chase to the rolling death machine.

Thanks to the Revelator being so big, it meant it moved substantially slower then Rook's ride, making it quite easy for him to catch up with the vehicular menace, but as they got five meters away from the Revelator, Rook and his cohorts could see what was on the back on the Revelator, there was a seventh person tied to the death machine; a woman, just like the rest, shirtless and chained up against the thick metal armor, cut up and abused, various sins tattooed to her, she looked like the epitome of terrified.

Rook wanted to yell out to her, to tell her she was going to be OK, that everything would be OK, but before Rook could do anything, the Widowmaker's hood became alight with sparks as a heavy machine gun was affixed to the rear of the armored tanker, allowing the Peggie manning it to fire down upon the big rig behind them.

"Goddammit!" Rook yelled as he slammed on the breaks again before shaking the wheel left and right, making the Widowmaker slide all over the road, hoping none of the bullets would shatter the windshield. And as Rook tried his best to protect the big rig, Jerome leaned quickly forward in his seat.

"Let's see if I can resolve this!" Jerome cried as he began furiously manipulating the many buttons and switches along the large dashboard, not acknowledging the woman in front of him.

The second he finished speaking, he flipped a single toggle and the Widowmaker's machine guns opening up, firing straight forward, but the gunfire barely hit as Rook's repeated swerving of truck made it difficult for anything to hit, but when the two big rigs lined up, the large caliber bullets slamming into one of the Revelator's heavy metal plating's, just below the woman, causing a shower of sparks to jump up and bathe the her feet, causing her to scream once more.

Seeing the woman freak out, Rook needed to make it stop.

"NO!" Rook yelled as he jerked the wheel extra hard to keep bullets from hitting anywhere near the helpless woman.

"Stop firing!" Rook ordered, extending a hand to Jerome.

"What?" Jerome replied, confused to why he would give such an order.

"Dude! Seriously just deal with the problem!" Jess yelled at Rook.

"Hey, what the hell is going on down there!?" Addie's voice came from Rook's walkie.

Rook wanted to answer and coordinate an attack on the peggies manning the gun but found he was to busy making sure Jerome didn't kill the poor girl, so instead he dumped the duty on Jess.

"Here, you deal with it!" Rook cried as he quickly scooped up the walkie off his lap and tossed it to Jess.

"What!? fuck, fine!" Jess spat as she fumbled with it before bringing it to her mouth.

"Fuckin' shoot the truck!" Jess yelled into the walkie.

"What, no think of the people on the truck!" Rook yelled at her, but it was to late.

"You got it, Hun!" Addie responded.

"Jesus Jess, what the hell did you do!?" Rook yelled, trying his best to stare at the Revelator and keeping Addie's helicopter in view.

"I'm dealing with the problem!" Jess yelled back.

Rook wanted to yell something back at Jess, but before he did, he looked up to see Addie's helicopter slightly tilt to the side as a RPG launched from its side, angles downwards and towards the Revelator, with a mix of fear and anger, Rook watched the rocket descended to the ground at an tremendous speed, then as quick as it came, the rocket hit the ground a few meters ahead of the Revelator, causing a thick black smoke plume rose from the newly formed crater, despite that, the Revelator did not change its course, instead it sped up and drove over the hole in the asphalt, causing the vehicle to bounce as it's wheels went over it, and in turn causing all the chains and the victims ensnared in them to bounce and shake.

"Tell them to stop!" Rook ordered as he swerved around the newly made pothole and pulled up to the Revelator's seven O'clock.

Due to the position they were in correlation to the death machine, the rear facing gunner could not shoot anything of importance, an effective waste of bullets.

"Hit it with whatever ya got!" Jess cried into the walkie.

"Jess! Christ what are you doing?!" Rook yelled as his hand shot out, trying to grab the walkie from her.

But before he could get the walkie, Jess quickly passed it over to Jerome.

"Begin your attack on the Revelator" Jerome ordered.

"Guys, what the hell?! We gotta try to save them first" Rook cried in anger.

"And we have failed, Deputy, now it's time to save everyone in the county!" Jerome returned as the sound of Nick's helicopter grew louder and louder.

Rook wanted to yell at his traitorous friends more but couldn't as a shadow eclipsed the Revelator, and then the booming of gunfire.

* * *

Nick's plane opened fire, raining down a haze of high caliber bullets, just the same as the guns attached to the Revelator, Nick had ample time to line up his shot, the rear facing gunner had no where to hide, nothing to protect himself with, meaning he was dead within seconds of Nick beginning his first strafing run, causing the body to go limp and fall off the side of the machine. As Nick got closer and closer to the machine, he pulled up to maximize the spread of bullets, sending to trails of bullets up the spine of the tanker, most of the bullets plinking of the metal armour, but before Nick could reach the other end of the tanker, he pulled back up and away so he could swoop around for another strafing run as he was in danger of slamming into the tanker, but as Nick pulled away, the front facing heavy machine gun swiveled and turned to get an angle on the retreating aircraft and began firing at Nick, making him juke and dip as he put distance from the machine.

But the Revelator's counterattack was short lived as Addie's helicopter swooped down from it's three O'clock, almost lining up with the driver's cabin, the gunner wrenched his right so he could repel the enclosing helicopter, but before he could, a thick jet of continuous fire erupted from the open side of the helicopter like a dragon breathing potent fire, the helicopter began to pull back slightly so Sharky could hit the man with his flamethrower, slowly drifting backwards and closer to the man, and quickly leaving the gunner's effective range.

"Welcome to the disco, Kemosabe!" Sharky yelled as his fire got closer and closer to the man.

But as the gunner was quickly developing a thick layer of sweat from the intense fire, the Revelator suddenly and harshly drifted to the far left across the road, so far to the left that it's left most tires went off the asphalt and in the shoulder of the road. Despite the Revelator and helicopter having almost an entire road between them, Addie slowly brought her helicopter closer to the big rig again so her nephew could activate his flamethrower again, but as the helicopter drifted over the center line, angling the craft so it was in line with the gunner, the Revelator harshly veered to the right, pulling back onto the road and slid to the other side as far as it could, it didn't take a genius to figure out the driver was trying to slam the Revelator into the helicopter, like swatting a fly, the armour plating made the task trivial. Thankfully Addie was a better pilot then she appeared as she was able to also veer to the right to narrowly avoid any collision, but the helicopter almost flipped sideways from pulling so hard to the right. Rook, who watched the spectacle from behind, couldn't imagine what he'd do if he saw any of his friends fall out of the tilted helicopter.

In order to recover from almost flipping her helicopter, Addie had to pull her craft away from the road and re-stabilize her equilibrium, essentially breaking off from the fight, leaving only the Widowmaker, in hot pursuit of the rolling menace, chasing right behind it.

"Alright, this is our time to strike, do not let off the pressure!" Jerome commanded boldly, his gunnery sergeant persona from years past resurfacing slowly.

"Nonlethally!" Rook countered equally as he was sick of no one listening to him.

But yet again, his voice feel on deaf ears as both Jess and Jerome began manipulating all the switches, causing the machine guns on the Widowmaker to fire once more, sending a hail of large bullets at the rear of the Revelator.

Once more, a shower of sparks flew from where they hit on the armor plating, bathing the helpless woman's feet in sparks.

"Jesus guys!" Rook barked as he pulled to the side of the tanker and sped up the trucks were somewhat parallel.

"The fuck, Dude?!" Jess cried, looking over to the Junior Deputy that was ruining their attack.

"Climb over me and jump to the Revelator, free the people!" Rook ordered.

"Fuck that, I ain't no action hero!" Jess replied angrily.

"Benjamin, if you keep us intercepting us, we will lose Falls End, and I can not let that happen, if you continue this, I will take matters into my own hands!" Jerome threatened loudly.

Hearing that, made Rook hesitate for a second, he couldn't fathom how the pastor would deal with him if he kept up his rescue act, he understood what he was saying, Falls End would lost if they failed, but he couldn't just kill innocent people.

Then the Revelator shifted across the road once more, swooping from one side of the road to the other, seeing this, Rook gasped as the Widowmaker was going to be hit as the truck moved across the road, it was a clear attempt the Revelator was trying to ram them off the road again, trying to save himself, Rook stomped on the brakes and turned into the incoming tanker to prepare for the impact as he could not brake fast enough.

The two big rigs collided, a wave of sparks and metal chips flew from both vehicles as they grinded against each other for the few seconds they struck, the rolling menaced pushed the Widowmaker across the road and almost into a ditch, but due to the size, weight, speed and counter force from the Widowmaker, it also suffered, causing the big rig to almost slide to an obscene angle as the big rig itself went one way and the tanker was pushed a different way. With all this happening, the Revelator also braked to recover itself, allowing Rook to fall back to a safe distance while the truck took back the road, swerving and veering all along the road, going back and forth across the road repeatedly like a slithering snake. The Revelator and the tanker attached to it was quite heavy making it very hard to even out and regain control of the vehicle, the many thick, metal plates adding to the weight.

"Holy shit, y'all ok down there?!" Addie's voice cried from Rook's walkie.

"Yeah, we're fine, keep doing your thing!" Jerome ordered.

"Tell her to be careful!" Rook ordered.

But Jerome did no such thing, he just went back to adjusting the dashboard switches with Jess as the sounds of Addie's helicopter grew louder and louder, then, a spray of heavy bullets rained down from the sky as Addie's helicopter quickly swooped over the truck horizontally, her bullets barely missing the people affixed to the tanker before passing over to swoop back around.

"Fucking Christ, how thick are those metal pieces?" Jess grumbled angrily as Addie's second fly by did no visible damage to the tanker.

"We need a new approach" Jerome replied sighing desperately.

Rook didn't add anything to what was being said, he knew they were running out of time and road; it wasn't long before they neared Falls End, it wasn't helping him come up with a way to save the victims, if anything it was making it worse.

"Well what do you wanna do, wave a fuckin' olive branch and hope they buy it?" Jess snapped.

"There is no need for snide comments, if you actually have an idea, I would very much like to hear it" Jerome responded as analyzed the Revelator.

"If our Boy Scout here doesn't have idea, there's no way in fuck do I got one, just keep shooting it while the pilots do there thing" Jess offered.

"Well it clearly isn't working!" Jerome snapped.

"Then do something different, I don't fuckin' know, ram the damn thing off the road or something, it's a truck not a tank" Jess groused.

"Just please… be quiet for a few moments and let me think" Jerome grunted as he leaned forward a little bit more over the control panels to get a better look at the big rig in front of them.

"What if we just, force them to turn, like away from town or something?" Rook asked frantically.

"They would just push us off the road" Jerome countered quickly.

"Dammit!" Rook shouted unexpectedly.

"If we remain calm, we will figure something out, just humor me, Deputy" Jerome almost begged.

"Then do something, I need to drive" Rook snapped.

Jerome grumbled something under his breath as he continued to lean over the dashboard and peer at the Revelator, staring at it for a weakness, leaving the cabin in a heavy silence as with each passing second, more tension built as they were getting closer to town, and after a few moments of silence, Jerome spoke up.

"Look there!" Jerome exclaimed, pointing over Jess, at the Revelator.

The two others in the cabin, turned their heads to see what Jerome saw, and quickly discovered that one of the metal plates that protected the back right tire was peeled back, presumably from when the two vehicles smashed against each other, a dark liquid dripped sporadically from the tanker, right above the exposed tire.

"That's how we will stop the vehicle" Jerome declared.

"What do you what me to do?" Rook asked.

"Line us up so we can shoot the tire" Jerome answered.

"Now that I can do" Rook responded as he began to line up his truck with the one in front of him.

The second the two big rigs lined up again, Jess and Jerome began activated the on board weapons, causing more bullets to shoot from the front of their vehicle, but due to the remaining armor and angle of both big rigs, no damage could be done to the wheel.

"Son of a bitch!" Rook uncharacteristically barked in anger.

"Calm down Deputy, we need to remain calm if we are to win" Jerome said quickly, trying to calm Rook.

"What we need is to stop this damn truck and free the victims!" Rook declared.

"Yes, we know" Jess groaned in annoyance, sick and tired of listening to the broke record that was Rook.

"What we need a better angle" Jess commented as she brought Rook's walkie to her mouth.

"Yo Rye, where you at?" Jess asked into the walkie.

"I'm coming back around now, what's up?" Nick replied almost instantly.

"The back-right tire is vulnerable, shoot the shit out of it!" Jess ordered.

"You got it, Lady" Nick replied before the walkie clicked off.

Then a few moments later, Nick's plane engine grew louder and louder before swooping down low over the Revelator just like Addie had, and in the few seconds he was lined in with the tire, he opened fire, the rattling of his heavy machine guns booming like thunder, unloading its payload into the specified target. Bullets bombarded the area around the uncovered tire, a fountain of sparks flew from the targeted area, but a few bullets did actually hit its mark, popping the rubber wheel and igniting the building stains of oil that dripped from the tanker. Causing the newly ignited flames to slowly spread, it began to stretch up along the side of the tanker, the people chained to the rear of the tanker began to squirm as the fire was so close to them. The Revelator as a whole began to wobble on the road as some control was lost with the missing wheel.

"Thank goodness, it looks like it's working!" Jerome cried.

"We ain't out of the woods just yet" Jess replied.

Rook wanted to also join him on pre-emptively celebrating but out of the corner of his eye, he could see something that kept his wound nerves frayed, in the distance was Falls end.

"We need to stop the Revelator _now_!" Rook loudly declared.

Then the walkie crackled to life.

"Hey, town is literally right there, we gotta end this now!" Nick said.

"We know" Jess groaned into the walkie.

"So, what's the plan?" Nick asked.

"We don't have one" Jess sighed in annoyance.

"Y'know my plane has a few bombs on board, I could drop one on the truck, that could end it" Nick offered.

"Tell him that's not happening" Rook ordered.

"Then how do you plan to stop the truck?" Jess asked.

"I don't friggin' know, OK!" Rook snapped in anger, getting sick of going in circles with his friends.

"I don't know how to save the people chained to the truck! I don't know how to make everything ok; I don't know how to save everyone!" Rook yelled in frustration.

"Then we must sacrifice the few to save the many!" Jerome argued.

"We can't just kill of our own people; we need to be better than the peggies" Rook countered.

"Benjamin, I know your not ok with killing the innocent, neither am I, this will haunt me as well, but we have no choice, to win this war we need to be willing to make sacrifices, it is just as Hurk said before we left the bar, there are no hero's or villain's in war, only winners or losers, and Benjamin we need to win" Jerome said, trying to bring Rook around.

Rook wanted to agree with Jerome, a part of him knew he was right, but the rest of him that was developed over his time on the force screamed there was a way to save the victims, he just needed to be better to see the way how, and it infuriated him.

"What if we get some of the townsfolk to prepare some attack for the Revelator or something, they'll be facing the driver's cabin so they could just unload on it?" Rook tried to argue.

"The armor is to thick, they will all be killed either by the large cowcatcher or by the gunner above, remember?" Jerome retorted.

"What if we send Addie and Nick to help them?" Rook beseeched.

"Benjamin I'm sorry but we have no other choice" Jerome said somberly as the situation allowed.

"But what if we, we, we, we, we-" Rook began to stammer his he felt himself losing the fight with his friends.

"Your out of ideas, Dude, don't worry about it, we're a few steps ahead of you" Jess groaned, as restlessly rolled the walkie in her hands.

"We can't just give up and kill our own" Rook repeated.

"Fuck this!" Jess groaned, sick of listening to Rook's bullshit.

"Bomb the shit out of it!" Jess yelled into the walkie.

"I hear ya loud and clear!" Nick responded before the walkie clipped off.

Rook was silent after Jess gave the order, stunned that she would just give the order to kill seven people the way she did, he wanted to argue more but found he didn't have the strength, all he could do was slow the Widowmaker, so he was clear from the blast zone, and then, Nick's plane swooped down low, much lower than previously, and the second it lined up with the Revelator, he dropped the bomb.

* * *

Time seemed to move in slow motion to Rook as it all happened, he could see the bomb doors on the Carmina open and the long cylindrical tube that made up the bomb casing fell from the craft and descended on a crash course straight for the Revelator, he could see as the bomb exploded the second it touched the Revelator, the ensuing explosion tearing up the metal hull and igniting the gasoline in the big rig, creating a duel explosion that almost engulfed the entire truck, he could see the screaming, terrified faces of the horrified people tied to the Revelator as they were incinerated by the heat, fire and shrapnel.

Seeing it all made Rook stomp on the brakes harder and brought the Widowmaker to a halt, not taking his eyes off the ruins of the death machine. Once the big rig came to a stop, Rook slowly climbed out of the driver's cabin, not bothering to turn off the engine. With shaking legs, he took a few uneasy steps towards the burning wreak that once quite possibly the biggest threat in the valley excluding John. And with it gone, the valley was a hell of a lot safer now.

But Rook didn't feel any freer, standing there, thirty feet away from the burning wreck, watching the metal melt and twist and the bodies burn and char, Rook felt disgusted, disgusted in himself for what he let happen. He had essentially killed some of the very people he promised to protect, now he felt like just another monster that lurked in the valley, murdering and ruining anything that wasn't him, he didn't even try to stop his friends from killing them, he just gave up, what made him even more sick was he wasn't sure if he didn't do anything because he knew deep down it was right to do what was done, or because he knew he couldn't stop them.

Was he even still worthy of the title; Junior Deputy?

"You smell that?" Jess asked, suddenly appearing next to Rook, also staring into the crackling fire.

"You never forget that sickly sweet smell of burning bodies" she said emotionlessly.

Rook then felt a sensation in his left hand like something was wrapping around it, confused, he looked down to see for some reason Jess had intertwined her hand with his and held on tightly, unsure of why she would possibly do this, he looked up at her to see something not even he expected; she was afraid, she was looking into the fire with a clenched jaw and hardened, fearful eyes, she was shaking ever so slightly, she was trying her best not to let the fear out.

Rook didn't need to ask if she was alright, he knew the Cook was haunting her. He couldn't blame her for what she felt, underneath all the self loathing and anger, he was terrified too. He was scared of what the future would hold.

Neither of them didn't say anything after that, the two just watched the fire in silence as they held hands for a few moments as their friend's aircrafts circle hundreds of feet above them.

Then Jerome cautiously approached the pair.

"Benjamin, are you alright?" He asked tentatively, and arm outstretched as he was unsure if was wise to touch the man.

But Rook only offered a dull grunt as a response.

"Ok Deputy take a minute to gather yourself and we'll head back to town, I'll be waiting in Mary's truck" Jerome offered carefully before turning back to the aforementioned vehicle.

"This was the right thing to do, you know that, right?" Jess finally said, sounding a little more confident again.

But Rook gave another dull grunt as a response.

"Come on, let's go, no point in us hanging around here" Jess said, letting go of his hand, and replacing her hand with his walkie she still clung too, before turning and walking back to the Widowmaker.

But Rook didn't move, he still watched the fire burn, for a few more moments, replaying what happened in his mind over and over again, especially the faces of the now indistinguishable people as Jess climbed into the big rig, then his walkie crackled to life once more.

"Jesus, I heard that boom from all the way over here… I can't believe you did it" Mary beamed in a newfound sense of safety and amazement.

"Ben, I… Shit, everyone owes you a debt we can't ever repay, our roads, our valley is so much safer now because of you" Mary praised with affection.

"I didn't do it alone, I had a crack team by my side, without them I couldn't have done it" Rook replied grimly, finally steeling himself into speaking.

"But you motivated them into doing it, without you hard work, no one would be brave enough to step up and did what they did!" Mary beamed.

"Yeah…" Rook replied gruffly.

"I know we have you running all over but… it you ever want to blow off some steam for a few hours… maybe swing by my place after I'm done at the bar… Don't be a stranger, ok?" Mary implored.

Rook didn't respond this time, instead he just stared down at the walkie in disbelief, how could Mary just congratulate him for murdering her figurative neighbors, he understood it was for the greater good but she, nor, Jerome or really anyone for that matter showed any guilt or remorse for what they had done, had his friends become just as accustom to murder as the peggies were, did they truly have no problem killing anyone that proposed a problem to their cause?

Rook didn't like the train of thought he was going down, he wanted to just shove it in a box deep down within him like so many other things but he felt this was one thing he just couldn't stomach..

"Hey, you coming or what?" Jess called out.

Rook turned see Jess hanging out of the driver seat, waiting for him to get in the truck so they could return home.

"Uh… yeah" Rook muttered be reattaching the walkie to his waist and shuffled over to the truck to head home.

* * *

Gordon watched the Junior Deputy from the treeline hundreds of feet away, watching him from the scope of his sniper rifle, training it on Rook, center mass, he watched Rook look at his walkie talkie as if it was going to do depressing magic tricks.

The peggie leader heavily weighed his options on if he should pull the trigger or not, he told the Junior Deputy he'd kill him the next chance he got but john said bring him back if possible, which he intended to do but if he did shoot, what would happen, would go right threw the Deputy, center mass, would God truly allow it? Would the gun jam, would the bullet miraculously hit nothing vital, would he move out of the way unknowingly?

Gordon never truly believed what Joseph foretold about the Deputy, deep, deep down was a kernel of doubt, one he shoved down when he found a place to belong, after being dishonorably discharged from the army a few years ago, it left him destitute, the military was the only place he felt belonging and without it, he drifted, looking for something to fill that void.

And that's when he stumbled onto Eden's Gate, after awaking from another drunken stupor in his apartment he discovered a pamphlet for something called Eden's Gate had been shoved in one of his pockets at some point the night before.

And with nothing better to do he checked it out, and what he saw was unreal, what he heard Joseph Seed say made so much sense everything seemed to fall into place after that, it was like he was on the path he needed to be, to hear Joseph Seed, Gordon sighed on as soon as he could and was a good little follower as Eden's Gate grew and grew, it grew so large that when he heard Jacob declare the Project needed people to protect the weaker members, he sprung at the chance to sign up, walked right up to Jacob and almost begged him, and sure enough, Jacob took him under his wing.

He climbed the ranks fast, from guard to soldier to officer to a leader, it made him feel complete again.

He felt like he belong on Earth again.

He even worked with Jacob himself on a few projects, but that prolonged exposure to the man showed even Jacob showed signs of minor disbelief in what his brother said, it only rebuffed his thoughts of doubt, but as the Joseph began talking more and more about a white horse, Jacob ordered him follow John to a tee and John ordered absolute devotion to whatever Joseph said.

So if he fired would he even kill the man?

Then the man situated a few feet behind him spoke up.

"So, uh… y'gonna take th' shot?" Frank asked, gingerly, shuffling towards him a little bit.

But Gordon remained silent, he continued to look down the scope of his weapon for a few seconds longer before slowly pulling himself away from the scope.

"No… no point, his buddies are all around him, even if I shoot, we're dead" Gordon lied.

In truth he just didn't want to shoot, he was too conflicted, Jacob would have wanted him to shoot but John and above all; Joseph told him not too.

"Then let's leave before we are noticed then, report to John, mission failure, the Revelator is gone" Emily said, talking a few steps forward like Frank, but more confidently.

"I have a feeling he already know what happened" Gordon said with a sigh as he pointed the sniper rifle towards the ground.

"Come on, let's return to the Ranch, we'll try again tomorrow" he sighed angrily as he began walking towards the car, a few dozen yards away by the treeline.

Emily and Frank watched the man skulk along the trees towards the car the arrived in, as Gordon put distance between them, Frank turned to Emily in confusion.

"So uh, what was his plan again, weren't we supposed ta' kill him?" Frank asked.

* * *

The Spread-Eagle bar was alight as a small party was going on inside, people inside were celebrating the destruction of the Revelator, with it gone, the valley was entering a new era of freedom as the bulk of John's authority was being stripped away. Everyone who had helped in the big rig's destruction and a few more people were there having drinks and making jokes as the juke box played in the corner, trying to relax after a day's hard work, despite it being hardly passed one in the afternoon. And everyone was having a genuinely good all things considering, all except for Rook.

While everyone moved around the bar and sat in groups, drinking, Rook sat in one of the corners of the room, head dipped down and arms folded and rested on the table with one and a half empty pints before him. He couldn't fathom why they were celebrating as they did, just like everyday before this day, people were dead by various ways and it was just another day on the farm for him. He couldn't push himself to join the various groups and crack jokes like they were, he couldn't bring himself to lambast them for celebrating the deaths of their comrades, he was emotionally and mentally tired, all he could do was drowned his woes in a few pints, and since he rarely drank, he could feel the one and a half pints kick in, making him a little drowsy. It was clear he didn't want to be bothered, but Jess, who indifferently watched the party from the other side of the room, didn't care, she didn't care that the Boy Scout looked like he had to put down his dog.

Seeing the Boy Scout wallow in his regret made her cross the room and talk to him, his state was a far cry from his usual self and left unchecked, he could be like this for a while.

"Sup" Jess greeted casually as she sat down in one of the chairs at Rook's table.

Rook was unresponsive aside from a grunt of acknowledgment.

"So, what a party, huh?" Jess said uncomfortably as she was not comfortable in such environments.

Again, Rook made a grunt of acknowledgment.

"So, Mister I-love-music-so-much, what song is playing on the juke box" Jess asked, tilting her head to the jukebox.

"Here I go again by Whitesnake" Rook sighed.

"Yeah… right" Jess said awkwardly as she was no good at small talk or if he was even right or not.

With Jess's inability to casually conversate and Rook's unresponsiveness, left the two uncomfortable silent, and Jess hated it, she really disliked the whole talking thing, she much preferred just doing her own thing, but since the Boy Scout was upset, she had to do something, she couldn't just leave her only actual friend hanging, and if she did, Mary might come along and sink her hooks further into him, which Jess couldn't stand.

So, Jess bit the bullet and said what she wanted to say.

"You know a fuck ton of people woulda died if we didn't do what we did" Jess asked.

"Yeah" Rook sighed.

"Listen for the sake of time and to keep us from going in circles yet again, you can't keep blaming yourself for every little death that happens on your watch, you can't save every one so why bother trying?" Jess supposed.

"Because that's why I'm here, I need to try to help everyone I can, no matter how little of chance they have at survival, I am a Junior Deputy, I must serve and protect, I have to try no matter what" Rook explained with defeated groan.

Hearing that, he reminded Jess of her brother; Scott, how desperate he was to change what was going on around him no matter how little control he actually had, despite his hard demeaner he was soft and always tried to see the best in a situation.

"You remind me of my brother, you know?" Jess said somberly.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked, perking up a little in curiosity.

"I don't know, you just… your so dead set on your goals, no matter what your just going to keep going until you reach your goal, just like… Scott, you both were pretty fuckin' stubborn, I can't get either of you to do fuck all, like this one time, he-" Jess rambled on as her eyes wandered around the bar, looking at whatever she could to relieve her anxiety.

She wasn't a fan of crowds, especially in enclosed spaces like the bar, so she needed to do something to distract herself, but the second she looked back over at the Boy Scout, she stopped talking, looking into his big blue, curious eyes made her realize she was about to start talking about her brother again, something she refused to talk about, but it put Jess on guard, over the passed few days the Boy Scout was developing a habit of pulling things out of her without her being aware of it. If she hadn't looked at him, she would have begun talking about how Scott would concoct overly complicated plans to rescue his phone from his teacher's desk drawer after getting it justly confiscated or come up with a way to cheer his sister up when she was feeling down no matter his odds.

And she missed it.

She missed the normalcy of watching Scott drop the ball when it came to talking to girls or picking fights with people smaller then him, she even missed how she would chase him around the house whenever something of hers mysteriously went missing until their parents dealt with them.

Then Rook spoke up, pulling her out of her head.

"So how has your search for him anyways?" he asked.

"The same as always" Jess replied depressingly, refocusing on him.

"I'm sure you'll find him… he's out there somewhere, I'll help you find him when I can" Rook offered.

"Yeah… thanks" Jess muttered, leaning back in her chair, adjusting the hood on her head.

"Fuck, man" she moaned.

"He uh… he must be hiding real good if I can't find him after this long, maybe I should have been a better person... then maybe he wouldn't've run away like he did" Jess said before making letting out a single defeated chuckle.

"Could you imagine me being a good sister though?" Jess asked with a single sarcastic laugh.

"If I ruined my brother that bad, could you imagine how bad I'd ruin a kid if I had one for whatever fucking reason?" Jess proposed.

"I'm sure you'll do fine once you get the hang of it" Rook offered.

"Nawh, that kid would be hated by everyone" Jess believed.

"But hey, you know me, why the fuck would I have a kid let alone let a guy get up in me" Jess tried to joke.

"Why are you here, Jess?" Rook groaned impatiently, cutting her off from another tangent.

"Big groups like this aren't your scene, so why are you hanging around here?" he asked.

Jess sat on her chair in silence as she thought of what she wanted to say, half stunned by his brazen question and half left in thought as he brain formed sentences, she wasn't lying when she told him he reminded her of her brother, she just didn't expand on her idea, nor did she want to, doing so would mean showing vulnerability, especially around other people, and she hated it. But everyone around her besides Rook was steadily getting sloshed, so maybe it was ok to just tell the Boy Scout, he never said anything negative to her, well intentionally anyways, so why would he start now?

"Scott… he is a fucking weirdo, but he always tried his best to be normal… to fit in, and yeah sure we didn't have the best life with our parents always fighting and being unemployed and whatever but… he always found a way to be happy about something, even if he was up to no good, always smiling, and no matter what happened he always looked on the bright side of things, even if that thing only benefited him for better or for worse… he was trying not to be not be a piece of shit like me" Jess tried her best to explain, before sighing in in futility.

"What I'm trying to say is since you remind me of him… you make me feel normal… whatever that is" she sighed.

Rook sat in his chair, looking at the hooded woman next to him at the table, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, he actually understood where Jess was coming from in this instance, she just wanted to feel normal again, to go back to her normal before peggies, before Joseph, before well, anything, she just wanted to be a normal girl again. And Rook understood, he wanted to feel normal too, a day where he didn't have to kill someone or fight for his life, it almost sounded like a dream, he just wanted to go home and listen to the music that meant a lot to him, to crush his friends in fighting games again at the barcade, to go back to writing up parking tickets and taking drunks to the drunk tank.

And in some strange way, Jess made him feel normal too, she freely spoke her mind, calling things out if they were bullshit or unfair, she always let people know what she thought, and Rook relied on it. The things she voiced relating to fighting peggies and how people were treating him feel in line with how he felt deep down, now more then ever but never admitted it as he would feel uncomfortable to do so. And hearing Jess voice similar things to what he thought meant he wasn't crazy; he wasn't blowing it out of proportion and making things a bigger deal then they needed to be. She was someone he could truly count on.

"I understand what you mean" Rook said softly as he leaned forward in his seat.

By now, Jess had had fidgeted and shifted in her seat since she sat down at Rook's table. A subtle tell she was telling the truth as her uncomfortableness shown through. And how she sat now was exactly like Rook; hunched forward in her seat with her hands pressed against the table, palms down.

Rook looked down at her tanned hands, marred with faded nicks and marks here and there, muscular yet lean, hands that had seen a lot of labor.

As he examined his friend next to him, thinking on what she had just said and what he knew of her, she started to look less like an angry woman with a killing obsession and more like a scared and hurt woman, lashing out to protect herself, a woman who was starved of affection.

Nervously, his hand inched forward towards hers, he didn't know what to expect, she held his had a little while ago when the Revelator burned so maybe he'd be cool with him holding her hand, he only wanted to let her know he was there for her, and to let her know she was unknowingly there for him, but didn't know what combination of words to use, or if she'd even listen.

Once their hands were mere inches from each other, Rook gently and uneasily pushed his hand forward and wrapped his fingers around hers, as he did, her fingers twitched slightly, all five moving millimeters left for right until they were all lined up next to each other before clenching her hand, firmly holding on to her Boy Scout's hand, all the while, staring forward with the same steely, scowling gaze she always had, visibly unaffected to what was happening, making her true feelings unknowable.

With Jess's hand now resting comfortably in Rook's grasp, they sat there in silence, they didn't need to say anything, neither of them was eloquent in their words so why try, instead, they just accepted their silent connection. Neither of them knew how much time passed after that, but they didn't care, they just sat there and held onto each other as if was the only thing of importance in the world.

* * *

John sat on the floor, knees tucked under him and head dipped downward, he was shirtless and shaking.

He was not shaking due to low temperatures in his private room within his bunker, but because Joseph himself stood before him, in the process of disciplining John for his failures. Joseph spent nearly all his time in his church at the county's center, deep in prayer, hoping, listening for a word from God, and for him to stop and travel all the way to John's bunker unannounced, meant something serious was going on, and John knew exactly why his brother was here, it was because of the Revelator and the state of the valley, and what Joseph was saying about it was not good.

As John knelt in front of his brother, nearly all his fingertips bled, before Joseph entered the room, John was left to his own devices while he waited for his brother, he knew of course what Joseph wanted to talk about was going to be anything but good, leaving him to sit in the room by himself, making his anxiety rise and boil over, leaving him to chew excessively on his fingertips until they bled, it was a nervous tick he had not indulged in since he was a child at the mercy of his overly religious parents, he had not bit his fingertips since he had discovered the power of yes. But now a simple yes would not save him from Joseph. His brother had told him time and time again to get the valley straightened out and convince the Junior Deputy into seeing what they were doing was just.

And now with the Revelator gone, control over the road was truly impossible, more and more outposts were being taken and the resistance was becoming more organized by the day, and want was left of his flock's morale was dropping even further.

At this point, to say he had failed was understatement.

Despite Joseph's passiveness, he could be very willing to dole out punishments when needed, but never needlessly cruel, so unlike his brothers.

"Are you listening to me, John?" Joseph asked sternly.

"Yes, Father" John answered quickly, head still bowed as he was to afraid to meet his brother's gaze.

Joseph clenched his jaw, he wanted to be properly angry at his brother, but he knew he needed to be the example his Project needed, to not let his wrath bubble to the surface and lash out, if he did, he would be no better then the resistance and fought against him, and that was something God would not want.

"I'm sure you can understand why I am setting such a high bar for you?" Joseph asked, grimly.

"Yes, Father" John replied, just the same as before.

Joseph sighed disapprovingly, out of all the things his very charismatic brother could say, _yes_ was not what he wanted to hear.

"You have one, final chance, one last attempt to get your region under control again, you are running low on every possible resource… and nothing to show for it, the Junior Deputy still eludes you, if you cannot do either goal with the week's end… Eden's Gate will be closed to you" Joseph said grimly.

"Yes, Father" John muttered, trying to hide the shame and anger of failing his brother so many times.

But the subtle fluctuations in his voice betrayed his true emotions. But still, Joseph did not like his brother's response to what he said.

He approached his brother and slowly walked around him so he could see his back, and looked down at his tattoo cover back, much like his arms, John's back was covered in various symbols and images, but what Joseph was looking for, was the word _wrath_ stylistically tattooed just below the base of his neck, in line with the shoulder blades.

He took another step towards his brother, so he was in arms length and sharply jabbed a finger onto the W of wrath and begun roughly tracing each individual letter, causing John to wince every time Joseph started on a new letter.

"I really need you to listen to me, John" Joseph said grimly.

"You need to put away your wrath, your pride, your envy, whatever ails you and just do your job" he harshly scolded his brother.

"As the Book of Revelations say; Matthews four twenty-two; _But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you_" Joseph preached.

"Yes, Father, I understand what you need me to do, it will be done, I will make preparations, then I will see to it, the Deputy will be dealt with" John said, head still bowed.

"You know what to do?" Joseph asked.

"I will make him atone for what he has done" John said through grit teeth.

"I trust you are capable of planning the details of such event" Joseph asked, looking down at his brother.

"I will invite him to my ranch and then I will take care of it personally" John implored to his brother.

"Good" Joseph said, taking a step away from his brother.

"I expect to see the Junior Deputy within the next few days then" he said turning to walk towards the door, feeling there was nothing left to be said.

John said nothing as his brother left, he just sat on the floor, motionless, to afraid and angry to do anything, he didn't want to risk raising Joseph's ire anymore, despite his rather passive and relax nature, john had seen fist hand many times just what Joseph could do in his anger and disappointment when people failed time and time again, the dozens of woman named Faith was a testament to his displeasure of failure, but a Faith was one thing, he couldn't replace his brother, his flesh and blood, he couldn't even if he wanted to, it just raised the expectations even hire, and it put a certain anxiety into him, it made him feel like he was that ten year old boy again, being accused and prosecuted by his parents everyday for things he did not do, but this time, there was no power of yes, no teacher to notice his bruises no Jacob to protect him, this time he needed to deal with the problem himself, face to face with the Junior Deputy.

And John knew just how to get the Junior Deputy where he wanted.


	40. Chapter 40

Rook was starting to feel a little better.

He wasn't sure how long he and Jess had been holding hands as they sat at the corner table of the bar and he didn't care but if he had to guess, he'd say forty-five minutes, but to him those forty five minutes are the best forty five minutes he had in a while. He savored the connection he was having with her, he couldn't remember the last time he received positive human contact aside from a handshake or pat on the back, and if it was with a woman he deeply trusted, he felt all the more at ease with what he was doing, meters from a group of friends, and if he knew Jess as well as he did, she was probably in the same boat as him.

As the forty five minutes passed and as the party still went on near them, Jess shot up from her seat unexpectantly, claiming the environment of the bar was making her anxiety get the best of her and nearly bolted out of the bar, as she left she seemed almost jumpy, as if afraid to touch anything in her immediate surroundings, leaving Rook to wonder if it had anything to do with them holding hands, for better or for worse. But with Jess gone, it left Rook alone with himself, and his feelings.

But with Jess's departure, also meant the departure of his emotional support, someone who understood him, a hand to hold. Leaving him with a sense of loneliness and sadness as there was nothing to take his mind off of what happened with the Revelator. He didn't know how to shake off how that whole ordeal, he wasn't trained to deal with such cruelty, unsure of what to do now that the warmth that was Jess was gone, he turned his attention to all the friends that helped him stop the rolling menace and a few bar regulars eat and crack wise over a few pints of beer, trying to forget what they had done, seeing them brought back memories of the last time they were all gathered under the bar's roof, which was him yelling at them or not wanting to save the people on the Revelator, he felt bad for yelling at them when they disagreed, he should have been better then that despite how he felt. 

For once he felt glad Sheriff Whitehorse was not in the valley as he couldn't imagine how he'd feel if the Sheriff caught wind of his actions.

What was more was that even if he didn't agree with what happened, Rook still like he felt he had to thank everyone for their hard work, they were his friends not his soldiers.

Steeling himself and building the resolve to mingle with the people he yelled at, he got up at forced himself towards the front door as Addie, Hurk and Sharky were leaving much sooner then he anticipated, but then again the party wasn't that big anyways, it was just a dozen or so people around a few tables, drinking and eating nachos as the jukebox played in the corner, a far cry from the minimum from what the Drubman's need to properly cut loose, so instead they retired to their homes, before they left, Rook still able to give them all a firm handshake and a sincere thank you for what they did, all three, heartily told him not to worry about with smiles and laughs, they went on to say they hoped he would call them if he ever needed their help once more, but listening to all of what they had to say, Rook couldn't help but feel that all the smiles and boaster was all for show, underneath, they must have been hurting over what happened out on the roads.

He couldn't blame them for how they felt, now that he had time to think about it, the Drubman's did more then he did, so it was only natural they felt worse than him.

With the family gone, Rook turned his attention to Nick, who also sat alone by himself, but much closer to the small party. When Rook approached Nick and thanked him for what he did, he quickly discovered that Nick was more down in the dumps then he let on when they arrived back at the bar, and now that he was a few pints in, he expressed to Rook that even though what he did was to protect his family and his home, he still felt truly awful for what he did to the people chained to the Revelator, he wished he could have done things Rook's way or even save just the one person, Rook wanted to give him some sort of verbal pat on the back to help him, but he didn't know what to say, how could he help himself if he couldn't help himself, but still, Rook sympathized with him, he knew all too well about the regret and stress of not being able to save a life, Nick then made it clear he just wanted to be left alone for a little bit, it was a notion Rook respected and gave the man his wish and left him be.

With the majority of his friends taken care of, Rook looked over the bar and its occupants, a majority of the town still stayed locked up in their barricaded homes, they expected John to take revenge for his prized big rig by bombing the town with one of his planes, But even Rook disbelieved in that theory, there was no way the bombing of an entire town would reflect well for the cult, and he wasn't the only one that thought that, the few that didn't believe that would happen joined in the small, impromptu party and tried to relax, and among them was Jerome.

Jerome loitered around the bar as his religion forbade him from getting in the same state as the other patrons, Rook felt a little awkward approaching the man and saying what he needed to as he and Jess got the worst of Rook's behaviour, but still he swallowed his pride and whatever else he felt and approached the pastor and promptly shook his hand, not only did he thank him for joining him in the Widowmaker, but he apologized for having to put up with his lack of commitment in fighting the threat that almost killed them and the town, Jerome told him not to worry over his actions and to be sure it wouldn't happen again, but to Rook's surprise, he thanked Rook for his work out there, he went on to say that despite that apparent celebration of the Revelator's destruction, there was countless people who expressed they were disgusted and riled up by John's actions and decision to use humans as shields, it had only been a couple hours since they returned to the bar, but since then news of what happened had spread like fire and the people lost were slowly becoming martyrs, the already healthy resistance was building even further.

Rook was somewhat glad to hear their numbers were growing, but he felt somewhat disgusted that the Revelator was what it took to drive their numbers up, Jerome didn't say to much after that has he wished to keep an eye on everyone present in the bar, copious amounts of alcohol and what transpired today did not seem like a good mixture.

Rook then left the Pastor to his work as he felt he had nothing left to say to him, now that he had properly thanked everyone he waned too, he just wanted to get out of the bar, he wasn't sure when it started but the atmosphere of the bar was getting more and more stifling by the minute, he needed to get outside and get some fresh air, as he turned to leave the establishment, Mary, seemingly desperate to offer him something as he left, was promptly turned down as he pulled open the door and stepped outside.

As Rook was bathed in the midday sun, he knew he didn't want to go home as he had no idea what he'd do until Mary summoned him for another suicidal mission that he would initially decline until something happens, forcing him to take action.

Instead, he retired to Jess's little hideaway she made on top the auto shop next door, as he climbed up the ladder attached to the back of the auto shop and found his footing on the sheet of loose gravel the blanketed the roof, he saw that Jess did not retreat up here as well to try to calm down after leaving the bar, meaning she could now be anywhere in the county, and for some reason that disappointed him.

Putting those feelings aside, Rook walked up to one of the foldable lawn chairs Jess left laying around and sat down in it, tilting his head back and resting his head on the back of the chair, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, despite breathing in the crispy Montana air, he couldn't get the smell of burning gasoline, metal and bodies out of his system.

Jess was right, you never forget that sickly sweet smell of burning corpses.

Feeling exhausted, he opened his eyes and stared up at the beautiful blue, summer sky, clouds dotting the horizon and softly drifting off into the distance.

Watching the clouds go by, Rook couldn't help but feel powerless, he had no idea what he was doing, he wasn't a leader, he was a Junior Deputy, all he could do these days was to shoot to kill, his ability to settle a problem passively was rapidly leaving his realm of possibility, he never really liked to kill in the first place, sure he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but he wanted to help people, to stop the bad from abusing the good.

Unsure of what to do moving forward, his walkie talkie crackled to life.

"Are you happy now, Deputy, are you satisfied with what you did, was murdering those people really worth it?" John's voice growled from his walkie.

Rook could feel his blood boil at the sound of John's condescending voice.

This _motherfucker_ had the gall to call him and berate him for the deaths of the seven people who had no say in the matter as he had them fastened to the Revelator.

"Excuse me?!" Rook almost yelled into the walkie as soon as he removed it from his belt.

"I didn't murder anyone, _you_ did this, _I_ gave you a choice, I gave you a choice! You could have surrendered yourself into custody safely, like I offered you and those people would still be alive!" Rook almost screamed as his anger came rushing back.

"And there we go again with that wrath, you know, that's going to get you killed, you should really do something about that, you'll be so much better once you do" John said casually as if Rook didn't just yell at him.

Rook ground his teeth in anger over how John treated the lives of others, he showed a sickening indifference to whatever wasn't him or the Project.

"If your calling just to taunt me or gloat about whatever self righteous bullshit that gets you off, then just piss off!" Rook snarled, trying his best not to let the whole town hear him.

"Now hold on a minute Deputy, before you go on another spiel about what you believe in or how things should be just listen to me, listen to me" John said, blowing Rook off.

"So, I'm sure you know I've said time and time again, you will come willingly to me, so, I'm giving you one final chance to do so, Deputy I am at my ranch, you know the one, it's quite close to the Rye and sons-whatever-it's-called, please come on down and let's get down to brass tacks and get to work" John said, charismatically as always, his sudden mood swings just as bizarre.

"Come on down and let's have a face to face, just you and me, one on one, but if you try to sneak in anyone else, I will know, and the town will pay for it and I will leave, you will lose your chance at arresting or killing or whatever you plan to do" John said almost bored or uninterested suddenly.

Despite just being explicitly told to come alone, Rook considered bringing someone along to have his back, there was no way John didn't have something waiting for him, Rook wanted to have someone sneak in through the back, but he felt the only person he would want on such a stealth mission was Jess, be she made it very clear she was feeling weird and needed some alone time to calm down, as much as she would jump on this opportunity, her head would most likely be in the right space for such a task.

maybe if he had sometime beforehand in order to prepare for John's offer then maybe he could have backup, but it was clear, right now, he had to do this alone, a dark part of him was glad he was going alone, so no one would get in his way and kill the Seed, Rook wanted the man all to himself and give him what he deserved.

"Oh, don't you worry, I will be there alone" Rook seethed quietly into his walkie.

"Good, I'm sure you'll find our congregation will be… enlightening" John said, somehow sounding happy and sinister at the same time.

Then the walkie clicked off.

With the walkie now off. Rook stared down at it, panting very lightly, with John's voice now gone, he wished to have handled the conversation, but he just couldn't help it, John knew how to push his buttons and make him so mad, so mad that he just told his enemy he was going to willingly walk into a obvious trap, but he couldn't just pass up such an opportunity.

With his heartbeat in his ears, Rook hurriedly clambered down the ladder and almost ran around to the front of the auto shop, thanks to half the town still being on lock down, it was quite easy for Rook to commandeered a truck from the auto shop. He tossed his shotgun into the passenger seat before starting up the truck, once he was ready to go, he stomped down on the gas pedal and took off out of the garage much faster than he should have, due to the fear of being caught by the auto shop team, but once he cleared the auto shop and then soon after, the town, he still didn't slow down, he just wanted to get out of town and get to the ranch as soon as possible, as getting John would mean everyone who died today would not have been in vain.

Rook speedily came around the wooded bend, a few minutes ago he had passed Nick and Kim's place, meaning John's ranch was just around the corner, a few minutes give or take, he tried to stay out of this neck of the woods, everyone did, as it was most likely heavily guarded. But once he completely came around the bend, he immediately slammed on the brakes, harshly coming to a stop, he stopped as a few hundred feet away, loomed John's ranch, he rested in his truck for a few moments as he analyzed the building

The last time he was here a lifetime ago when he stole back Nick's plane and the peggie headcount at the time made the place look like Fort Knox and this was one of the two landing strips in the whole valley, meaning there should be peggies planes coming in and out of here like a airport, but the landing strip was just as empty as the ranch appeared to be, he couldn't even anything that sounded like a plane in the distance. 

He very slowly rolled his truck forward towards the ranch's front yard, not there was much of one. Before stopping the truck a dozen or so meters from the front door, seeing as his proximity to the ranch didn't cause peggies to surge out of the building, he killed the engine and pocketed the key as he watched the eerily empty property, with the engine off, Rook couldn't hear a sound in his surroundings, not even a bird.

He grabbed a hold of the shotgun that rested in the passenger seat before he climbed out of his truck and slowly marched up the road, as he carefully approached the large estate, his eyes darted all around the exterior of the building, looking for any threats but found no peggies stood at the many balconies that lined the buildings sides and no sniper barrels poking from a cracked window.

Every fibre of Rook's being screamed this was a trap, there was no way that a man who had no problem using unwilling human shield for a death machine would actually be true on his word on their one on one, but as much as Rook hated to admit, there might have been some truth to John's words, John was hailing him in for the sake of his brother's crazy religion, that had to mean John wanted him alive for something, whatever it was, this could be it.

He cautiously worked his way up the front yard, up a few small steps of stairs and slowly approaches the front doors, a large set of wooden doors with an opulent finish and trim, he had his reserves about just walking through the front door, but what else was he supposed to do, kick it in and start shooting?

But whatever John had in store for him probably took that into account.

As Rook stared at the doors, his fears of whatever John could be planning for his was growing stronger by the minute, a part of him thought about turning around and marching back to the truck so he could radio for backup as who knows what horrors John prepared in his beautiful house, to cope with his fears, he couldn't help but think of the doors as a grim analogy for John; the pretty exterior hid the whatever hideousness that lurked within.

But as the fear set in so did the anger, as much as he wanted back up he could rest knowing the monster he vied to arrest was just casually resting in his lush home, how dangerous could he even be? He was just the man who brought the new recruits into the fold, a voice that ordered people to do the things he didn't, he was a literally yes man.

John only inspired fear when he was in control, but now, Rook was the one in control, there was nowhere left for John to run.

Ready to shoot anyone who looked like John in the leg, Rook bravely stomped forward, a single arm outstretched and pushed the doors open, fully expecting John, or at the very least a couple dozen peggies waiting for him inside, but instead was faced with darkness as all the lights were turned off. But some sunlight was able to shine in behind him and partially light up a fraction of John's impromptu home. Rook could see directly in front of him by a few meters was a very expensive looking large, satin, black couch, with two just as expensive arm chairs flanking either side of the couch, all three pieces of furniture was facing away from Rook, facing a rectangular column of stone, it descended from the roof and touched the floor, it took a second for Rook to realized it was supposed to be some modern looking fireplace. Along the walls was a collection of bookcase and items of importance sealed behind glass cases, but anything passed that was hard to see as darkness still polluted the room.

"Son of a bitch" Rook muttered to himself in frustration as everything looked like the beginnings of a trap.

He clutched his shotgun in both hands again and tentatively tip toed inside, his footsteps echoing off the spotless hardwood flooring, waiting for the hat to drop as he clutched his shotgun painfully tight, but still nothing happened, not liking the darkness and whatever could be lurking inside, he chose to stay close the a wall and worked his way around to the right of the large room.

As he took a large berth around the furniture and fireplace, further into the building, almost sticking to the walls, his eyes quickly adjusted to the level of light and was beginning to be able to see further into the ranch, the main room was much bigger than he expected, not only was the room he was in was almost as big as the Spread Eagle bar and so much more passed the fireplace, there was another set of opulent double doors on the right side of the room, leading to who knows where, the ranch itself was quite large so it made it hard to guess just how many rooms there were on the inside, and all the places John could hide, laying in wait to spring whatever he had prepared for Rook.

On the other side of the fireplace was a large table and several chairs tucked around it, all of it looked to be made from rich mahogany, a large plasma screen was affixed above the fireplace, facing the table. Surrounding the far end of the room was all different kinds of animal hunting trophies, a stuffed wolf stood, staring out a bay window with the curtains drawn, several different caribou and deer heads were mounted between banner of Eden's Gate, a black bear pelt sat, splayed out in between the fireplace and the sandalwood coffee table, not only could Rook see John's penchant for hunting and taking trophies, but he could also see how much money John had, delicately painted images of various landscapes hung from gold frames mounted to the walls, a few more pieces of expensive furniture was pressed up against the walls, a lavish record player sat upon a stand with dozens of vinyl records underneath, a detailed model plane, propped up on a little stand sat on a corner table, a chandelier made for antlers hung from a gold chain above the table.

John's ranch was so massive, well furnished and all round exquisite, the estate was bordering on being a mansion.

"What a mansion" Rook muttered to himself as he was in disbelief John would let a place like this go apparently unguarded with no apparent trap waiting for him. 

As Rook muttered to himself, his near silent words broke the silence, it was all John needed.

"Deputy!" John's charismatic voice yelled and echoed off the large silent room

The sudden boom of John's voice made Rook flinch in fear, he wasn't expecting John to seemingly approach him so openly. But despite John's sudden scare, announcing himself as did, gave away his position, and it sounded like he was by the large table and chairs at the far end of the room.

"I was wondering when you would show up, I was beginning to think you had better things to do" John said.

"Where are you!" Rook yelled, pivoting towards the source of John's voice, the barrel of his shotgun leading the way.

A few silent seconds ticked by as Rook waited for a response as he scanned the darkened room for John, he did not see or hear him.

"So what do you think of my ranch, this was my little getaway from Eden's Gate and Joseph when they became a little to overbearing when the Project was taking off here in the county" John continued, ignoring Rook's question. 

"Shut up and let's get this over with!" Rook challenged as his shotgun swayed from left to right as he still scanned the room.

Again, John was eerily silent for a few moments speaking up again.

"Try not to take your wrath out on my belongings, you have a score to settle with me, not the lifeless accoutrements that adorn my ranch" John groaned, his voice so full of distain, Rook could hear him rolling his eyes.

But his voice was definitely coming from the table and chairs.

Rook took a few nervous steps towards the table and chairs, his eyes franticly looking for the slightest bit of movement or anything humanoid, but there was nothing there, just a table and a half dozen chairs.

"I'm sure your wondering where I am by now, but if I am to be perfectly honest with you, you'll be quite shocked to find out where I am… or rather, where I will be go" John said smugly.

Still unable to find the Seed, Rook quickly took a knee looked under the table to make sure John wasn't there, and sure enough the underside of the table was bare, properly confused, he then quickly walked around the table and stopped at the far end, behind the single chair the was place at the width of the table so no one could sneak up behind him.

"So, how have you been, we haven't seen each other such a long time… I believe the last time was when you came to my Gate and you murdered a few of my flock" John huffed in aggravation.

This time John's voice sounded so close by as if he was feet away, it freaked Rook out to hear John's voice so close to him, it was unnatural how close John was to him without being seen by or even attacking the Junior Deputy. But his voice came from the table and from the ground as if John was on the floor, but it was obvious he wasn't just laying on the floor, or under the table which confused and scared Rook even more,

All the chairs around the table were tucked in, if one wanted to lay down on the three seats lined next to each other, it was definitely doable, but John wasn't the type to just sprawl out over a line of chairs to hide and taunt.

But Rook couldn't push the idea out of his mind, that little voice of survival yelled at him to check every little possibility to secure his safety, and at that point with everything going on, he had to check, John's proximity to him was unreal.

Rook grabbed the single chair that sat at the table's width and pulled it back, the legs scrapping across the floor, he pulled it out far enough to look down into the seat and saw a boombox laying in the seat, a thick wire attached to the side and trailed down onto the floor then further into the darkness.

"Have you figured it out yet?" John's voice came from the boombox.

"Shit" Rook muttered in horror as he realized he had entered the trap before he could see it.

Then all the lights in the room turned on all at once, almost burning Rook's eyes as his eyes adjusted to the new levels of light.

Rook mentally berated himself, John was never here, it was just pre-recorded voice clips hooked up to a boombox, it was all bait to get him where John wanted, no wonder John wanted him to come here by himself. Rook turned to run for the doors he had originally entered through, scared out of his mind now that the trap had been sprung, but before he could make any significant distance, the double doors on the side of the room flew open, causing Rook to freeze on the spot as his head snapped to the now open doors so he could see a single peggie stepped forward, entering the large room and faced the Junior Deputy, a magnum in hand and pointed at Rook, Rook recognized him instantly, it was the peggie leader he encountered at the packing plant days ago; Gordon.

"I told you you'd regret not killing me" Gordon said menacingly. 

Rook's breath caught in his throat as Gordon came into his view, he sure he expected to deal with peggies when he showed up, but this was different, Gordon was in charge of a pack of Chosen Peggies, men and woman trained personally by Jacob, an army veteran, meaning Gordon was very dependable in the Seed's eyes, and now that same leader of a dozen highly trained men and woman was staring him down, with a magnum trained on him.

His mind buzzing with fear, Rook reflexively turned at the waist in an attempt to line up a shot on the peggie, but before he could bring his shotgun around to protect himself, Gordon snapped at him.

"DON'T- try anything" Gordon demanded as he jerked his gun arm forward, reasserted he had his gun trained on the Junior Deputy.

"Alright, alright" Rook said nervously as he knew the peggie had him where he wanted.

Very slowly, Rook removed the hand that held his gun's barrel, allowing the barrel to drift to the floor, the muzzle kissing the polished floor.

Rook stared down the magnum and the man that held it, it put an all too familiar fear in him, but this time it was much worse, this time he couldn't save himself, he was completely at the man's mercy, and he hated it. He hated himself for not thinking this confrontation through, he knew he should have called someone for help, if he did, Jess could have stealthily taken him out, Nick could have shot him from the entry way, but he just had to let his anger get the better of him and pushed him into action.

"It's been a while, huh?" Gordon said casually, a he took a few steps into the room.

"Yeah… it's been a few days" Rook replied, unsure of what else to say as he wrestled with himself to get his emotions under control.

"Why don't you take a seat over there?" Gordon said, waving his gun over to the couch and two chairs on the other side of the room.

"Sure" Rook muttered as he slowly turned towards the furniture that was near the front of the door he first entered from.

As he went cautiously walked over to the chairs, his eyes darted all around the room, looking for anything to save him from his mistakes, but even if there was anything worth using, it was to far away as the spacious ranch's contents was far from arms reach, at the moment, he felt his greatest and only asset was the shotgun in his hand, making Rook hate himself that much more as he still couldn't come to terms with how stupid he was and what he had gotten himself into. But negative thoughts aside, once he neared the chairs and couch and chairs; Gordon spoke up again.

"Put your firearm on the table" Gordon commanded, his voice becoming grittier with the order.

Rook silently agreed with his capture and gingerly placed down the shotgun upon the sandalwood table once he got close enough, all the while being very careful to keep Gordon and the magnum in the corner of his eye, then he slowly moved for the chair, a few feet away and sat down in the left most chair, and uneasily watched Gordon who watched him with a stony, malicious gaze.

Once Rook was firmly situated in his seat, Gordon marched up to the right most chair and grabbed one if it's arms with his free hand and pulled it, so it turned on the spot, directly facing the Junior Deputy then sat down in the chair, not once did he take his eyes and gun off the man.

Then the two sat there in silence for a few moments, Rook finally spoke up, fearing if nothing happened, he'd be shot right then and there.

"So, let's decide what happens next, hm?" he sighed nervously.

"Well in reality, you have two options" Gordon said.

"Either willingly come with me to John, or I can just kneecap you and drag you there" he explained.

"So, John's not here then?" Rook sighed in frustration; still angry he fell for such a simple trap.

"Choice A or B, anything else and I'll decide for you, and I'm sure you'll know what I'll do" Gordon grumbled.

"Then why haven't you just shot me already? It's clear you hate me so why not just get it over with?" Rook asked, feeling the bile prime to rise up the back of his throat as the reality of his situation was really setting in.

"John asked me to give you the choice, now choose" Gordon insisted, by the sound of his voice it sounded like he was running out of patience.

Knowing this, Rook still weighed his dwindling options, if he dove for the shotgun feet away, he would be shot, even if he was some sort of highly trained soldier, a flesh wound was going to take him down, it was a magnum after all. If anything, his best chance was to attack the man as he escorted him to John, and he really didn't want to be shot at all, leaving going with the man, but the eventually escape was a whole other story. He would probably be handcuffed and thrown in the back of a truck, meaning Rook had to escape before they make exited the building.

Feeling the pressure was on now, he evaluated the opponent in front of him; Gordon looked like a fit middle-aged man, he wore a ratty, tan, long sleeved shirt just like a lot of peggies did, he also wore a thick brown vest that looked like some sort of Kevlar with pouches on the side, he also wore heavy looking black paints, stained with dirt and mud around the knees, for some reason his pants almost looked bloated, as if his pant legs were stuffed with something, he also wore brown work boots, just as dirty. And the magnum in his hand was a standard magnum, six shots, more then enough to kill anything that moves. But other then that looked like just another peggie, if caught off guard, Rook could actually take him down.

he had a basic idea how to take him down, he had seen many, many times on TV and movies how the when the villain had a gun on the hero, the hero would fake their surrender, then when the villain moved in to detain or otherwise capture them, the second they touch the hero, they quickly grab them and beat them up, disarming them in the process.

And be it adrenaline or faith in his abilities, he felt confident himself.

"Ok… Let's go" Rook sighed, feinting despair.

"Good, let's go, the door" Gordon said, flicking his gun towards the open doors Rook first entered from.

Rook slowly got up, and began walking to the door, carefully watching the gun pointed at him and walked halfway to the door before he began to slow his pace, enough for the man behind him to catch up and give him a incentive to hurry up. And sure enough, Rook could hear heavy footsteps advancing behind him.

"Hurry up, we don't have all day" Gordon order before burying the barrel of his gun into the back of Rook shoulder.

Rook felt the barrel be pressed painfully into his shoulder and waited for it to be retracted, and after a few seconds he felt the cylindrical pressure fade away, the second the gun was completely off him, Rook spun around as fast as he could, bringing his hands up to grab the retreating firearm and to throw a few punches if need be.

Before he could even touch the gun or make a fist, Gordon jerked his forearm forward, railing Rook in the face with the butt of his magnum, causing Rook to recoil backwards in a blend of pain and shock, then in a flash, Gordon followed up with a solid punch to the gut with his free hand, causing Rook to groan in pain before falling to his knees, but before his knees could hit the ground, Gordon was fast enough to grab a handful of Rook's shirt, holding him up.

"I did two tours in Iraq; you're going to have to try harder than that" Gordon said with a crooked grin, sticking the gun in his face.

Rook looked upward at the man, in utter disbelief that he had been stopped so thoroughly, he had gained a basic defense technique in police school, but he had no idea he was going up against a former military man, he was untrained for this.

"Now let's try this again, you try anything, and I will kneecap, ok?" Gordon

As Gordon spoke, Rook looked straight forward, trying to find a good coping position for his throbbing, numb, probably bleeding face, leaving him to stare at the man's crotch, it was an unintentional gaze, but it gave him a stupid idea.

When all else fails, use the woman's defense training.

Rook's fist then shot out, punching forward, putting all his strength into that one punch, and hitting the man square in the groin.

Gordon groaned in pain as he released Rook from his grip, the magnum drooping downwards as his whole body crumpled in on itself slightly, his free hand covering his groin.

The second Rook was released and hit the floor, he shot off towards the coffee table that his shotgun, he scampered towards it on all fours before staggering to his feet, trying to run to the table but found it challenging as the various new found pains in his body and it sounded like Gordon had recovered.

"Go for cage!" Gordon yelled angrily as he staggered towards Rook, clasping the crotch of his pants.

Then seconds later, the open front doors suddenly slammed shut, then the sound of a heavy lock clicking shut echoed from the door, then both men inside the ranch could hear several vehicles start up, it sounded like the vehicles were on the side of the building, by the bay window with the curtains drawn, the engines revving up before the squealing of tires and crunching of dirt as they presumably drove off somewhere away from the ranch.

But Rook's cared not for any of the things going on around him, the only things he cared about was the gun on the table in front of him and the gun soon to be centered on him, behind him. But thankfully he was not to far away from his confiscated shotgun, his amateur escape attempt was a scant few meters from the table, but he knew his time was up as he could hear Gordon behind him, muttering half curses at him. He didn't need to look behind him to know a gun was being trained on his back, thankfully he had just about reached the couch that separated him from his gun, the second the couch was with arms reach, his arm shot out and grabbed the couch's backboard with one hand, and with all his strength, he used all his momentum and power to vault himself over the couch and crashed onto the floor on the other side. As he descended to floor, he heard the boom of the magnum, it firing of the round reverberated off the expansive room like a echo chamber, then the bullet tore through the fabric of the couch, going clean through the furniture and embedding itself in the stonework of the fireplace, missing the Junior Deputy by inches.

"I can see why your give our cause so much trouble, you're a slippery fish" Gordon commented.

Rook ignored the man's comment, he was huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath, scared out of his mind over how close he was to getting shot yet again. Once the first wave of fear mostly subsided, his mind went back to defence mode, and that mind said he needed to get his gun back before Gordon moved in for the kill, so very carefully Rook poked a cautious hand up over the edge of the table and felt around for a few seconds before his fingertips brushed up against the smooth wood of the stock, finding his gun, Rook grabbed a hold of it the best he could and dragged the shotgun off the table, the metal of the gun clattering against the hardwood which he of course scooped up in his arms in a matter of seconds.

As Rook lay on the floor, he held his shotgun as close to himself as possible, like a mother cradling her child. He craned his head to the right, pressing himself against the floor as much as he could so he could peer under the couch to see the two shadows on the other side; Gordon's feet, Rook could see Gordon's feet move closer and closer to the couch, trying to get the jump on him, be it luck or skill, he moved over across the hardwood so expertly the hardwood did not creak or groan once.

The whole scenario made Rook regret bringing the shotgun to the ranch as it only held two shells and he didn't bring extras. But it didn't matter, he knew this was a fight he couldn't win, the Peggie had years of experience and the angle over him. But still Rook's body scream to carry on, to fight, but his mind said otherwise as he was in a less than favourable position, there was no way he could just stand up and shoot as he would be cut down before he could fire. 

But perhaps he didn't have to stand up. 

He already had a line of sight on the peggie from under the couch, so maybe he could get the gun barrel under the couch and fire, the shotgun was pretty powerful after all.

So, Rook shoved the shotgun barrel under the couch as best he could but struggled to do so as the barrel barely fit between the couch and the hardwood, leaving it at an odd angle as the gun's stock also made it difficult, the best he could do was position the shotgun so it rested on the ground, the muzzle a few inches under the couch, upside down and tilted upwards a few degrees, looking at what he believed to be his only option, he couldn't help but feel stupid, if he was a third party watching, he'd wouldn't take this seriously, there was no finesse to this scheme, just blind hope and sweaty palms, and what was worse, from what Rook could tell from the shadows on the floor, Gordon was just about on the other side of the couch.

"I think we both know how this is going to end" Gordon taunted darkly.

"Yeah, me too" Rook countered, then reluctantly pulled the trigger.

The boom of the shotgun reverberated off the walls just like the magnum, but much louder, the couch absorbed most of the buckshot as bits of the wooden frame and stuffing flew harmlessly out of the back, the sound of the shotgun blast clearly scared him as he was knocked back, yelping in fear as some of the buckshot that did make it through the couch and hit his shins, knocking him backwards onto the floor.

Gordon swore and thrashed in pain as he lay on the ground, in utter disbelief someone like him was reduced to such a state by some nobody like the Junior Deputy, he was nothing like what the reports said he would be.

Hearing Gordon wail, Rook took that as a sign that his strategy somehow paid off, he cautiously stood back up, shotgun level and ready to be fired again, but seeing as he wasn't gun downed the second he rose up over the couch, meant he it was safe, very carefully, he peered over the couch to see if the man was truly down for the count.

Gordon was splayed out on the floor, writhing in pain as pieces of buckshot now resided in his lower legs, Rook could see dots of blood, no bigger than the quarters seep into his dark pants, his boots were torn up, which inspired hope in Rook as if his feet were shot up meant he would not be able to give chase, but upon closer inspection and to his dismay, the tore fabric revealed a layer of metal; he was wearing steel toe boots, meaning his feet were fine.

"Deputy!" Gordon painfully howled, as he almost curled up to protect his legs.

Rook continued to silently watch the man writhe on the floor in some sort of morbid curiosity, carefully watching to see what the former soldier would do, after all the magnum was still limply clutched in his hand, he held it away from his person as he still tried to point the gun at Rook while still his ball form but was failing miserably.

Seeing the man was still trying to kill him, Rook hurried around the couch and ran right up to the man, before Gordon could line up another shoot, Rook reared back and harshly kicked the magnum as hard as he could, freeing it from Gordon's grip with another pained grunt, launching the firearm across the room as it slid across the hardwood and to the right of the room, until it limply bounced off the nearby wall right next to double doors Gordon came from.

"Deputy!" Gordon roared again before slowly unfurling himself and begun rolling onto his stomach and began pulling his body to his gun, painfully grunting and leaving a few faint streaks of blood as he went. 

As much as Rook wanted to put the barrel of his shotgun up to the man's head and pulled the trigger, he didn't, the man was evidently defeated, there was no need to waste the shell, and who knows how many other peggies were lurking around John's prized ranch. Instead he was more concerned with leaving, at this point, he didn't give a damn about John, he just wanted to get the hell out of this horrible building.

Instead of further addressing the peggie crawling at a snail's pace, he turned to the double doors to the outside and ran at it as fast as he could, as he ran, he held his shoulder out and centered on the center of the doors, fully intending on using his momentum to break the lock that kept the doors closed.

He sprinted at the door and threw himself at it as hard as he could, but the second he collided with the door, he was left in consternation as he fluidly bounced off the doors and tumbled to the floor, landing on his back with a groan.

As he looked up at the doors in hopes that he did some sort of damage to the lock but found he didn't even put a scratch on it. But as he stared up at the doors, his heightened senses from the adrenaline picked up the sound of voices, it sounded like, there was two people were outside, on the other side of the doors, he wasn't sure but they sounded like they were apprehensive of what was going on inside.

As quick as he went down, Rook scrambled back up to his feet, shotgun still clasped painfully in his hand, and darted back to the doors, this time he grabbed a hold of the door handles and shook them vigorously, hoping they would magically unlock, but alas they did not.

Deputy!" Gordon bellowed in anger once more.

Hearing Gordon's shout made Rook recoil in fear, as he hoped the man would give up upon being unable to walk, but yet it still sounded like he was still more then willing to keep fighting.

Expecting Gordon to have crawled inches away from his magnum, Rook turned back to assess his foe, but what he saw made his blood run cold; Gordon was somehow back on his feet and mere few steps away from him, arms outstretched, and fingers curled, staggering towards him like a zombie.

"Holy shit!" Rook cried as he took a large step back, pressing himself up against the doors, trying to raise his shotgun.

But it was to late, Gordon had gotten to close, close enough for him to wrap his outstretched hands around Rook's neck and squeezed as hard as he could, making Rook impulsively dropped his shotgun and brought his hands up and clamped down of Gordon's forearms, trying to free himself. But Gordon was the superior man, he was much stronger than Rook, his attempts to free himself was fruitless. As Rook's vison began to darken, he knew he couldn't pry the man off him, nor did Gordon intend to stop any time soon, but living through one fight to the next for weeks on end made Rook learned how to dispense quick fixes to situations such as this.

Instead of fighting with his hands, Rook kicked the peggie as hard as he could in one of his damaged shins, causing Gordon to roar in pain again, causing him to fall backwards, but to Rook's dismay, Gordon did not release, instead he kept his grip and pulled Rook down as well, the Junior Deputy falling atop the peggie, causing the attacker to almost let go of Rook as they hit the ground.

Before either man could hit the ground, Rook frantically tried to push himself away from the Gordon as the peggie fought to keep him close. Then as they hit the ground with a bang, Rook broke free, he tried to squirmed and wiggled away from the man, but Gordon was faster, before Rook could properly get away, Gordon quickly reached out and grabbed a hold of Rook again and pulled him close to his person, wrapping his arms around Rook's upper torso and Gordon's chest pressing into Rook's back. 

As the two men thrashed and bucked at each other, trying to injure each other until the other submitted, but as they fought, Gordon's arms deliberately moved higher and higher up Rook's torso and onto his face, obstructing his vision and breathing. 

Rook wasn't sure why he would do such a thing as now he had full movement of his arms, and for all Gordon knew, he had a knife on his person, but as Gordon's grip tightened around his head, it took Rook a few terrifying seconds to realize Gordon was trying to snap his neck.

He just wanted good leverage before he committed to the breaking of the bone.

Just thinking that put a new energy into Rook as just the thought of what Gordon was doing put a fear in him as there was almost nothing he could do, Rook knew there was no in point in trying to pry at the arms around his head as he wasn't strong enough, he needed a new plan, but all he knew was Gordon's only weakness was his wounded shins, but that was better then nothing.

Since Gordon was practically spooning him, but a few inches above Rook, he tried to bend inwards, almost curling into a ball to work his way to the peggie's shin, he was prepared to do anything to his buckshot wounds, scratch, kick, punch, hell even bite if need be. As he wriggled and twisted, Gordon moved with him, trying to get a decent grip on his head, he locked his legs around Gordon's as he bent and leaned forward, his bones ached as he bent and contorted, as the two men curled up on themselves, as his hands, frantically scratched at Gordon's legs until the second he came within reach of Gordon's shin, his hand shot out and grabbed his shin and squeezed as hard as he could, his thumb painfully digging into what clearly felt like a buckshot wound, causing Gordon to yell in pain as the buckshot was pushed deeper into the softer inner leg meat, inching closer to the bone, as soon as Rook started squeezing, he could tell Gordon's pants were indeed padded, but clearly not enough as Rook's thumb went deeper into the man's leg, a thick syrupy blood quickly absorbed his thumb and splashed into his palm.

Gordon roared and groaned as Rook did this, his strength fluctuating as pain shot through his entire leg and into his core, Rook could feel Gordon's body tense and flex as his body struggled to keep his grip on Rook's head, it let him know he needed to do more, he needed to introduce another injury,

Ready to hurt the man more, Rook straighten his body, Gordon moving with him easily as pain motivated him, once the two men were parallel, Rook raised an arm and elbowed the man in the face as hard as he could, making the man cry out again, this time it was different, it was much deeper, the pain was just to much for Gordon, unable to cope, he let go of Rook and pushed him away to protect himself.

With a gasp, Rook clawed himself away from the man and dizzily stumbled to his feet at top speed as it was getting increasingly hard to breath in the man's grasp, he quickly looked down at the ailing man beneath him, he watched him for a few seconds before he noticed the long-forgotten shotgun feet from the downed man, not wanting the peggie to take it, Rook hurriedly scooped it off the floor and wiped his saliva from his chin but instantly regretted it as he also smeared Gordon's blood across his chin, but as quick as he did it, he stopped caring as he desperately looked around the room for another exit, there was the double door Gordon came from, but Rook adamantly refused to go down there has who know who else was down there, instead his eyes rested on the bay window, left of the room, meters away, a taxidermized wolf in front of it, it would be looking out the window if not for the drawn curtains.

"Screw this!" Rook barked to himself as he sprinted to the bay window.

The second he made it to the window, he grabbed a hold of the taxidermized wolf as best he could and pushed it over with all his might, causing it to fall away from the window with a clatter. With the obstruction away from the window, he leveled his shotgun to the window and fired his remaining shell, punching dozens of holes through the curtains and shattering the window behind it, the second Rook heard the countless shards of glass fall to the floor, he charged forward once more, swiping the curtain to the side and jumping out of the window.

Rook stumbled as he hit the ground, the window, the ground was further away then he expected, but it didn't stop him for long as he quickly recovered as broke out into a sprint and ran along the length of the building, he noticed several tire tracks in the grass and dirt, a conformation that he did hear multiply vehicles starting up when everything really kicked off. But he didn't care, he just wanted to get as far away from the ranch as possible and to get back to Falls End, but as he ran along the side of the building and turned the corner to the front of the building, he came face to face with two clear as day peggies meters ahead of him, standing by the front doors; a middle aged, Caucasian, barrel chested man, and a young stout, African American woman, it was clear they heard the shotgun blast, much less what was happening inside as they were looking in his general direction when he came around the corner, both undoubtedly terrified of his appearance as they were both unarmed.

Seeing the two peggies made Rook point his shotgun at them out of pure instinct, after weeks of being shot on sight, even pointing a gun, empty or not, at them felt like the right thing to do.

"AW fuck Em! I knew we shouldn't've left our guns back in th' truck!" the man yelled fearfully as he raised his hands above his head.

"Shut the fuck up! Shut the fuck up!" the woman yelled angrily at her friend, just as scared as she mechanically took up a fighting stance as she had no other options.

The duo's comments made Rook freeze, they indirectly made it clear they were unarmed, but yet they did not advance on him, they were both to paralyzed by the sight of the shotgun in Rook's grip, it took Rook a second to figure out that neither peggie had yet to realize he was out of ammo, which was a blessing in disguise as if they did figure it out, they would almost certainly strongarm him and take him off to wherever John was as they out numbered him.

All Rook could do was hope they wouldn't call his bluff.

"Don't move! I swear to god I will shoot you! I will kill you both, Goddammit!" Rook yelled as loud as he could as he superimposed the shotgun he had pointed at them.

He tried his best to not let his fear to break his bluff but the anger that was stored in him all day carried the threat.

"Yeah, yeah, man, I hear ya!" Frank yelled back fearfully, taking a few steps back, not putting his hands down

But the woman said and did nothing, she continued to stand where she was, holding her fighting stance like a diligently trained boxer, Rook could see the fear in her eyes, but he could also see the fire, Rook could tell she wanted to beat him senseless, she wanted to do what John asked of her, be remained stagnant as she thought she would die if she took a single step forward.

"I mean it! I will blow your cultist head off!" Rook screamed at the woman as he trained the empty gun at her head, all the while began sidestepping the pair of peggie.

Since he couldn't kill the duo, all he could do was bluff and inch his way over to his truck that was parked fifteen meters away from him.

"I killed a bunch of you guys, two more means nothing to me… I'll, I'll… I'll make sure you guys don't go to your Eden or whatever!" Rook shouted as he continued to carefully move to his truck.

"Yeah, yeah, man I hear ya, let's just chill, ok" Frank almost begged the Junior Deputy.

Hearing his words, the woman finally took a single step back, not lowering her arms, dangerously glaring at Rook.

Rook didn't like that look, the man was clearly not going to do anything, but the woman was a wildcard, she was a danger.

Not liking what could very well happen, Rook looked at his truck then the peggies then the truck again, then the peggies one finally time, he stared at them for a few seconds before letting out a curse before sprinting to his truck as fast as he could.

Thankfully the truck was not far away at all, but still the second he made it to the truck he faced the peggies again and raised his empty gun to them, and to his relief they had not moved, they just stared at Rook with different emotions, since neither peggie made a move, Rook felt safe enough to wrench open the door and climbed in as fast as he could, tossing his shotgun into the passenger seat, as he desperately fumbled the keys into the ignition, he could hear the peggie discussing something, whatever it was, it was not good.

But Rook didn't care, with the closing of his door, and the starting of the engine, it didn't matter as there was nothing they could do now, the second the engine fully started up, he stomped on the gas pedal as hard as he could, causing the truck to jerk forward, launching the truck down the road at breakneck speed, kicking up a large dust cloud as he rapidly departed the ranch, the two peggies watching all the while.

As Rook tore down the road, getting farther and farther away from the ranch at top speed, his anger and fear was slowly disappearing, as relief flood his system, he couldn't believe that he actually got away yet again, but as he calmed down, a part of his brain told him that he should have grabbed the magnum and shot the peggie leader inside the ranch and he should have and shot the other two peggies so they couldn't tell anyone anything. But it didn't matter, this whole afternoon was a disaster, he just wanted to forget it and move on, he just wanted to go home, and he couldn't he but think every time he thought of his home, crawling up in his bed and waiting for everything to blow over was become more and more appealing.

Rook finally slowed down once he drew near the down, but he didn't come down to a normal speed once he properly entered Falls End, and once he came down to a normal speed, he pulled in front of Mary's bar, he wanted to apologize to the auto shop team for stealing one of their trucks, now that he had properly calmed down, he felt really bad for commandeering the truck like he did, what he did was unprofessional, but what he needed to do before that was to tell Mary, or anyone that John's ranch was vulnerable, if they were to take it, then the peggie planes would be a thing of the past, but as Rook exited the vehicle and looked around the town, it became readily apparent that Falls End still looked like a ghost town, not a single soul could be seen on the streets, not even the general store was open. And or some reason, even Mary's bar looked closed.

Confused, Rook walked up to test the validity of the open sign and tested the door, and sure enough the door opened up. Hoping to find Mary, but when Rook poked his head, to his surprise no one was in the bar, what was more, all the lights were still on, a few chairs were upturned and laying a few feet from their respective tables, and a few pints of beer sat half full and abandoned on various tables, it was like everyone just up and disappeared.

"What the hell" Rook muttered to himself uneasily as whatever was going on, creeped him out.

As he left the bar, closing the door behind him, Rook decided to stop by the church, if anyone was still around it would be Jerome, he always kept his doors open to welcome wayward souls, perhaps Jerome could fill him on why the town wasn't opening back up, and where everyone was.

However, Rook sauntered over to the church, but before he even crossed the road, he could clearly see something was happening at the house of God, several pickup trucks were all haphazardly parked around the only intersection in the town, a very long bright red rug that stretched from the door of the church all the way to the road. A white pergola was for some reason sitting on the sidewalk, lining up with the small staircase up to the church's entrance and the rug, the pergola had silk tapestries and bouquets of flowers lovingly tied to either side, it almost looked like a wedding was going on, which greatly confused Rook, not only did it make no sense to get married during the fight against the cult, but the town was in a state of panic hours ago.

But as he suspiciously drew closer to the church, his blood ran cold for the second time, he could see, clear as day, there was something, much, much sinister was going on; two dozen birds were dead, pinned around the sides of the front entrance of the church by a steel rod right through their tiny torsos, the little blood coming out of them painted the area around them red.

"Oh God" Rook muttered to himself in horror, mouth agape.

Something awful happened while he was gone.

As much as Rook wanted to go back the way he came and

He needed to investigate, steeling himself, Rook apprehensively shuffled up to the church and slowly worked his way up the path to the front door, once he reached the front door, Rook stood there motionless for a few seconds, he didn't really know what to do, he didn't have a gun, but then again the town wasn't on fire or bodies in the street so whatever happened must have passed.

But still Rook wished to handle his investigation with an air of caution.

He grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed the door open, as he slowly pushed open the door, the door suddenly pulled back, revealing two figures on the other side, Rook looked up hoping to God it to be Jerome, telling him about something awful that happened while he was gone, but to his horror, he came face to face, with two mean looking peggies stared back at him.

Seeing the two peggies made Rook freeze in fear, it was almost like a dream how surreal it was to see the enemy in town, he didn't think them or John had the balls to make another move on the town, before Rook could react to the foes before him, one of the peggies, reared back before slamming the butt of his rifle into his face, causing Rook to recoil backward a few large steps as the hit greatly irritated the previous hit to the face, he took from Gordon, the hit and the pain it caused made his vision swim as he fought to keep consciousness, but as he stumbled back from the hit, he stumbled back farther then he should as there was a small staircase right behind him, causing him to fall backwards and tumbled down the steps with a gasp, he was completely unable to protect himself from protecting his head from the concrete steps.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a Eden's Gate flag, flying high atop the church's steeple


	41. Chapter 41

When Rook came too, he could hear preaching, not the quite slow words he would usually hear in church, but the fiery, exclamations that religious evangelists preached so passionately.

As Rook stirred he found his body was stiffer and sorer then usual, his chest was very sore and pulsed in irritation and his head pounded like a drum, he wasn't how he ended up like this, and he wasn't to happy about having to deal with it, he had woken up without being able to remember what happened more times then he wanted, it terrified him.

He brought a hand up to his face and tiredly rubbed his eyes as he groaned from the headache that was incubating in him, it didn't help that he could hear someone nearby. His vision shifted and adjusted as he blinked away the dizziness, the sunlight stinging his eyes, but it clear enough to tell he was in Jerome's church, sitting in the front row of the right side pews, he still didn't remember how he got here, which he still disliked greatly.

A figure that stood in front the church's pedestal then caught Rook's attention, his preaching gave away his presence, Rook looked at the man, squinting as his spinning vision slowed down, the person was blurry and certainly did not look like Jerome, but the more he stared, the more his vision corrected itself.

The second his vision corrected itself, Rook saw that the man was John Seed, he wore a triumphant smirk on his face as he held an Eden's Gate bible high above his head, expounding something to whoever else was in the church , but once he finished, he looked down at the Junior Deputy.

"Ah, so good of you to join us, Deputy!" John cried enthusiastically with a crooked grin on his face.

Rook gasped as he shook in fear, recoiling in his seat as the bane of the valley, John Seed stood before him, gloating and preaching about what Rook could only assume was the Project's victory over the town. Everything that happened before he got knocked out hit him like a lightning bolt, returning to town, going to the church, who greeted him at the door.

"It's been a while, hm?" He offered as he took a few steps towards Rook, holding his bible out to his side for a few seconds before a peggie emerged from Rook's peripherals.

The peggie took the bible a disappeared again out of Rook's view. Rook couldn't believe what was going on around him, how could John and a peggies infiltrate the church, it terrified to him to think what could have happened in his time unconscious. With his vision fully returned, Rook looked around to discover that the church was a mess, bullet holes and Eden's Gate graffiti lined the walls with splashes of blood here and there, some of the pews were upturned if not outright broken, the few remaining pew had peggies sitting in them, all looking at him and smiling like they knew they were gossiping about him, there had to be a dozen of them, armed and watching him.

A half dozen corpses littered the perimeter of the room, Rook recognized them all as members of town, a few he didn't really know, but most were the regulars that hung around Mary's bar.

It sickened Rook as it was very evident before they died, they were on their knees and hands on their heads; these people were executed.

"No one will be coming to your rescue, I have all your friends here, see?" John grinned, raising a hand to the left side of the room.

There Rook saw Nick, standing in front of the left row of pews, desperately staring at him, silently begging him to somehow save the day once again as he was not doing well, he was shirtless and had several bruises along his face and body, he looked especially anguished as clear as day, the word _GREED_ was crudely printed into his chest, droplets of blood sporadically dripped from the tattoo as no post work was done to keep away infection let alone and precautions before the work.

To Nick's immediate left stood Jerome, he was similarly as bad off as Nick, bruised and battered, he for some reason clung to the bible of his lord, and was shirtless but yet to be tattooed, instead a swath of skin from his left pectoral was missing, leaving a bloody gouge in it's place, and a peggie keeping a gun trained on the Pastor and Pilot.

Then a small movement in front of Rook pulled his attention to what was before him, to his surprise, Mary stood directly in front of him, she had her back pressed up against the church's wall with a hand gun held inches to her head by another peggie, Mary had also been roughed up, but clearly got it better than Nick and Jerome as she only sported a black eye and a scrap on her cheek, at least she was able to keep her shirt.

Mary and Rook looked into each others eyes, hoping one would somehow relay info that would bring solace, but all Mary could offer was a very subtle mouthing of words, her lips moved, but no sound came out, Rook could only assume she was shushing him.

He couldn't blame her for her choosing that message, death was all around them, no escape and no rescue, all they could do was submit to John's will.

He was trembling he was so afraid, and anyone who looked at him could tell, who could he not be, he could only guess at the depths on John's depravity, and by the look on the Seed's face, he was going to enjoy whatever he was going to do to the Falls End Resistance.

But underneath the terror was the all to familiar hate he had associated John with, everywhere that monster went, corpses followed, if Joseph truly was God's prophet then why would either let John run rampant, John was about to torture people in the house of God with a smile on his face, he was suppose to help save people not mutilate him, or order planes to shoot at anything that wasn't his men or tie them to the sides of a truck or order town wide executions.

How _dare _he call himself a servant of God.

Rook's hatred eventually gave way to shock, it hit him like a slap to the face. How could he just sit around and wait to die, if he was really going to die in this church, he was going to go out trying to snap John's neck.

"Ok John let's just be civil about this" Rook said trying to remain calm as he tried to slowly rise from his seat.

But was stopped halfway by a dull tugging his left wrist, Rook looked down to see his hand was handcuffed to a radiator, Rook recognized it as the radiator that heated the church, it was installed to the right side of the room, in disbelief that it was right next to him in the main isle, he looked over to where it should be, and sure enough, the peggies had ripped the ancient, rusty, radiator that looked like it was made in the fifties and dragged it next to the pew he sat in, large scuff marks trailed from the wall they got it from to Rook.

What was more he realized he was also shirtless, it scared him as he instantly but two and two together that he could have also been tattooed which terrified and infuriated him even further as this was not how he imagined getting his first tattoo, he craned his head down to stare at his bare chest and sure enough there was something imprinted on him it and was hard to make out as it was upside down, but after a few seconds, it clicked in Rook's head, John had crudely tattooed the word _WRATH_ into his torso, just as he did to Nick.

He was going to Make John pay for desecrating his, Nick's and Jerome's bodies.

Rook sat back down and looked back up at John, prepared to spit some curse at him, but John beat him to it.

"And there it is" John as smugly, tilting his head back at Rook.

"My handiwork still rings true, hide it all you want, I can still see the hate in your eyes, reminds me of my parents actually" John taunted.

"But I know what your thinking" he continued.

"It's not my best work, I admit that but I needed to be quick about it, couldn't have you waking up half way through, you'd just squirm and thrash about, I wanted to spell wrath not rat with chicken scratches on either side" John admitted.

"So, you did all this to hand out a few tattoos?" Rook growled.

"There not just tattoos, I like to think of them as tickets to a new, better life, to a world beyond this one, a paradise, Eden" John replied mystically.

"But see how messy all this turned out to be?" John asked, holding his arms out in reference to how disheveled the church had become.

"If you just come to me in the first place this all could have been avoided... But it's quite alright now that you finally decided to stop by on your own accord" John said smugly.

"And what, let you do all this to me in the safety and comfort of your creepy torture dungeon?!" Rook cried.

"Well yes there's that" John said, looking at his finely trimmed nails before approaching the Junior Deputy.

He placed a hand on his bare shoulder and leaned down to Rook slightly and spoke in a vaguely lower tone.

"But think how much fun we'd have… just you and me… all the time in the world… nothing Joseph needs to know about" he said before removing his hand and returning to his post in front of the pedestal.

"Your lovely co-worker told me so much about you, I can only imagine what kind of things you will tell me after I pushed those buttons that What's-Her-Name told me about?" John almost teased.

Rook stared at the Seed, thinking about all the things he could have done to Hudson, or if she was even alive, he couldn't imagine what kind of state she was in, it made Rook sick with anger to think she was stuck with John for weeks on end, being his personal play thing.

"Maybe your right… Maybe I should have stopped by your bunker" Rook admitted

"Now that's the spirit, in no time flat you'll be going from maybe to yes!" John almost cheered at Rook's revelation.

"I mean… I trashed your bunker the first time, so who knows what I can do it a second visit" Rook taunted.

"Of course, I should have expected as much" John sighed in disgust.

"No matter, if Mohammed won't come to the mountain the let's bring the mountain to Mohammed, let's get this atonement going hm, we got a lot of people to go through" John said before clapping his hands twice.

As soon as John clapped his hands, the three guards that kept their guns in Jerome, Nick and Mary, pushed them forward with one hand on their shoulder's, towards John.

While this happened, a single peggie approached Rook's side with a small key in hand, he approached Rook and carefully brought the key to the handcuff and unlocked the clasp. The second the cuff unlocked, the rest of the peggies in the room seemed to raise their guard, they all straightened their backs and almost raised their guns to him. Before Rook could do anything, a rough pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him to his feet and pushed him towards John, the peggie that freed him was not going to allow the Junior Deputy to try anything. But Rook had no intention of fighting back yet, he was still surrounded and had his knows how many guns on him. On his feet again, Rook took a few tentative steps towards John, his muscles ached, and his joints cracked as he did, his chest still pulsated with pen from the needle work. Then the barrel of an assault rifle painfully buried itself into his back, pushing him forward, the push was accompanied by a swear and an impatient comment to hurry up from one of the peggies behind him.

Then that same peggie placed a firm hand on Rook's shoulder to push him forward as keep him in place as Rook felt a gun press against his back, ushering him to John, pushing him in place between Nick and Mary as Jerome stood next to the Seed.

Once in place, John grabbed the back of Jerome's neck and manipulated him forward, so he stood in front of Rook.

Rook stared at the pastor anxiously as he hoped the war vet would give him some subtle code for an attack plan, But Jerome looked just as scared as everyone else.

Then John smacked the Christian bible still clutched in Jerome's hands, causing it to slam against the hardwood floor, then he smacked Eden's Gate bible into Jerome's chest, making a grunt of fear emit from the pastor as he numbly took the book and held it out to Nick, Mary and Rook with trembling hands.

"I thought a friendly face would make this easier for you" John said to the crowd before leaning in behind Jerome and spoke gently into his ear, still applying a firm grip on his neck.

"Dearly devoted" John said, intending for Jerome to repeat after him.

But Jerome was silent, even after receiving not so subtle prodding from the peggie who had a gun trained on him.

Rook wasn't sure if he was trying to add a few seconds to their lives, or just wanted to make it as difficult as possible before he met his maker.

"We are gathered hear to bear witness" John continued, growing annoyed at Jerome's lack of participation.

But still Jerome remained silent, stoically staring forward.

With a quick look to the peggie holding Jerome, John silently ordered for some more encouragement.

And that encouragement came in the form of being bashed in the back of the head with a handgun, the sudden impact caused Jerome to tumble to the floor.

"You son of a bitch!" Mary shouted as she used the heat of the moment to shrug of her capture and stepped towards John, intending to punch him in the mouth.

Rook was completely on board with Mary's plan and was about to join her in the soon to be brawl, but before he could also shrug off his capture, the peggie that held Jerome quickly stepped in and smacked her in the face with his gun, causing her to fall back, yelping in pain.

"Mary!" Rook cried as she fell to the floor.

He tried to take a step towards her to assist her, but was swiftly stopped as his capture pulled him back and similarly hit him on the back of the head, making Rook also cry out in pain as his head hung low, his head throbbing even more as the hit added to his already building head trauma, with his head hung low, he watched Jerome, who still lay sprawled on the floor, as he eventually rose he looked at the tow bibles before him, both thrown to the ground, instead of grabbing the Eden's Gate bible, he subtly pushed it away and picked up a Christian bible that lay by Rook's feet.

Then John started laughing as if the whole thing was a big joke as a peggie yanked Mary back to her feet, tears dotting her cheeks, as the pain was to much for her.

"Let's try that again, huh?" he chuckled as he grabbed Jerome by the neck again and yanked him to his feet, but this time pointed him towards Nick.

Seeing Nick get the atonement first made Rook sick, he didn't know if he could handle seeing his friend be tortured before him, but all the same, it still infuriated him that he couldn't do anything but stand by as his friends were brutalized.

"Our devoted, we are gathered here to bear witness" John growled quickly, it was clear he was done playing around despite laughing a few moments ago.

And Jerome knew too, what little time they had left before the real pain came, was gone, this time he repeated what John said.

"To those willing to atone for the sins" John went on, this time with a smirk as everything was falling into place.

And sure enough, Jerome quickly repeated what the man said.

"Will you Nick Rye, place your hand upon the word of Joseph?"

But this time halfway through Jerome's verse, Nick spoke up after being silent for so long.

"You know what, fuck this, nah, I ain't ever giving into that psychopath, fuck 'em, never liked this rich city boy since he rolled in here like he owned the place with his inbred brothers" Nick spat, almost upset at Jerome for giving in to John's commands.

The second Nick finished speaking, John shoved the pastor out of his way, nearly knocking him back to the floor, with the pastor out of the way, John stepped towards Nick, the peggies moving around the confrontation to keep their guns on everyone else, two peggies now held Nick's arms.

Rook held his breath as John got close to his friend, he was very aware of John's rage when his "religious" rituals were repeatedly stalled, a part of him expected John to outright kill Nick for his interruptions, after all, Nick wasn't the main focus of this whole thing, John wanted Rook above all else.

"And there it is" John said sinisterly, stepping into Nick's personal space.

"Just like our Deputy here, your sins always bubble to the top… thanks to your greed, you're always thinking of yourself" John said grimly.

But John's self righteous monologue was cut short as Nick spat in his face.

Rook's heart skipped a beat as Nick might as well asked to be killed, it was evident John was about to blow his top as his face twitched in several place just as he did when Rook repeatedly interrupt John's atonement process within his bunker, but this time. John just stood there, silent and motionless, his eyes screwed shut, it was clear he was disgusted and was looking for some higher power to restrain himself as his facial twitches faded with his growing anger.

Then he opened his eyes and brought a hand up to wipe the spit from his cheek with a light chuckle. He then placed both hands on Nick's shoulders.

"I will have your wife and daughter dragged through the county for their transgressions after my flock and I have had our time with them, then executed" John said sinisterly, a light smirk on his face.

As John spoke, Nick's face dropped from angry rebellion to numb horror as his face went slack, his mouth slightly agape, no man should be faced with the possibility to outlive his child.

But Rook, off to the side, fought to keep himself from trying to break from the peggie and knocking out every single one of John's teeth, it was a struggle to still himself as John hurt Jerome, but this was something different, how dare he oh so casually threaten his godchild and the woman who trusted him to care for the child if anything were to happen, Carmina was a infant for Christ sakes, she couldn't even understand what was happening around her let alone object permanence, it just proved what Rook thought of the man, when the man couldn't get his way, he could only threaten and strong-arm.

"Nick?" John called, focusing the pilot's attention.

"Yes, yes I atone" Nick nodded numbly.

"That's the spirit" John smiled, lightly tapping Nick's cheek before taking a step back.

He held out a hand to one of the peggies that held Nick and was promptly given a knife.

John looked at the mirror polish of the blade before holding it up for Nick to view with a big grin, stepping towards him again.

"Can't say I haven't thought about doing this for a long time" John taunted.

Then the two peggies that restrained Nick suddenly kicked his feet out from under him and forced him onto his back as John still menacingly stalked forward, rolling the blade in his hands.

"W-wait no, no, hol' on!" Nick begged as he struggled to break free as he squirmed uselessly on the floor, realizing the depths of what he was about to go through.

Then John loomed over him for a few seconds before straddling his prone body, inserting the knife into Nick's chest.

Mary and Rook screamed and begged for John to stop as Nick screamed in agony, they tried to throw themselves at the Seed but couldn't as they were restrained by the peggies that kept their guns on them. Rook was entirely ready to beat John's head in, he didn't care if there were guns trained on him, he needed to save his friend, Nick would do the same for him.

Then after what felt like an eternity, John finally climbed off Nick and stood back up, holding something in his hands.

"That is the power of yes!" John cried happily as he held up the object in his hands.

Rook knew exactly what it was before John stood up, but it still horrified him, nonetheless.

"The power to take away your sins, the power to set you free!" John cried happily as he held the object over his head like a prize, allowing everyone to see what he had done.

In his hands, a strip of human flesh, the section of Nick's skin that had the _GREED_ tattooed to had been cut from his body.

John's hands were slick with blood and ran down his forearm.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" John grinned as he lowered the strip of flesh and walked up to the nearest wall of the church and pinned the flesh to the wall with the knife.

Happy with his work, John casually walked over to the pedestal where a small towel waited, he scooped it up and thoroughly wiped his hands clean before tossing it back onto the pedestal.

As John cleaned himself, Rook watched Nick writhe in agony on the floor as one of Nick's restrainers sauntered up to Jerome and shove their gun to his head until John came back and grabbed the back off Jerome's neck and forced him forward again, this time, pointing him at Rook.

"Will you; Deputy Rook, place your hand upon the word of Joseph and renounce your sins and admit your transgressions?" John asked, a dark intensity in his eyes.

Rook stared at Jerome on John for a few seconds, unsure of what to actually say.

"Deputy please, say yes" Jerome begged Rook, a mumble under his breath.

"It's just one word" John said gently.

Rook stared at John, who hide behind Jerome with such vitriol, he wanted to push the pastor out of the way so he could wrap his hands around John's throat and squeeze until there was nothing left to squeeze, but yet the ever present peggies that John surrounded himself in had him and his friends at gun point, as much as he wanted to tell John no, among other things, he was going to say yes, as if John wanted to cut him up like Nick, he'd need to get really close to him, and Rook counted on it.

"Ok" Rook said quietly as he slowly extending a trembling hand.

As his hand reached for the book, Rook noticed how badly it was shaking, he also noticed that he wasn't sure if his hand was trembling from anger or fear, but he didn't care, he just wanted to get to John.

The second Rook's hand was inches from the bible, Jerome quickly opened the bible to reveal the pages inside had been hollowed out just enough to store a snub-nosed revolver rested inside.

The room almost exploded the second the revolver saw light.

One of the four peggies that held Nick down scream _gun!_ As they pushed John out of the way as Rook grabbed the gun with lightning speed and pointed it at John, but right as he pulled the trigger, a peggie grabbed the barrel of the revolver and jerked it away from John, but still the round went off, causing John to yell in pain as the bullet wasn't an entire miss, the bullet was millimeters from his skull, instead it left a groove in his hair, just above the ear, but just close enough to hurt. But before Rook could get another round off, the peggie accosting him was able to push him off balance, trying to take the gun from him.

Instead of shooting Jerome, the peggie that kept a gun on him decided to tackle him to the floor, and wrestle him into submission, but what the peggie didn't know, Jerome was an army veteran, and was dispatched quickly.

The peggie that held Mary, let go over her to assist John's exit, pushing Mary to the floor. The peggie that prevented Rook from shooting John, fought Rook for the revolver all the while, finally ripped the gun from the Junior Deputy and pointed it at him, but before the man could pull the trigger, Mary tackled him to the ground, blindsiding him, she yelled as she slammed her fists in the man's face over and over again and until he went limp.

Rook ran over to help the woman, but by the time he got effectively close the peggie was unconscious, then with aching, trembling hands, Mary ripped the revolver from the unconscious man's hand and stood up, looming over him, then she pointed the gun at the man's head and fired. The gunshot echoing throughout the church.

"Can you uh, hold this for me?" Mary asked as she offered Rook the gun, sniffling and panting, not looking at Rook.

Rook gladly took the gun from her, but before he could find out if she was alright, Nick lumbered passed them, reeling down the isle and out the front door.

"Aw shit" Rook grumbled as he broke away from Mary and chased after his wounded friend.

"Shit, be careful, Ben!" Mary cried out as she saw Rook bolt after his friend.

"Make sure the town is safe, I'll be back with Nick and John!" Rook cried over his shoulder.

"Don't do anything needlessly dangerous" Jerome's voice rang out, sounding very winded.

Rook didn't respond, he didn't because he didn't think he could heed the pastor's words, he was willing to do whatever it took to nail John to the wall.

* * *

The second Rook stepped through the open doors, he fully expected multiple peggies to be waiting for him, but thankfully no peggies appeared to be hanging around the town, instead the town was still eerily empty, be it everyone still hiding or John did something nefarious to them. Not only that but Rook hazily remembered there being several trucks parked haphazardly in the intersection, but now there were only three and Nick was at one of the three trucks, yanking on doors, trying to open them, to no avail.

"Dude what are you doing?" Rook cried as he jumped down the steps and into the intersection, approaching his friend.

"We're going after him!" Nick yelled, pulling on another truck door as he pointed down the road and into the distance.

Rook followed Nick's finger down the road to see in the distance a single truck far away, moving at top speed away from town; John.

Then Rook's attention was brought back to Nick as he heard the sound of a car door opening, signaling Nick found a truck that was unlocked.

"Come on Partner, get in!" Nick cried as he hastily hobbled into the driver's seat and dug around for the spare key.

"Dude, you're not coming, get out, you can barely point a gun straight!" Rook cried.

"I ain't gonna let that son of a bitch get away!" Nick yelled back.

"That's why I'm going to get him, just hang back and let me deal with him" Rook countered.

"He's probably calling in every peggie in the valley to come carry him home, your going to need all the hep you can get" Nick yelled, stopping his search to look at his friend.

Rook hesitated when he met Nick's gaze, he could see a all to familiar fire burning in Nick's eyes, it felt like he was looking into Jess's eyes with all the hate and anger brewing in the pilot, a anger Rook did not want to push against, he was also not in the best of moods. But bringing Nick along could be to dangerous, he knew Nick and a grudge on John, but the flaying of skin made everything very personal, that wasn't the kind of head space he needed for what was to come. But he did have a point, John was probably yelling for every available peggie as they stood around arguing.

Rook stared at his friend for a few seconds, frantically weighing the pros and cons of bringing him along before making a decision. As much as he wanted for Nick to sit this one out, he knew arguing with the man would get them nowhere, both of their angers would get the best of them.

"Alright, let's go" Rook ordered sternly, before hurrying around the truck and climbed into the passenger seat that Nick quickly unlocked.

"Glad you're finally making some fucking sense, Partner!" Nick replied irritably as he found the key hidden under the floor mat and started up the truck.

"Just drive" Rook ordered as soon as he got comfortable in his seat

Without another word, Nick stomped down on the gas peddle as hard as he could, the truck shooting down the road at remarkable speed, far more then what Rook would seem safe in a normal situation. Thankfully the road both trucks stormed down, was a long stretch of asphalt with no turns, just what both drivers needed to gain even more speed. As the gap between the two trucks grew progressively small, the chase seemed to almost go on for hours, in that time, Rook regarded his friend again, to make sure he was still in shape to do whatever he would have to do to take down John, he looked well enough, his anger seemed to cool off but his chest was another story.

Nick's elevated heart rate made the large wound continue to bleed, and still looked raw and searing, the exposed muscle still looked very painful, even just to move around. It made Rook think of his own chest and how it was annoyingly sore, he looked down at his own bare chest, the upside-down wrath staring up at him, when Nick screamed as he had the flesh cut from his body, it sounded like he was screaming and wailing as loud as he could, that screaming wailing man could have very easily been him. Rook shuttered push down the bile at the thought of being flayed, it made him bring a hand to his own chest, lightly touching the edge of the W in Wrath, but even his light touch sent bolts of pain and aching shot through his pectorals, causing him to loudly wince.

"Fuckin' hurts right?" Nick spoke up gruffy, noticing his friend eyeing him.

"Uh yeah, my chest hasn't stopped throbbing since I woke up" Rook admitted.

"Yeah man that was crazy, when they hauled you into the church and sat you down in the seat I shat my pants, I thought they killed you and were dumping you there so we could see" Nick said curtly.

"Shit man, that must have been crazy, hell all day everyday is crazy" Rook shrugged.

Nick didn't respond, instead he was silent for a few seconds before he sighed deeply before speaking again.

"Sorry for freaking out at you dude, I just really, really wanna get this fucker, he hurt so many of our neighbors and no way in fuck will I let him go after threatening my family like that, this is the closest we'll probably get" Nick apologized grimly.

Rook could tell Nick was still angry, he was too, but still the pilot tried to make up for his earlier mistakes, and that was good enough for him.

"Don't worry man, things got pretty heated back in the church" Rook replied.

"Yeah" Nick muttered to himself.

By now Nick and Rook had miraculously caught up to John, the two trucks were thirty feet from each other.

"Ok, you ready to do your thing" Nick offered.

"Ready as I'll ever be" Rook muttered as he anxiously spun his revolver's cylinder.

"Hey, check the glove box for any ammo" Nick offered, pointing at said compartment.

Rook wordlessly reached forward and opened the compartment in front of him and sure enough, a simple pistol rested in the small compartment, one full clip next to it.

"Now that's what I'm talking about, fuckin' rednecks and their guns" Nick laughed.

"Hallelujah" Rook muttered to himself as he took the contents and tucked them into his person.

"Ok, now that you got what you need, get ready, Dude" Nick said as he got in line with the truck ahead of them.

Ready to go, Rook lowered his window and carefully leaned his body out so he could get a better shot, but as soon as he leaned out, the sharp, cold wind that blew from the high speeds greatly stung his non-consensual tattoo.

"Get ready!" Nick shouted as he matched his speed with the truck.

"Keep the truck steady!" Rook cried, trying to focus on the truck in front of them and not the pain in his chest.

"Just shoot!" Nick retorted.

Rook grumbled something under his breathe about Nick's patience as he leveled his gun, aiming for where the head should be, then fired twice, sending the shots right through the rear windshield.

The truck swerved as the bullets penetrated the rear windshield, it was clear the driver was fine as the truck didn't immediately fly off the road, instead an arm wielding a gun stuck out the passenger window and fired back a few times.

"Aw shit, God dammit!" Rook swore as he retreated back into the safety of the cabin.

"Come on man, you got this" Nick pressured him.

"Yeah, yeah" Rook waved off as he waited for the shooter to retract into their vehicle.

As he waited, he watched the shooter, or as much of the shooter he could see, which was just an arm, the arm and a familiar blue fabric that was their shirt sleeve, then, it clicked on Rook's mind. It was John shooting at them.

"That's John shooting at us" Rook grumbled.

"Then shoot that fucker a few times before the driver" Nick spat.

As much as Rook wanted to do so, John wasn't giving him an opportunity to do so, John refused to retract his shooting arm back into the vehicle, he just waited for Rook to poke his head out, he must have known who was tailing him, sick of playing the waiting game, Rook carefully poked his gun out the side of the truck, trying his best to freeball his next shot, but when he pulled the trigger again but the gun clicked empty, with a tired groan, Rook retracted and tossed the revolver into the back seats as it was now useless, and took the handgun off his person and resumed his partial aiming, putting two more bullets into the back of the truck.

"Come on man, you got this!" Nick said, sounding more annoyed then he should.

"You wanna trade jobs!?" Rook retorted back sarcastically.

Nick didn't respond, just grunted.

Rook continued to watch John's arm, he didn't know how, but John had contorted himself so he could shoot back without having to look out the window, that would have to take a lot of faith in your skills, but thinking that made Rook realize something, he wasn't fighting a peggie or even someone who was proficient with a gun, it was John, he was a yes man, a talker, a charmer, not a marksman.

"Screw it" Rook swore as he fully leaned out the window to get a bead on John's arm.

With the smoothness of someone who had done it thousands of times prior, Rook fluidly leaned out the window and fired once, sending the piece of metal into John's forearm, causing John to presumably yell as his arm to spasm as blood shot out of the new wound as he quickly retreated his arm back into the truck, surprisingly he did not drop his gun as he did.

"Take that you yes sayin' son of a bitch!" Nick shouted as he saw John get injured.

Rook couldn't help but silently agree, he knew he shouldn't've as he needed to be the example the county needed, but he also wished he could see John react to getting shot.

With John out of the way, Rook began shooting at the driver again, who in turn began swerving to protect themselves and John, after a few more shots, Nick spoke up again.

"Hey man, shoot the tires" Nick proffered.

"Now that's not a bad idea" Rook replied as he examined the truck's tires.

Much unlike the Revelator, the tire was unobstructed, and now that Rook stopped shooting so did the swerving, making lining up the shot easy, it let Rook take his time lining up the shot, then once he was comfortable, he fired, the bullet finding it's way into the tire, exploding it and flat-lining almost instantly.

As soon as the tire popped the truck began to swerve all over the road, the driver trying to find their equilibrium again, but doing such became harder and harder as the swerving became more and more severe, far to much to control at such a high speed, with each serve, the truck got closer and closer to the edge of the road until the vehicle finally veered off the road and into the forest that lined the side of the road, colliding head on with a tree, a cacophonous sound reverberating through the area.

"Fuck yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Nick cried excitedly as he pointed at the crashed truck, slowing the truck down.

"Let's not celebrate just yet, we don't know we'll walk into" Rook stated as Nick brought the truck to a stop, meters from the crashed one.

"No way man, John's fucked up after that, we got 'em!" Nick sneered.

"Please, let's just take this slow" Rook almost begged as the two men exited the truck.

"Ok, ok, fine, you can do your cop thing, just be quick" Nick sighed in anger.

Somewhat satisfied with his friend's response, Rook silently nodded before warily approaching the ruined truck, no life stirring inside, handgun clutched tightly in his hand and Nick close behind.

Rook and Nick slowly approached the driver's side of the crashed truck, fully ready to shoot the driver in the head and John in the knees, but as Rook got close enough to investigate, he saw on what was left of the truck's hood that wasn't wrapped around the tree was the driver, clearly dead, he didn't have his seat-belt on, and the crash sent him through the windshield, his body laid across the hood of the vehicle, but the passenger seat was another story; the passenger door was wide open, a bloody hand-print stained the door handle, dashboard and seat-belt plug, Rook looked up from the truck to see a few nearby trees, in line with the passenger seat to see a few bloody smears on the bark, going deeper into the woods.

"God, fuck!" Nick yelled in anger, kicking the side of the truck.

"Come on, calm down!" Rook ordered angrily.

"How the fuck can I calm down, this is serious shit!" Nick argued.

"And we'll deal with it together!" Rook countered.

"Then let's go!" Nick yelled, throwing his arms in the direction John ran off in.

"I can't have you running into a firefight like this, your going to get shot, you need to calm your shit first!" Rook ordered.

"Motherfucker do you have any idea where we are?!" Nick yelled, bringing his balled fists close to his chest.

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" Rook yelled, exasperated and tired of dealing with Nick's out of character demeanor.

"Not only are we near that fucking ranch but we're near my house!"

"Wait seriously?" Rook questioned, starting to understand Nick's position on the matter.

"My house is that way!" Nick yelled, pointing in the direction John presumably ran off in.

Rook thought about everything that could imply; not only could John lock himself away in his ranch and call for his planes, but if he so wanted he could very well stop by Nick's house and give Kim and Carmina a visit, and that was something neither Junior Deputy or Pilot could allow.

Before Rook could say anything, Nick leaned over what was left of the hood and ripped the handgun from the dead peggie's holster and briefly checked the clip count before reinserting it back into the gun.

"C'mon, we're wasting time we need to get to that son of a bitch before he gets away!" Nick cried angrily before storming off into the woods, disappearing into the thicket.

Rook called for his to come back, calling him irrational and needed to be sensible if he wished to be effective, but unsurprisingly Nick offered no response, making Rook growl in frustration as he had a feeling something like this would happen. Rook wanted to climb back into the truck and continue to drive around the forest and cut John off from either building, but he could hear something in the distance, and it sounded dangerously like an approaching aircraft, which made Rook's skin crawl, a airplane was the last thing he needed to deal with.

So instead of doing what was probably the better idea, Rook roughly ran a hand through his hear before charging into the woods after his friend.

* * *

The forest appeared to be so much bigger than what it looked like from the outside, it seemed so much more claustrophobic to a degree, there was thousands of trees all around him, all trees John could hide behind. It made Rook fight not to call out his friend's name as he didn't want to give away his position, instead he hurried forward through the forest, somehow, Nick had disappeared from view, he had a half minute lead and clearly used that time wisely to haul ass towards his house. If Rook wanted to catch up to his irrational friend or the fleeing cultist lieutenant, he needed to move just as fast as them, forcing him to break out into an intermediate jog, trying his best to keep his senses on high alert to keep himself from walking into a waiting John. After a few minutes of jogging, Rook went, he couldn't help but remember the last time he was in what he thought was this very forest was when he and Hurk chased a peggie before getting sidetracked by a wolf or something along those lines. He almost missed that time in his life, things were so much simpler back then, Jess's attitude towards him made sense, John wasn't firing in all cylinders to see him in his clutches, a hell of a lot more people were still alive, his head didn't feel the way it did all the time.

But before he could continue down that train of thought, five gunshots rang out through the forest, causing a small cluster of birds to take flight from the sudden noise.

The gunshots made Rook freeze in place so he could catch his breath and strain his ears for anything that would give away the location of either Seed or Rye but all he could hear was the distant possible airplane and his heart beating in his ears, giving him nothing to work with. But what he did know was by the way the gunshots echoed off the trees, it sounded like they were originating from two different points; Nick and John were having an exchange somewhere ahead of him, the distance was beyond him.

Rook cleared even more distance through the woods, with no sign of his friend, enemy or the other side of the woods, he wasn't sure how far away Nick's house or the ranch was, and he wasn't sure if that was good or not, then Nick's voice rang out once more.

"Fuck, he's over here, Ben!" Nick's voice echoed in the distance before a few more gunshots followed after.

"God dammit!" Rook cursed as he tried to chase down the source of Nick's voice, if he doesn't hurry, he to would be counted among the dead.

But as he ran further and further into the seemingly endless forest, he felt like he was losing ground, Nick was somehow clearing more distance then him, but that must have meant John was as well.

Completely out of breath, Rook let out a groan of frustration as he stopped to catch his breath and leaned up against a nearby tree, it pissed him off he was struggling to keep pace, Nick's mindset had been set to protecting his family, and he wasn't going to stop until John was dead, as much as he to wanted John taken care of, he needed to regroup with Nick and figure something out, he didn't care what, he just wanted to find his friend within the labyrinth of trees, as much as enjoyed John not knowing where he was, Rook threw caution to the wind and bellowed for his friend.

"Nick, where are you!?" Rook yelled as he cupped his mouth with his hands.

He scanned the endless treeline as he waited in silence for his friend to call back, without mistaking him for John, he told himself he would only wait for a few seconds, but those few seconds felt like minutes as Rook instincts screamed for him to move again as staying still was death, but with the snapping of a twig far away, Rook snapped to attention, ready to shot, but found that the pilot appeared in the distance, one hundred feet away at Rook's one o'clock and body glistening with sweat.

He stared down at Rook for a few seconds, ready to say something before something in the corner of his eye drew his attention.

"There he is!" Nick yelled as he pointed his gun and fired across Rook's vision before running off into the distance again.

Rook flinched as the gunshot rang out, he wasn't expecting Nick to be so brazen despite his earlier attitude, instead of yelling at Nick, who disappeared again, he turned to his eleven o'clock, a flash a blue streaked between two trees in the corner of his eye; John.

"Get back here!" Rook yelled as he impulsively shot a round into one of the trees where he'd seen the Seed.

"Why must you make everything so difficult, why can't you just say yes, one time?!" John yelled angrily as Rook watched the man sporadically bobbed and weaved through the endless trees.

Rook offered no reply as he resumed the chase again, sprinting after John, hoping Nick would head him off.

Thankfully, by now the trees became more and more spaced out, perhaps hinting that they were almost out of the forest, not only that but with the thinning of trees, every few seconds, Rook could see John running through the trees and Nick nowhere to be seen.

Feeling he was getting closer to the Seed, he raised his gun to the fleeing man and fired his gun, trying to hit the man in the legs, but both men running and Rook's heavy breathing threw off his aim, sending his bullets into nearby trees, frustrating him.

"You got nowhere to run!" Rook shouted as he gave up on shooting until he got closer.

But all John offered back was swearing and insults as he ran, but not before hastily looking back to fire off a few half-aimed shots, all missing by feet.

But as Rook ran, he could tell he was closing the distance from John as Rook had stopped to catch his breath while John did not. He hoped to hang on the edge of John's radar, close enough to make him empty his clip, but not close enough to make a hit, then he could move in for the arrest, he didn't have any handcuffs but he was more then willing to make it happen, and by the way he slowly lined himself behind John despite being almost fifty feet apart as the two men ran.

"Surrender and you won't be harmed!" Rook shouted.

"I will not allow you to ruin our chances of entering the Gates of Eden!" John screamed back as he twisted himself to fire off three half-aimed shots again.

The first bullet was nowhere near his target, disappearing into the forest, the second shot, was reasonably close, a few feet off, but after the third shot, Rook hissed in pain as he felt a line of fire shoot across his lower right thigh, forcing himself to come to a complete stop, almost falling face first into the dirt.

His leg burned like dull flame, shooting pain up and down his leg, making him grab a hold of a low hanging branch nearby for support and instinctively he brought a hand to the afflicted spot only to make it hurt more, he retracted his hand to see there was a light streak of blood across it, he didn't feel any hot metal in his leg and by the way the blood stained his hand, it was only a graze, enough to draw a fair amount of blood.

"Son of a bitch" Rook growled to himself as he looked at the blood that stained his hand.

John had effectively put a cap on how fast he could move now, it was obvious running was going suck, it hurt like hell to move that leg, but not as much as touching his chest, and that had to mean maybe his leg wasn't that bad. But Nick on the other hand had once again run ahead of him, and now with his wounded leg, he wasn't going to catch up until they stopped, all he could do was keep chugging alone until something happened.

Regardless of how much pain he felt, Rook pushed himself forward again, letting out a few grunts as he put weight on his bad leg, forcing himself into a slow jog, he could only hope Nick wouldn't do anything stupid until he caught up, but the anguish in his leg suggesting otherwise, after a few more minutes of jogging, his leg got so bad the only way he could keep himself going, was to think how great everything will be once he finally took out John and have him transferred to the jail in the Henbane River.

He would be a hero.

As Rook fantasized on how great it would be to take down the biggest threat in the whole valley, he failed to notice that the trees were slowly clearing as he had finally broken through the forest and made it to the other side, making him stumble and falter over the bushes and other overgrowth that lined the forest's edges, almost falling into the dirt in mud again, and barely recovered.

As he found his balance again and looked up at his new terrain, praying to God it wasn't John's ranch as Nick and John _had_ to have come through here.

But instead of the ranch, a few hundred feet away from him was Rye and Son's Aviation.

Then Rook cursed loudly.

* * *

Rook warily crossed the large expanse that was the Rye residence front yard, he couldn't hear anything, not even the distant plane, which unnerved him as he had noting to go on, but that quickly changed as when he got closer to the house, to his horror he discovered the front door was wide open and he could hear both Kim and Carmina wailing inside which made a very chilling shiver run down his spine. As much as he wanted to rush in and help them, he knew he needed to take it slow in case it was a trap for him.

He moved a lot slower than he would have liked due to his leg, but once he got to the front porch. He carefully ascended the porch steps, the steps creaked as he went and trigger finger twitching ever so slightly, and once he made it to the open door, listening to Kim and Carmina wailing, rook took a deep unsteady breath and put his best leg forward, stepping through the yawning door.

He didn't have to venture to far inside to find Nick standing in the main hall of the house, facing into the living room, he was as motionless as a statute and his face the very meaning of the word carved into the junior Deputy's chest. None of this inspired anything good within Rook, instead of questioning Nick, Rook turned his attention to what he was looking at in the next room over; living room, expecting the worst.

And the worst he did find; John stood in the center of the living room, in between the couch and coffee table, Kim in his grip; in a state of extreme panic, an arm wrapped around her neck and a gun inches from her skull, in her arms was a wailing Carmina. As soon as Rook stepped into John's line of sight, he barked another order at him.

"Not another step closer, Deputy!" John shouted.

"Let her go you fucking monster!" Nick roared as he reaffirmed his gun at John.

Rook didn't move or say anything as the gears in his mind spun like the wheels on a F1 Racer, he never been in a hostage situation before, only simulated training procedures, the slightest misstep would have an infant or woman murdered before his eyes.

"Let her go, John!" Rook yelled as he raised his gun to get a bead on John, deciding to stick to what he was taught for now.

But John oddly ignored Rook's order, instead he maneuvered Kim around his person as Nick tried to get a line on him, making Kim obscure his shot, but did not acknowledge Rook's gun on him.

"I know your no going to shoot me Deputy, so put down your gun and let me be on my way!" John yelled as he pushed the gun into Kim's head.

"Oh, don't you worry you son of a bitch, I will!" Nick yelled back.

Kim continued to wail, it was clear she wasn't going to stop anytime soon, how could she, and it didn't help she was seeing her husband missing a chunk of his chest and his close friend with a garish tattoo that symbolized anger incarnate.

"You know I highly doubt that, Hay Seed!" John snarled angrily.

As John insulted and taunted Nick, Rook could see John's gun arm shaking, it was the arm he shot in the forest, the blood from his forearm stood out like a light in the dark as the crimson blood seeped into his silk blue shirt, a few drops dripped onto Kim's shoulder.

"You've been wrong before, don't push your luck!" Rook yelled.

"You're not going to harm me!" John spat almost sounded disgusted with Rook's statement.

"Why are you so sure that I'm not going to shoot you?" Rook asked, keeping his gun pointed at John face.

"I know your not going to shoot me because I know just what kind of man you are, I squeezed your bitch co-worker for every little thing about you and she sang, you're a _pussy_! You're a _coward_! You're trying to arrest me for fuck sakes, why would anyone let someone like me live when they could just kill me!" John screamed.

Something about the way John talked about Hudson rubbed Rook wrong, it still made him sick to his stomach that she was alone with John for weeks on end, who knows what state she was in right now.

"Now John listen, I really, really don't want to hurt you, but if you don't surrender, I'm going to blow out your kneecaps" Rook threatened as he wrestled his emotions back into place.

"You're not going to shoot me, you said so yourself so many times, you want to arrest me, so just put the gun down and go the fuck home!" John screamed as he tossed Kim around in his grip, Kim doing her best too hold onto her child.

"Hurt either of my girls and there will be nothing to arrest, you hear my you sick fuck, I'll make you wish you were never born!" Nick screamed angrily.

But John refused to acknowledge Nick and continued his dialogue with Rook.

"You should be the one who should surrenders Deputy, you have nowhere to go, I told Joseph everything about you, I told Jacob, I told that cunt; Faith, no matter what happens after today, you're fucked! You can't stop us, we have won just make it easy on yourself!" John screamed defiantly.

"That's not my problem right now, you are!" Rook yelled back.

"NO! _our_ problem is we are trying to make a safe haven for the end of the goddamn world but all we need to finish is a dumbshit rookie police officer who is so dead set on tearing everything down like a toddler with his wooden block tower, for fuck sake's Benjamin, the end is coming, there is nothing you can do about it except to let me help you, help the project!" John screeched righteously as he kept getting angrier.

"There is nothing coming, your just another person who had the wool over your eyes, John your parent's hurt you, and you blamed yourself, I know that, and Joseph offered you a way to make you feel that what your parents did to you was wrong, you just wanted to feel like you belong, but you are still doing the wrong thing… there is no way out of this, just let Kim go and surrender peacefully!" Rook yelled back, finding his authoritative voice.

John stared at Rook for a few seconds in silent hatred before his eyelid spasmed and his shaking arm seemed to shake just a little more.

"_Fuck you! _you don't know anything about me, I don't need anybody to justify how I feel, I will do as I please _and _I will see Eden with my brothers, I don't have to take this from a middle of nowhere asshole who can't do his fucking job, stop trying to talk me down, its not going to work, so let me go Deputy!" John screamed as he removed the gun from Kim's head and pointed it at Rook.

Rook wanted to keep his cool, but John was making it very hard to maintain his composure, he was acting like cornered rat, lashing out recklessly in hopes of escaping, and it didn't help that Nick wasn't help aside from baseless threats. Rook swallowed the rising hate for the Seed and continued trying to save Nick's family.

"Maybe your right, I don't know you" Rook spat irritably.

"But what I do is your not getting out of here, Joseph isn't going to happy if something happens to you, think about it will reflect on your little project, I hear Joseph replaces Faith every now and again, will he do the same for you? How about you just chill the shit out!?" Rook yelled angrily.

Then John let out a small roar of frustrated rage, tired of Rook's stubbornness.

"If you don't cooperate you will die in the end with the rest of this disgusting country pigs, do I have to kill this fucking woman and her child to take your fucking blinders off so you can see the bigger picture?!" John yelled as he pulled Kim close to him again, this time holding the barrel inches from Carmina's skull.

Kim sobbed and begged John not to do it, to afraid to move lest she lose her child right then and there, Nick roared with anger once more but still stayed where he was, trying to get a clean shot on the man.

As much as Rook wanted to shoot the Seed, he knew he shouldn't, but watching John threaten Carmina and Kim for what felt like the twentieth time this afternoon, it did something to him, he was sure if it was blood loss from his leg, taking a bad hit to the head a little while ago or just his anger, but his head spun and his vision swam, a deep hate boiled in his core. That was _his_ goddaughter that was being held hostage, her infant life was going to end because of his actions, just like Mary, Nick and Jerome were back in the church, just like the people trapped on the Revelator, just like every maimed, mutilated body left as a warning.

"For Christ sakes look at yourself, your threatening to kill a baby, _a baby, _what would Joseph say if he could see you know,this isn't what God want's, this is what you want, you just take and take, your so desperate to find out about other people's sins, but what about yours, what have you done? I know firsthand, I've seen time and time again, the disgusting shit that lurks under that fake smile of yours, your using something that isn't coming to manipulate the weak for your own sick desires, the collapse is not coming, it never will!" Rook vehemently admonished the man, almost screaming at John like he was screaming at them.

John was silent for a few seconds as again as he twitched and spasmed again, this time it was much more aggressive, it was like his whole body was shuttering, it was very clear John was being pushed to his limits, his time in high society had protected him from such confrontations and had no experience dealing with those as stubborn as him besides getting angrier and angrier, but just like everyone, John could only take so much.

And then John snapped.

"Fuck _this_! And fuck _you_! I'm so sick of having to drag you, kicking and screaming to Joseph, I'm done with you and everything you have done to me, I'm done with Joseph pining after you like an infatuated schoolgirl!" John screamed.

As soon as John finished speaking, he shoved Kim to his side so he could get a better aim on Rook to make up for his shaking, painful arm, intent on putting another piece of lead into him, but this time in his head, and then he pulled the trigger.

But it was to late for him, before he pulled the trigger, a single shot rang out.

Then a cold, painful feel quickly spread through his chest, causing his aim to falter and his shot flew right over Rook's shoulder.

John inhaled sharply in fear as he found Rook still stood, defiant as ever, but what but a bigger fear into him was when he inhaled, he could no pull in air, scared, John pushed Kim away from himself and looked down at his freezing, prickly chest as and a pool of blood began to form in center of his chest, he looked at it with such shock on his face as if he still couldn't believe what had happened, his body shuttered as he let out a few weak coughs, splashing a bit of blood on his bottom lip and chin, his legs shaking as his arms drooped, gun falling from his hand and clattered to the floor. He looked back at Rook as his ragged, pained breathing became labored and hoarse as his body was shutting down. Nick and Rook could see the fear in John's eyes, it was clear he was terrified of what was happening to him.

And with cracked, failing voice, John spoke one last time.

"But what if your wrong?"

Then John fell backwards, collapsing into the table, shattering it; dead.

Then Kim shrieked once more.

Nick suddenly swooped in, wrapping his arms around his wife and child, ushering them away from the corpse that was leaking onto the carpet and what was left of the table.

"Nick!? What the fuck happened to you?!" Kim wailed as she wrapped an arm around her husband, pulling him close.

"Everything is ok now, I'm ok, Ben saved us, we're ok, everything is going to be ok" Nick repeated as he tried to calm his family.

As Nick tended to his family, Rook remained motionless, he stared down at John's corpse, he knew he should feel bad for not arresting a key player in the cult's operations, but he couldn't bring himself to care, hate pumped through his veins as he had no sympathy for the man, he was a terrible, terrible monster that masqueraded as a man, if he didn't kill John, then he would have been transferred to the Henbane prison where someone who doesn't care for what Rook wants and kill the Seed themselves, besides, why waste the resources keeping him alive until they got to Joseph.

Then Nick entered his vision, he walked right up to John and crouched over his body and began patting him down, it looked like he was pillaging the body.

"What are you doing?" Rook asked grimly.

But Nick didn't respond, instead he yanked john's necklace off. Once he did, he stood back up, facing Rook, holding up what he had taken from the dead man, a small metal key.

"See this, this is the most important fuckin' thing in the whole valley, this is the key to his bunker, gate thing" Nick explained.

"Holy shit" Rook gasped.

With that, all the people trapped in John's bunker and Hudson could be rescued and the cult's foothold in the valley would be terminated.

"Dude we got to get that thing back to Falls End, and to make sure everyone is alright back there" Rook declared

"But I think we should get out of here, all of us, I don't what Kim and Mina around the body and we need some fuckin' medical attention" Nick sighed tiredly.

To Rook, thought of medical attention felt like a discovering a river in the middle of the desert, his body ached and whined, his whole day had been one of the most chaotic, death defying days of his life, and he was ready to take the rest of the day off, if he didn't his leaking leg would make him.

"Uh… yeah, sounds good to me man, I think I'm going to pass out when the adrenaline wears off" Rook muttered.

"Yeah I think me too" Nick said as he stepped away from John and held his family again, pocketing the bunker key.

"Come on everyone, let's get the fuck out of here" Nick said.

Rook silently agreed as he looked down at the now dead John and the pooling blood that stained Nick's floor, a strange emotion ignited within him that he just couldn't explain, so right before he turned to leave with the Rye's, he let out a single laugh over John's fate.


	42. Chapter 42

As the sun set over the county, the day changed from day to night, so too did the state of the valley.

The news of John Seed's death spread fast, spreading across all corners of the Holland Valley, stirring all of the valley's residents from their hiding holes and converged to Falls End only to hear a triumphant tale from Nick Rye about how the once courageous but now sunken looking, Junior Deputy; Benjamin Rook, repealed John and his pack of thugs from town and chased them from the church and hunted them all the way to the Rye residence where the Junior Deputy ended the Seed as he threatened the life of Kim Rye and her infant child. After the initial wave of awe and praise from the town, Nick promptly gave the key to John's bunker to Jerome, before submitting himself to the small group of self proclaimed medics that followed around, hoping to take a look at his missing flesh on his wife's behest. Jerome was especially eager to get the key as he fully intended to liberate the innocent trapped within. Rook was also eager to join as he wished to save his co-worker; Hudson but was quickly denied by everyone who heard is claim as the incision in his leg made it to dangerous to partake in any more fighting. Rook desperately wished to change their minds but Mary spearheaded the movement to keep him in Falls End for the time being so he and Nick could have their respective injuries treated, even before arguing with the woman, Rook secretly knew he wasn't going anywhere, his body and more so his leg was starting to protest as it moved, he had been through so much on the last few hours, the human body can only take so much. Willingly or unwillingly, he was benched for the time being, Rook watched Jerome, bunker key in hand, gather up all the able-bodied men and woman who was willing to give one final fuck you to John and to truly free the land from Joseph's grasp.

From there, Jerome led the charge across the valley with everyone he had recruited and marched right up to the bunker and opened the bulkhead. What little amount of the peggies inside surrendered as soon as the door opened, be it they heard John had been murdered and there was no protocol if anything was to happen to him, much less issue a counter attack, or they realized now with the bunker door open, they were nothing more then fish in a barrel at that point. But not all peggies surrendered so easily, some tried to fight back only to be quickly cut down, putting a fear in the rest. The resistance scoured every room of the bunker, taking back every piece of food, clothing and firearm they came across, but they're real goal was the people John had locked up in the deepest parts of the bunker.

They found a few dozen terrified and injured people locked in large cell rooms, all left in various stages of his cult initiation process, some as lively as ever while others were on the brink of death as non-consensual tattoos and other open wounds were festering and infections were building. Disgusted with their treatment, Jerome quickly had the civilians evacuated and taken to a safe place to be treated, but before they began tearing down what John had built, Jerome found a particularly sinister section of John's private areas where he found tucked away in a corner, a very damaged Josephine Hudson that Rook spoke so highly.

With the bunker now devoid of all life and everyone outside, Jerome decided not to execute their prisoners of war due to a mixture of Rook's belief in passivity over aggression and he did not wish to sink as low as the peggies when it came down to morals, instead he ordered the cultists to flee the valley, to leave and never return under the threat of being shot on sight. Before the resistance left the cultist hotspot, they set all the bunkers mechanical functions to the highest setting in hopes of overloading the central consoles that commanded the entire complex, until they could not bear the stress any further instigating a meltdown in the bunker's systems to the point they would explode and ignite each other, almost turning the bunker into a underground crater.

Once the deed was done and everyone returned to town safely, it was quickly decided a celebration for the liberation of the Holland Valley and for the hero that saved it was required, and there was only one place that could hold so many partygoers in one place: The Seed Ranch.

Of course, the ranch was deserted as the remaining peggies that polluted the region had mysteriously vanished and the ranch's interior was swiftly into party mode with full intention to properly arm it the next day. And as the moon rose, the celebration commenced.

* * *

As the night went on and the party raged on, music boomed as tables were used for beer pong, portraits of the Seed family were used as a dart board, minor trinkets and valuables were being looted for one reason or another, those who weren't involved with such activities formed together in big groups all around the room, socializing, laughing and drinking. Hurk and Sharky were trying to impress the woman around them by drinking large amounts and telling stories how they courageously followed Rook into certain death time and time again, Nick watching the spectacle from a distance, water bottle in hand as the medicine in his body disallowed him to consume alcohol, a thick pad of gauze was outlined under his shirt from how thick the gauze was, Adelaide was nowhere to be seen.

But Rook didn't partake in any of this, instead he sat by a window that overlooked the front yard of the ranch, waiting for the last pickup truck to pull into the impromptu parking lot that littered the front lawn, he just couldn't bring himself to join his friends in the celebration, he just wanted to wait for Hudson to appear after being looked at by the doctors, he wasn't entirely sure why, but he was drinking more, but he couldn't help it, perhaps it was the rising dread at the impending arrival of Hudson, he was scared of what condition she was in if she was still alive and what she might say to him if she was. It felt like his head wasn't on right, or maybe it was because he was supposed to arrest John not kill him, now that he had calmed down, in a way, it tore him up instead, John got the easy way out, he should have received being confined to small concrete room for the rest of his life, he said he'd do it for weeks on end, and now he never could.

The constant pats on the backs and other congratulatory hellos from dozens of strangers didn't make him feel any better, he was so unused to such attention; it was really weird to be congratulated so thoroughly for killing a man, it was so discombobulating he was seventy-two percent sure all compliments Mary was giving him were all thinly veiled flirtations, if anything, all the attention made him feel suffocated, pushing him to wait by the window for his co-worker.

As he was going to pester Mary again about how long it would take Hudson to get to the ranch, two beams of light cut through the night: truck headlights, Rook's breath caught in his throat as the pickup truck drew closer towards the ranch, his nervous feelings increasing. He watched the truck pull into the newly formed parking lot, it sat there for a few seconds before the headlights clicked off and a few shadowy figured exited the truck and walked across the darkened yard to the front doors.

Seeing this, Rook quickly broke away from the window and hurried to the front door, squeezed his way through the groups of people to get to the foyer, hoping to get to Hudson before she disappeared into the crowds of partygoers, as he got closer to the door, he could see the double doors swing open up through the sparse room between people, making him move faster as he feared losing Hudson to the crowds.

He pushed his way through the crowds, working his way up to the fireplace right by the front entrance, the furniture that was once surrounding the hearth were either moved to the sides of the room for the drunk to crash on or being used for beer pong and shots. By then, the large oak doors creaked open, the cool summer evening air blowing in, making a shiver run down Rook's back as he got closer to the doors to see a group a people entered the ranch, whooping and cheering that they had arrived, holding beer and other thing high over their heads, and within the group of new arrivals was a deflated and uncomfortable Josephine Hudson.

"Hey Hudson!" Rook called out, getting the woman's attention, stepping closer to her.

As Hudson took in Rook's appearance as he awkwardly approached, so to did Rook, getting closer to her allowed him to see she still wore her Deputy uniform, it was frayed and ruined with rips and tears, stained with blood and who knows what, her arms, face and other exposed skin had several bandages and gauze affixed to the flesh, bruises and cuts peaked out from the edges of the many bandages, but what disturbed Rook most of all was the look in her eye, it was like there was no emotion in her eyes, the last time they saw each other was when they were both bound to chairs in John's torture dungeon, then she was full of life albeit fear for said life but now, reuniting after apart, she did not react in anyway when she saw Rook, she seemed... Dead.

"Holy shit, Rookie, is what they saying about you true?" She asked lifelessly, as she stepped towards Rook.

"Uh yeah, I'm a real menace out there" Rook shrugged, unsure of what was being said about him anymore

"Fuck… it's always the quiet one's that surprise you, you're like a whole other person now" Hudson stated.

"Right back at you" Rook thought to himself.

Joey Hudson was a brave, confident woman who freely spoke her mind and assuredly expressed herself, but the woman that stood before Rook, was someone he didn't recognize.

"I don't know, probably drink myself unconscious for a few days" Hudson admitted.

"Yeah that's pretty cool an' all, but if you want, I'm sure everyone would appreciate another cop out there, fighting the good fight" Rook offered.

He hoped she'd take the bait as he really wanted the help and didn't want her floating around Mary's bar all day everyday.

"Yeah, I don't think so" Hudson sighed.

Rook swore mentally.

"I really don't think I'll be doing anything useful anymore" she said tiredly.

"I uh, just uh… wanted to say I'm sorry" Rook said, uncomfortably.

"For what?" Hudson asked.

"I don't know, I feel like everything that happened to you… was my fault" Rook admitted.

"I was so close to saving you when I was in his bunker, you were right there, I broke free from the chair, and I got out of there… without you" he said quietly.

Hudson watched Rook blankly for a few seconds before responding.

"It's not your fault" she said bluntly.

"Wait what?" Rook said, almost not believing her.

"Why would I expect you to save me, your just a rookie, you were working with us for a few months before we came out here, I'm mean Christ you pepper sprayed yourself in training, how could you get us out of a nuclear bunker… but then again, your clearly not just the rookie anymore… _he_ had such a hard on for you, always asking about you, _he_ was just that desperate to learn anything about you, _he_ wanted to get you that bad" Hudson said.

"Do you wanna talk about what happened down there?" Rook asked nervously.

"_He_… did things to me, things I didn't _he_ could do, _he_… knows how to pull things out of you, things you didn't know you had in you" she finished, looking down at her feet.

Rook shuttered to imagine what she could have possibly been through.

"For weeks… or months or whatever the fuck, when I was in _his _chair, _he _left one his past victims in front of me, hanging from the ceiling upside down, he uh, had a big whole was cut into his stomach and was uh… stomach cavity was cleaned out and stuffed with bliss flowers, so much that _he _was able to secure deer antlers to the… the… the smell of bliss, blood and rot… sloth" Hudson mumbled.

As she went on her speech became more slurred and incoherent, like her tongue was going numb, Rook knew he _needed_ to change the subject and get her thinking of something else.

"But uh, I'm not sure if anyone told you but you and I aren't the only ones who got from Joseph church place, Sheriff Whitehorse managed to get away clean" Rook stated.

"Oh, shit really?" Hudson asked, finding her voice showing the briefest hint of actual emotion.

"Yeah, he's taking care of everyone in a prison they fortified, but other that I know Faith as Burke somewhere and I don't know if Pratt is even alive" Rook said grimly.

"Shit" Hudson muttered.

"Pratt was kind of a douche bag, but he deserved better than what went down that night, but honestly… Fuck Burke" she sighed, looking away from Rook and into the crowds of people for a few seconds before facing him again.

"Uh yeah, damn him and all that" Rook said awkwardly.

Hudson must have picked up on that awkwardness as she looked at him for a few seconds with an odd look.

"Hey, I'm… going to talk to the Pastor, Jerome, I wanna talk to him about stuff" Hudson said, looking over to the crowd again, but this time at the pastor across the room.

As per usual he was not imbibing in the drink like everyone else, instead he was examining the room, analyzing everything John had lined the walls with and how to properly protect the building.

"Yeah sure but uh, hey… if you need to get away from it all, I have a house right behind the auto shop, you can crash there if you need to, so you don't like live at the bar" Rook offered carefully.

Hudson stared at him carefully for a few seconds before responding.

"Yeah sure… thanks, but… thanks for killing that sick fuck" Hudson responded before breaking off from Rook and headed to the pastor.

Rook stood there as Hudson walked away, it hurt to see what kind of person she had become, it made that usual ball in his stomach roll and turn over, it made his legs feel weak and shaky, it made him quickly look around the room for a place to rest as seemingly endless amounts of people mingled around the room, he stumbled towards the closest wall of the room to discover that pushed up against the side of the wall, was a couch was, completely unoccupied, a perfect place to reflect upon his feelings.

He almost collapsed onto the couch before adjusting himself into a upright position, tilting his head back against the backboard, closing his eyes and exhaled deeply, his talk with Hudson went a lot better than he expected, but he still felt terrible, Hudson was clearly heavily traumatised, she looked like a war vet he'd see on war documentaries, what was more was her soon to be scars were going to mar her body for the rest of her life.

And Rook felt it was his fault.

As Rook sat on the couch, reveling in his self doubt for what felt like a long time while music and people boomed all around him, it was like he was in his own little world, then, a voice yelled at him.

"There you fucking are, almost lost you!" the voice yelled out.

Rook didn't need to open his eyes to know who was yelling at him, he could recognize her voice anywhere, it was Jess.

Then a hand roughly grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him forward, pulling him to his feet, making him open his eyes to see Jess, pulling him upwards.

"Hey Jess, good to see you safe and sound as well" Rook replied, being used to her lack of communication skills.

Jess didn't respond with her usual snarky attitude, instead she just stared at him for a few seconds, but not at his face, but his body.

"You good?" Rook asked, watching the woman before him,

"Come on arms up" Jess demanded as she grabbed his arms and forced them upwards, so his arm stuck out from his body.

Then she began patting Rook down thoroughly, looking for something.

"Jess, what are you doing?" Rook asked, not putting his arms down until he was happy.

"It was fucking painfully watching you talking to that woman, I knew I shoulda busted that up for you" Jess said bluntly as she continued feeling him, moving to his lower torso, looking for whatever she was intent on finding.

And after a few confusing moments, satisfied or not, with her search, she finally stopped and looked up at the confused Junior Deputy for a few seconds before taking a step closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

"Uhhh, Jess, seriously, are you ok?" Rook asked again, anxious at her odd behavior.

But Jess still gave no reply, she continued to hug him for a little while longer before speaking.

"Holy shit dude, how are you not all fucked up?" She muttered.

"I don't know, maybe I'm better then you give me credit for?" Rook half guessed.

Jess made some soft hum of agreement before disengaging from the hug, as she pulled away, Rook was able to see for a split second she looked genuinely concerned for his well being before her face reset to its usual scowling, don't mess with me look.

Then she slugged Rook in the arm.

"OW, come on, what the hell?!" Rook groaned angrily as he rubbed the afflicted spot.

"Why the fuck didn't you call me, you fucking went after the John Seed and you didn't call your teammate?!" Jess scolded, her voice full of angry concern.

"How do you expect me to get your attention, you ran off to who knows where and I was knock out and stripped of all my things" Rook argued back.

Jess stared at Rook with her usual challenging glare as she looked for a counter argument but could not find one.

"Ok fine, whatever, fuck you, but fuck man, you really chase him down through a forest and shoot him? after all that talk of arresting him, you sure slapped the cuffs on him, huh?" Jess asked.

He didn't know how to feel about it let alone answer her question, she was right, he broke a month-long promise.

"Yeah I really wanted too but… I needed to save Kim and Carmina, I had to do what I had to" Rook mumbled.

"But I guess it just goes to show, you can't like just talk out all your problems out here, you needed to learn to just trust your gut and just shoot motherfuckers, you feel me?" Jess asked.

Again, Rook wasn't sure how to answer, she was right, but he didn't want to admit it as it wasn't in line with his morals, his code.

"I don't know maybe but uh, why are you here, parties aren't your thing, are you here for just me" Rook asked, unsure if he should feel flattered.

"I don't know, to loot I guess, John had some premium shit, but everyone took all the good stuff, so I guess I'll steal a few beers and make sure you're in one piece?" Jess shrugged.

"Well I'm good so, you going to keep looking for stuff to take?" Rook asked.

"Naah, I'm probably going to bail soon, I've already been hit on three times, it's getting gross in here" Jess sighed.

Hearing this, Rook felt disappointed for some reason, he didn't want Jess to leave, but then again, he wanted too.

"Hey, I think I'm going to step outside for a bit and get some air, do you uh, wanna stick around have a few drinks afterwards or whatever" Rook offered timidly.

"Yeah uh, sure, it's fucking whatever" Jess said, with an odd look about her, it was almost like she was trying to keep eye contact.

"Alright cool, I'll be right back" as he began to step away from the woman, bumping into the surrounding people.

"Don't fuckin' take to long!" Jess called out.

"I'll try" he replied, as he vanished into the crowd, feeling some anxiety slid off as he got away.

He pushed and bumped his way through the crowds of people and towards the backdoor, which was a struggle to find, but once he did find it, he slipped out into the darkness, unbeknownst to everyone else.

* * *

The once blaring music was now dulled to a muffled noise as the thick walls had decent sound proofing, leaving Rook to be serenaded by the sounds of nature: the chirping of crickets, the calling of birds and rustling tree branches. The backyard before him was an expansive one with a pristine lawn except for several clusters of large stalks of yellow plants with brick rings around the base, containing soil, on the far side of the backyard, a simple wooden fence lined the opposite end.

Wanting to get away from it all, he crossed the small field and marched to the far fence, the tall grass rubbing against his ankles. Once he made it to the fence he could clearly what lay beyond; a deep valley, the valley ran far both directions, curving around the land the ranch was built on, it was most likely the reason why the Holland Valley was named as such.

He placed his arms atop the fence and leaned on it, exhaling deeply, he wasn't sure if it was the head trauma or killing John, or even the swelling party, but his head still felt funny, like the far corners of his mind were slowly being consumed by and encroaching fog moving at a glacial pace. Rook tilted his head back and looked up at the stars that were becoming visible in evening sky, the stars were so bright, so easy to see, it reminded him home, despite his home being one state over, it felt like home was on a whole other planet, one he wasn't sure he'd get back to again.

Looking at the stars gave him some perspective, it let him think about what he needed to do going forward; he knew he was going to leave the valley soon, and had two choices, the mountains or the river, he knew nothing of Jacob but knew a lot of Faith but they ran two entirely different ships from what he had seen and heard, and it scared him, Jacob's military history and Faith's bliss, he wasn't sure where to go, but think of the adopted Seed made Rook remember something, he needed to smooth things over with Faith, he killed her "brother" after all, he needed to maintain his "friendship" with her if he wanted to coerce info pertaining to Joseph, well that was the plan anyways, he was beginning to suspect their friendship might have mutated into something else, but he was starting to think he was wasting his time.

He removed the recently replaced walkie talkie from his waist and tuned the channels to what he believed was the one Faith used, before speaking.

"Hey uh… are you there?" Rook asked, unsure if he was even on the right channel.

After a few seconds the walkie crackled back to life.

"Hello Benjamin" Faith's voice came, sounding a touch serious.

"What's up?" Rook asked awkwardly.

"I feel I must apologize for our lack of communication, behind closed doors, John was rather insistent that I stay out of his way until he succeeded in capturing you" Faith explained.

"To be honest I've had my hands full since we last spoke whenever that was so it's no big deal I guess" Rook offered.

"From what I've been hearing, I'm inclined to believe it" Faith said softly.

"Right, I'm sure you've been hearing some crazy things" Rook offered, wincing as he feared she already knew everything.

"Benjamin, may I ask something?" Faith asked tentatively.

"Uh, yeah sure I guess" Rook said, preparing for the worst.

"I know your here to stop the Father's project, but please, stay in the valley, don't go to either region" Faith almost begged.

"Excuse me?" Rook said, almost not believing she would ask such a thing.

"Lives will be lost tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, but more will be lost if you come to the Henbane or the mountains" Faith explained.

"We both know I can't stay here, I have to try to save those lives" Rook replied quickly.

"I'd had a feeling you'd say that, but the Father is right when he said you bring death where you walk, and I need to do whatever I can to minimize those numbers, be it our respective flocks or you and your allies, we don't need all this needless death" Faith beseeched Rook.

"But I also want to minimize those numbers, if I just sit around, everything I've done up until now was useless, I need to keep fighting, no matter how pointless you think it might be, even if it kills me, these are sacrifices I need to make" Rook said adamantly.

Faith was silent for a moment.

"Your right, sacrifices need to be made, the one for the good of the many, like how John sent his men to eliminate everyone within Falls End for example, or even how he deployed his Revelator to try again, or the poor people strapped to its sides, or even how he and his men invaded your church and took you and your friends hostage, I knew about all of these hours in advance, I wanted to inform you about it so you could put a stop to it, but as much as it pains me to know what will become of those people, it needs to happen, you need to break a few eggs to bake a omelette" Faith explained.

Rook mentally froze when he heard what she said, he was in shock, she actually knew about John's atrocities hours before it happened and did nothing yet she preached about preventing needless death, and now, she seriously comparing the lose of dozens if not hundreds of people who died in the past few days and the countless more in the future to cracking a few eggs.

Hearing that snapped inside of Rook, he wasn't sure what it was, but it made him angry, he wasn't sure if he should be angry considering who he was talking too, but he just couldn't help it, a life was a life was life, and he had seen far to many be extinguished so easily for nothing.

"This is a joke, your messing with me" Rook spat, still not wanting to believe her.

"I assure you Ben, I am serious" Faith promised.

"You're a terrible person!" Rook suddenly shouted angrily.

"Like how can I trust you, I mean I know we're enemies, but I mean come on, do you have any idea how many are dead?!" he yelled.

"I wish the number wasn't that high" Faith said timidly, almost scared.

"Trying to justify everything John did was for the greater good is a shit excuse! What he did was wholesale slaughter and torture!" Rook screamed.

He was glad the music blasting from the newly liberated ranch was so loud no one could hear is meltdown let alone who he was talking too.

"Ben, I-" Faith tried to interject but Rook continued his tangent.

"You should know better than anyone what he was capable of, God knows what horrors Jacob commits, and your just as guilty with all that bliss you pollute the waters and people with" he went on.

"I have n-" Faith tried to cut in again, sounding more hesitant then before.

"Maybe if you didn't spend all your time locked up in your bunker and actually stepped outside and saw the horrors that Joseph let loose then maybe, maybe you'd see things from our perspective, if you aren't shot first for all the war crimes and felonies" Rook screamed.

"That's not-" Faith tried for a third time, to no avail.

"I thought, I thought you were supposed to be my friend or something, friends don't like, allow each other to be subject to raids that kill a bunch of innocent people!?" He continued.

"Or hell, friends don't let their brother tattoo and flay their friends, how can I even believe anything you say, for all I know your just trying to sweet talk me into a trap, no wonder people say your as bad as your brothers your another mons-"

"Rachel!" Faith yelled suddenly in desperately.

The second she said that, Rook feel silent. Confused to why she would just throw out a random name.

"What?" Rook huffed in confusion.

"Rachel... My real name is Rachel... Rachel Jessop" Faith admitted, very apprehensively.

Rook didn't say anything after that, he was to busy trying to digest what he was just told, Faith, or now Rachel was also silent, a pregnant pause hung over them.

"I don't know how else to let you know I'm sincere in what I say, nothing good for anyone will come from you leaving the valley, even you must see this" she begged him.

"Why are you telling me this?" asked gruffly, panting from his yelling.

"Because I'm scared, John is dead, I don't know how the Father is going to handle this going forward, but I do know he will be putting a lot more pressure on Jacob and myself, and I don't think we can fill John's hole, and I need you to believe me, I am not your enemy, we need to work together if we wish to save as many as possible, please, things aren't as black and white as you believe" Faith almost begged the Junior Deputy.

Rook held the walkie in his hand with clenched teeth, anger pumping through his veins, he stared at the walkie contemplating what to say next, his head was already fuzzy, and Faith wasn't helping, he genuinely couldn't tell if she was telling the truth.

"Ben, the end is coming, will you help us prepare?" Faith asked, sounding just like John.

Rook stared angrily at his walkie for a few more seconds before opening his mouth to argue some more, but what came out was not his own.

"Yo, boy Scout!" Jess's voice rang out from behind him.

Rook quickly swiveled around to see Jess standing in the back doorway staring at him, Rook waited to her what she had to say but by the look on her face, his stare was threatening to bore a hole through her.

"What?" Rook quickly barked.

"Hurk and Shark found some spray paint, everyone's gearing up to tag the place, you want in?" She called back.

Rook remained silent for a few more seconds, letting everything sink in.

"Are you alright?" Faith voice came quietly from the walkie still in hand.

It brought his attention back to the walkie in his hand.

"You coming or what?!" Jess yelled.

Rook looked back up at Jess for a second before going back to his walkie.

"I'll call you back" Rook responded just as quietly before holstering his walkie and walked towards the ranch.

* * *

As he watched Jess disappear back into the house, he knew he needed to calm down, he needed to don the mask of the friendly neighborhood Junior Deputy, it was a party after all, no need to look like he did when he dealt with John. Once he reached the door, instead of entering, he just stood at the door, breathing deeply a few times, calming down, once he was at a state he felt was good, he finally stepped in, hoping no one would noticed what had just happened.

As soon as Rook entered the ranch house again, he quickly found that the walls were already lined with various phrases, logos and drawings in a variety of colours, a dozen or so people, including Sharky and Hurk were giving the interior a make over, Hurk must have felt the gently push of the cool summer air, as soon as Rook re-entered, Hurk turned to him with a mile wide smile and hurried over to his friend.

"Here you go, Bro" Hurk said excitedly as he pushed a can of spray paint into his hands

"Thanks man" Rook said as he looked down at the can of red spray paint now in his hand.

He wasn't sure what to write, he had never done anything like this before, he didn't know what was good to create.

"Go nuts Bro, she's a full can" Hurk cheered before disappearing into the crowds to continue is work.

Before Rook could say or do anything else, a hand wrapped around his arm and pulled him, he looked over to see Jess was rather excitedly dragging him across the room, pushing a few people out of the way.

"There's a blank space by the cabinets" Jess said as she pointed to the aforementioned area with her free hand.

Sure enough, ahead of the cabinets, left of the back-door Rook came from, by the large dining room table.

"You seem really interested in me doing graffiti" Rook offered.

"Fuck yeah I am, I wanna see you break the law, and it's making graffiti, not doing" Jess giggled.

Rook didn't bother to fight Jess, she wasn't the type to just let things go, especially now that she seemed intent on getting him to tag the wall, so Jess dragged him across the room and pushed him in front of the wall she spoke of, a bare spot yet to be untouched by paint.

"Alright dude, dot it" Jess giggled mischievously.

Rook made a noise of acknowledgment as he stared at the wall, trying to come up with something worth creating, but nothing came to mind.

"So, what you going to do?" Jess asked.

"I don't know yet" Rook responded.

"Go from the heart, this is your first time doing something bad after all" Jess said with a mocking grin.

"Yeah, yeah" Rook replied, looking back to the wall for a few more seconds before taking a few steps towards it.

He stared at the wall visualizing what he had in mind for a few more seconds before he took off the cap and held up the spray can to the wall, pressing the button, causing paint to erupt from the tip, with the paint flowing Rook plainly wrote; _The Junior Deputy Was Here_, clear enough for all to see.

"Seriously, that was the best you had?" Jess gripped.

"I told you I had nothing" Rook replied, giving the woman a look.

"Come on, do better" Jess whined.

Rook didn't like her response for some reason, making him argue and banter, fighting over his artistic creativity and what should be drawn next, but before long, they were interrupted by the halting of blaring music and a voice that cut through the crowd of people.

"Yo, Joseph fucking Seed is on TV!" an unknown voice yelled from within the crowd of watchers.

The second the update rang out, the party practically paused, going quiet before a wave of questions washed over the room as everyone, as everyone rushed towards the large screen plasma TV mounted to the back of the fireplace, facing towards the back of the main room, all interested in hearing just what Joseph had to say in response to John's death.

Rook was also curious and moved with the crowd with Jess right behind him as they tried to get a decent view of the TV as the dozens and dozen of people crammed around the TV, pushing up against each other so as many people as possible could see what was going on as possible, thankfully they let Rook and Jess worm their way to the front of the forming crowd to see what Joseph was going to do, the TV was covered in a static, a faint outline of what was going underneath was barely visible, but with each passing second, the TV's picture became more and more clear until the image was crystal clear, and just as the person who yelled it said; Joseph seed was most certainly on the tv.

He was shirtless and sitting in a chair, looking down at his feet, shirtless and hunched over, his body marked with faded scars and tattoos, he still wore his orange glasses, grief racked his face, he looked truly upset his brother was dead. Rook wasn't sure where he was as Joseph's background was completely black as if he was broadcasting from a nebulous void

"A seal has been opened" Joseph said softly, looking up the camera, a sorrow in his eyes.

"My brother John, loved by few feared by many, misunderstood by all… except me, he was not born a monster, he was just a child when our family was torn apart, he was loving, kind, full of joy… he was easily preyed upon, John was not perfect, sometimes not even good, but he was still my brother" he said.

"And those responsible for his death will be punished… I promise you that" Joseph said, a quiet intensity building in his voice.

Joseph silently stared at the camera as if he was watching Rook through the camera lens for a few moments before the screen cut to a large logo of Eden's Gate, while pre-recorded sermons for the cult played.

As soon as the music started playing, the crowd broke down into their own opinions, some murmured amongst themselves, curious and scared to what he eluded too, others merely laughed it off and went back to whatever they were doing beforehand, others simply moved on.

Despite everyone breaking away from the tv, Rook and Jess still hung around, watching the tv, Jess was still practically pressed up against him when every huddled around to see the tv, she was so close to him, it made him want to say something, but he wasn't sure what that was. Instead he grabbed her hand, which was lightly brushing against his and lightly squeezed her hand.

"You good?" she asked quietly.

"With John dead, it means we got work to do in the other areas of the county" Rook explained quietly.

"What do you wanna do?" she asked, just as quiet.

Rook didn't want to go to the Henbane, he didn't want to go head to head with Faith it felt to raw for some reason, and people had made it sound like the mountain was in a more dire state the Henbane.

"Wanna go to the mountains?" Rook asked.

"You know, Jacob is much, much worse than John, right?" Jess asked, looking up at Rook.

"Yeah… but I got you to watch my back, so what could go wrong?" Rook shrugged.

"Your fucking lucky you know that? I may know some assholes that night help us out" Jess replied, rolling her eyes.

"Really, then what are we are waiting for, you wanna get out of here and head for the mountains?" Rook asked.

"Fuck it, let's roll Boy Scout" Jess smirked.

* * *

"And those responsible for his death will be punished… I promise you that" Joseph said, a quiet intensity building in his voice.

Then Joseph silently stared at the camera for a few seconds before the little red light next to the lenses clicked off and the peggie behind the large camera gave him a thumbs up, signifying the camera was off, before hurrying out of the room to carry out other orders, but with the Peggie gone, Joseph could speak freely.

"This is my fault; John's blood is on my hands" Joseph sighed in despair.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, curious, taking a step towards the blacked film set.

Jacob didn't want to be at the recording station, but Joseph insisted he and Faith meet to mourn their fallen brother, instead he want to prepare for the Junior Deputy's eventual arrival.

"After the first few weeks of the Deputy's entry into our county, Mister Rook finally found his footing and begun dismantling what John and built, and when he started doing serious damage, it... It struck a nerve with John, I haven't John that anxious in a very long time, not since we were children, I should have paid more attention and planned around it" Joseph explained sincerely.

Jacob did not reply immediately as he thought on what his brother said before speaking.

"You said it yourself, he needed to do it himself or he won't pass through Eden's Gate, he had to try the hardest, he was our brother"

Joseph let out a long, remorseful sigh.

"Perhaps being our brother got him killed, I think I was to hard on him, maybe I set the bar to high, how could I expect him to do what countless followers could not... I was unfair to him" Joseph admitted sorrowfully.

"John was... Different from us, but this was a risk even he was aware of" Jacob said, trying to placate his brother.

Joseph did not respond for a few moments as he sat in his seat, looking back down at his feet, the only place he could feel he can look.

"Do you think there is anything to bury?" he finally asked.

"If there is, there would be no way of getting to it, John had almost no chain of command, with him gone, the snake's head has been cut off, it left me no choice but to order all of your followers to leave the valley and head for friendly territory, as of right now what's left of John's flock is being absorbed into Faith's and my flock" Jacob explained.

"Understandable" Joseph stated bluntly, trying to refocus on the many still alive.

"I won't lie to you, Joseph" Jacob began.

"I don't know what this Benjamin Rook is going to do next, but if he so chooses to come to the mountains, I won't take half measures like John did, I will give the Deputy my all, I mean if he can neutralize John and his flock like he did, then he has the potential to be worth his weight in salt in your army" he said.

"Very well... You have my blessing" Joseph spoke.

"And if he comes to me?" Faith asked, speaking up from the corner of the room.

She had remained silent thus far as she didn't want to interrupt the men as they spoke to one another.

"Then you will do as you must, he must come to us willingly just as God foretold" Joseph sighed.

"And if he chooses to stay in the valley?" she asked.

"He won't" Jacob put bluntly.

"How are you so sure?" Faith asked.

"Because he can't help it, his sense of morals won't allow him to sit by while we do as we please, he will come for his Deputy Pratt just as he will come for you and the warrant officer" Jacob explained.

"Then both of you prepare, he will come for one of you, we already lost one of our family, we can't lose anymore, now go" Joseph said, finally rising from the chair.

Jacob and Faith bowed and bid goodbye to the Father, taking in what he had just ordered before departing the filming room, both solider and siren with different ideas in mind, Jacob hoped the Junior Deputy would come down his neck of the woods while Faith hope the Junior Deputy would take her up on her word and stay where he was.

* * *

Rook and Jess passed over the border between the valley and the mountains, it wasn't hard to get their hands on a truck considering there were so many parked in the front yard of the ranch. Rook didn't bother to let anyone know he was leaving for the Whitetail Mountains, he didn't want to spoil the party and worry anyone, if they really wanted to know what was going on with him, they could just reach him on his walkie talkie. But perhaps that was a bad idea as the moment they crossed over into the mountains, Jess seemed to get more and more antsy, something was making her nervous, and Jess never got nervous, after a few minutes of growing uneasiness, she repeatedly looked around her, through all the truck's window's taking in their surroundings as best she could as night had truly set in and there were no light posts to illuminate the roads. The bizarre change of personality was becoming to much for Rook and he needed to know what was going on with her.

"Hey are you ok?" Rook asked, giving her a look.

"Yeah, fine" Jess responded quickly, the worry in her voice was palpable.

Rook did not believe her at all.

"Are you looking for something specific? If you can't remember where your buddies are, that's fine, it's hard to see out here" Rook offered.

"No, it's not that, just… fuck dude, just be careful, it's to dark to see anything, just drive really fucking carefully" Jess spat, her panic turning it irritation.

"What do you want me to do?" Rook asked, denoting he was already driving careful enough.

"I don't know, kill the fucking headlights" Jess offered anxiously.

"Then I wouldn't be able too see where we're going" Rook replied, gesturing to the darkness around them.

"Do fucking something until we get to my guys" Jess complained nervously.

"Who are your friends anyways?" Rook asked.

"I have, well had some friends who I kind of rolled with some people right after I lost my family, they were these weirdo doomsday preppers that Dutch knew, they were also like, a weird militia or something dedicated to keeping land development from happening and all that, and when the peggie attacked they grouped together and went into full attack mode against Jacob and the cult, but anyways long before that, well one thing led to another and I was kicked out because I was an _extremist_ and a _danger to everyone around me_" Jess explained, sounding bored as she said the words that defined her.

"But seeing as shit has changed since Joseph's attack, they might take me back and more importantly let you in so you can fuck up Jacob like you did to Johnny" she said.

"Do you think it will be just as easy getting to Jacob, with him being a vet an' all?" Rook asked.

"No, not at all, expect the worst" Jess replied, a confidence in her words.

"He's that bad, huh?" Rook asked, not liking her words.

"You didn't figure that out when I said I know people who can help us? I hate working with people other then just you" Jess grouched.

"Well I'm sure th-" Rook began to say but stopped himself as the truck's headlights illuminated a fallen tree meters ahead of them, it lay across the road, it was thick enough that it blocked off any vehicular passage, so thick that in was to big to be moved aside by two people, and by the state of the tree, it fell recently.

"Well shit, now what?" Rook asked, stopping the truck and looked over to Jess again.

But this time when he looked at Jess, she looked truly afraid, frozen in fear.

"Get us out of here" Jess whimpered, her voice barely audible.

"What?" Rook asked, almost not hearing her.

"Get us out of here!" Jess screamed at the top of her lungs, squeezing the edges of her seat as hard as she could.

Before he could say anything to figure out what was going on, the windshield shattered.

"Holy fuck!" Jess yelled as she leaned away from the shattering glass, opening her passenger door and rolled out into the cover of night.

Rook also swore in fear as he too opened his door and dropped out, hitting the cold asphalt floor, hearing people issuing commands close by as he scrambled to his feet.

"Come on Dude, get into the trees" he could barely hear Jess over the heartbeat in his ears.

He wanted to follow through with her plan but the scuffing of multiple feet against the asphalt gave him other ideas.

Rook wanted to grab the shotgun he kept with him in the driver's cabin, but as he quickly moved to the open cabin door, about to reach in and grab it, he was slammed against the frame of the truck, abruptly stopping him from getting the firearm as he was then grabbed and thrown to the ground.

As he lay helplessly on the ground, trying to rise, the high beams of his truck was a stark contrast to the oppressive darkness, making it increasingly difficult to see the silhouettes around him. Then oppressive hands restrained him, a hand on his right heel and bent it back until his heel touched butt and his left-hand twist against the small of his back.

Rook uselessly squirmed and writhed on the floor trying to break free with no effect, he could hear ore figures moving in towards him, but he could also hear Jess's arrows faintly whistle through the air, a noise he had come to familiarize himself with, the first arrow whistled over head and disappeared into the ambient noises of the woods and their attackers, a second arrow quickly followed, this time the arrow must have hit its mark as the whistling tersely stopped and was replaced with a pained bark from one of his attackers.

"I'm hit! Another P.O.I. nine O'clock in trees, possible Whitetail, move with caution!" a strong male voice ordered.

"Moving to neutralize!" A strong female voice came, harsh footsteps followed afterwards.

Then the newly identified woman fired her gun, a heavy sounding firearm rang out, the bullet cases clanging against the asphalt, the muzzle flashes illuminated the area around her for a second, allowing Rook to see just who was accosting them, six figures, cloaked head to toe in black camouflage with just as black Kevlar vests over top, fully automatic weapons in their hands.

"Suck my ass!" Jess yelled from the treeline.

By the sound of her voice, it sounded like her voice was fading, like she was moving away from the confrontation.

Rook understood why she would move away from what was happening, it was six against one, guns versus bow, she needed to regroup, but a part of him couldn't help but feel hurt as he felt like he was being abandoned.

"Team A pursue target, team B, move to extract" the person that held him in place said.

Then his untouched arm was roughly manipulated, forcing his arm behind his back with his other arm while his leg was released, falling back to a normal position, then cold metal clamped around his wrists, handcuffs.

Footsteps ran across the asphalt as more automatic fire rang out from multiple guns while Rook was hoisted to his feet, kicking and bucking all the while, trying to break free, but it was pointless.

The level of pointlessness dropped to new lows as he was shoved against the truck once more only to have a burlap bag over his head and tightened firmly around his neck, just enough to make it slightly hard to breath, then he was lifted up into the air and something hard buried itself into his stomach; he had been hoisted onto someone's shoulder like a bag of potatoes, it would have been much easier to fight back if not for the leg wound John had given him hours ago.

His kidnapper began to move quickly, making Rook lightly bounce on the man's shoulder, he was sure he was being taken in the opposite direction Jess went off in as gunshots echoed into the night, fading with each step.

After a half minute of running, Rook was thrown to the ground, but this time he landed on something soft, sprawling out over it the best he could, then a truck engine started up, right next to him, it was then Rook realized he was in a truck, not wanting to be taken away, Rook desperately tried to sit up, but before he could, he could feel, several lines go across his body and legs, it take a lot to figure out he was being tied down, and sure enough, he quickly lost his ability to move, leaving him laying across a row of seats, then he could hear the door close, slamming shut, then after a few seconds, he could hear another door open the close, someone must be getting in or out of the vehicle, then the vehicle began to roll forward, a little at first as dirt and twigs crunched under the wheels before building speed on a smooth surface, the road, the vehicle he was in must have been hidden in the other side of the fallen tree as the vehicle was moving at high speeds. He had no idea where they would take him, he found it meaningless to try to talk his way out or even talk at all, these people were ordered to take him and they waited for him for who knows how long, there were probably teams like them all along the mountains border, making negotiations futile. All he could do was wait for an opening, but until then, he was downright terrified, his heart was threatening to burst from his chest as he was willing himself not to hyperventilate as the bag on his head altered his air supply, and he couldn't help but worry about Jess, left in the blinding dark with several pursuers, with automatic weapons. But it was Jess he was thinking about, he could on hope she was capable of taking care of herself, and could even arrange a rescue attempt, but how would she know where he was.

He hated himself for not doing a better job sticking with her, he wished he was better, a better warrior, a better tactician, a better light foot, a better everything, he needed to be something more if he wanted to keep on living.

But yet again ,he was at the mercy of his enemy, powerless and restrained, praying to whoever was listening to watch over him as he tried to save himself, terrified and self damning, Rook's mind spun and throbbed as his death or worse was very real possibility.


	43. Chapter 43

A decaying corpse, wolves gnashing their teeth into a wailing deer, ripping and tearing the flesh, a deer skull.

Rook's vision was bombarded with these images and other gory pictures, he wasn't sure how long he was looking at such things, but for a long time now, it burned his eyes and cooked his brain, words sporadically echoed through his ears, his head felt to fried to decode what was being said, but it merely sounded like an alien language, an aggressive one. Although his mind tried limply to fight to look away, his body had completely given in to it, his eyelids felt stuck, his eyelids barely moved, it was both a struggle and an ease to blink, he wanted to shut his eyes to hide from the images but found he couldn't, he was compelled to stare at the screen before him, his fists were stuck, curled up into fist and unable to unfurl, his knuckles popping with white and fingernails digging into his palms, threatening to break the skin, his joints rigid and taut, making him unable to move as if he was frozen in place. He was completely subservient to the visions before him. Rook didn't really know what Friedrich Nietzsche meant when he said,_ beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster, for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you_. But what he did know was he was most certainly gazing into the abyss, and the abyss was most certainly not gazing back.

Before Rook ended up in the position he found himself in, he was stuck in a truck with a bag over his head and hands handcuffed before him, scared out of his mind over what was going to happen to him and to Jess. Eventually the truck stopped and everyone climbed out before they dragged him out, throwing him into the dirt and mud, as he squirmed around on the ground, trying to get up, one of them picked him up, but forced him onto his knees, then something thick wrapped around Rook's neck, crushing his windpipe and cutting off oxygen flow, making Rook thrash and writhe , but all that did was cause the thing around his neck to tighten, the thing squeeze Rook until his movements became sluggish and dulled as the lack of oxygen was shutting down his body into unconsciousness, and then, he blacked out.

When he eventually came to and his blurry vision slowly reformed, he was face to face with Staci Pratt, his co-worker and fellow Junior Deputy, Rook wanted to cry out to him, but before he did, he felt a sharp sensation in his wrists, his dizzy eyes looked down to see not only was he in a chair but Pratt was fastening the straps that held him to said chair.

"You shouldn't have come for me, you should have run" he whispered, scared as he tightened the thick leather straps around Rook's wrists.

Rook wanted to call out for his co worker to help, but found he lacked the power too.

Then Pratt disappeared from sight, vanishing off to Rook's side and fleeing into the darkness of the room the two men where in, but all was not total darkness, there was enough light ahead of him, two people at his ten and two O'clock, also tied down to a similar chair to his, they seemed to be in similar states as him; groggy and disoriented, the two people and him were facing a wall meters away, a projector screen stretched across it.

With proper air in his lungs again, Rook coughed a few times before trying to assess his surroundings and the people before him, but his coughing must have signaled to his captures he was awake, then a slide projector flicked on producing an image of a group of strong, fierce wolves tearing apart a clearly inferior, weaker wolf, blood coating their maws and fur, thus beginning the hellish loop he was stuck in.

And after what felt like burning eons to Rook, a voice spoke up, coming through his skull like sunlight through a window.

"The world is weak, soft, we have forgotten what it is to be strong" the voice said as a man sauntered past Rook's immediate left and towards the projector screen, his body obstructing the majority of the projector behind him, casting the man's shadow upon the screen.

Once he reached the screen, he turned to face the two people and Rook, the projector illuminating him, giving Rook a clear look of the one and only Jacob Seed, clad in army fatigues and thousand-mile stare. Off to the side of the projector screen was Pratt, arms crossed in front of him, motionless and staring straight ahead.

Jacob then began pacing around in front of the projector screen and began giving a speech as he occasionally pressing a button on the small box in his hand, making the project display the next slide. For some reason his words stuck like glue in his mind.

"You know our hero's used to be gods and now our hero's are godless, weak, feeble, diseased, and we let the weak dictate the powerful and then we are shocked to find ourselves adrift, but history knows the value of sacrifice, of culling the, so that it stays strong, over and over, the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few, this is how we survived and we've forgotten, and now the bill has come due" Jacob said.

Then he stopped pacing and slowly turned to Rook and begun approaching, the projector images appearing on his chest as he still obstructed the device, he walked right up to Rook until he towered right over him.

"Now the collapse is upon us, and this time the lives of the few outweigh the many, and when a nation that never known hunger or desperation descends into madness, we'll be ready" he said quietly as he reached for something in his pocket.

He produced a tiny wooden box, it looked just like one that would hold a wedding right, but instead Jacob twisted a little tab that protruded from the box a few times before opening it, revealing mechanical work inside, a music box.

"Together, we will cull the herd and do what needs to be done" he said as the tune became to play.

It was an eerie melody creeped out and polluted the room like an apparition wailing in its haunting grounds.

"Only yooooooou" the box sang.

Something about the noise it produced made his body go haywire, like his body was allergic to the sound, his body spasmed as if he was being electrocuted with a million volts, his brain shut off as his mind pushed to break free from his skull, his heart swell and filled with fire, igniting the gasoline that was his blood, his body screamed a distant war cry to complete some un-understandable goal, Rook was pretty sure the other two people on the room were having the same reaction, Jacob and Pratt were nowhere to be seen.

Then, Rook shook and rocked so hard that the chair he was tied too tipped over, he knew the fall didn't knock him out, but he did lose consciousness before he hit the ground.

* * *

When Rook came to and gained some semblance of awareness, the room spun and shifted, the world looked like a Jason Pollock painting as everything dripped onto each other, he felt truly awful, this was assuredly the worst day of his life as his brain swelled and every inch of his body pulsed in stiff, unmoving anguish, his tongue felt much to big for his mouth and eyes stung like they have never seen light before, he felt dead.

But what he could decern from the madness that was his existence, was something that sounded like music from the early sixties played in the background, but among the shifting colors, he could make out something different, it almost looked like blurry figures danced in his vision, they had no outlines or concrete shapes, and it was like they were talking into tin cans.

"What a mess, it a damn slaughterhouse in here, Wheaty check those chairs" What Rook thought to be a man's voice said.

"They've been stewin' in their own filth for days, Walker get some windows open" Another voice said, or as Rook assumed.

Then the undefined shapes moved and separated from one another, most likely to explore the room, Rook was unable to guess how many there were.

"Someone shut that music off" the first voice said.

Then the music clicked off, plunging the room into a silence, one Rook didn't know he craved, with the music gone it felt like he could think again, his brain was able to relax from the lack of stimulation. But with it gone he quickly realized the side of his face was coated in something sticky and wet.

Suddenly one of the people shapes appeared right on front of him, probably examining something on the ground.

"Christ it's Sully, when did they get him?" the person said, this time their voice sounded under water.

The blob of lines and colors looked like it stood up.

"Why are we even bothering with this they're all dead?" it asked.

"Because I still owe Black a favor, one I intend to keep, now check 'em anyways" a voice echoed around the cavernous chamber Rook believed to be in.

Something about that sentence sparked some kind of recognition in Rook's mind, he wasn't sure what or why, but it did.

The blob came back down to Rook's level, he did something and Rook's whole vision shifted, everything turned on its side colors and lines became more disjointed as any concepts of perception or depth went back out the window.

"Why am I always on corpse dut- Holy Shit!" the blob muttered before yelping.

Then the room seemed to explode, the other lines and colors came rushing towards him, their tinny, underwater voices washing over him and devouring him, the sounds and sights were just to much for him, everything was becoming far to much for him to comprehend, his entire being found it easier to simply fall back into unconsciousness.

And so, Rook passed out for what felt like the millionth time.

* * *

When he finally woke up again, he was feeling marginally better as he could see properly, but he still felt physically terrible. His head still felt funny and his joints stiff, if there was anything in his stomach, it would have been ejected right now if not any time before. He had blacked out, knocked out and received head trauma far too many times to be deemed healthy.

Still believing to be in the hands of Eden's Gate, he limply tried to rise from his spot but found no energy to do so and also once again found he was bound at the wrists by heavy leather straps, but this time he lay upon a cot.

Rook groaned as he went limp, frustrated and tired he could not free himself.

Defeated, Rook looked around the room to figure out where he was to find it looked like he was in a bunker of sorts, dry goods and containers lined the wall ahead of him, and fluorescent lights hung from above just like John's bunker. As he looked around the room, be it his deadened senses or his exhaustion, he failed to notice that on his right was a kid, standing a few feet back, probably eighteen at the most, he was slightly overweight and wore an open dark green button up over what looked like a rock and roll shirt, a long, braided rat tail hung over his shoulder.

"Holy shit" he muttered as he witnessed Rook coming to life.

Rook turned too look up at the child froze, he didn't expect too see someone so young so close to him, he was half expecting the kid to stick him in the neck with something sharp or God knows what, but instead, the kid simply spoke.

"Uhhh, hey Dude" he said timidly.

Rook forced his jaw and tongue into forming words, but before he could, a middle age woman walked into the room behind the kid, she also wore a dark green button up, the second she saw Rook was awake, she exploded.

"Are you fucking out of your mind!?" She yelled before marching across Rook's vision, too the other side of the room.

She stomped across the room, towards the darkened corner of the room, Rook was unsure with what she was doing until his eyes adjusted to the dark and saw a man hiding within the shadows, he stepped out as the woman approached, ready to address the yelling woman. He was a much older man, old enough to be the kid's father, he almost looked like a homeless man with long shaggy hair and beard, but what set him apart from the homeless was the dark green camouflage button up and jeans, more put together then the usual vagrant.

"Now hold on a minute, Wheaty and I agreed-" the man tried to say before being cut off.

"Oh, you agreed?!" the woman spat, turning to the kid; his name now Wheaty.

"Woah, woah, woah, I'm an impartial observer!" Wheaty yelled nervously as he back away from the woman, holding his hands up.

"This is stupid and dangerous and you both know it!" the woman yelled as she marched right up to Rook.

Rook couldn't say or do anything except watch the woman approach him, he wasn't sure if they were peggies or not, but it still scared him, nonetheless.

"What was I supposed to do?" the man huffed, not enjoying the woman's spiel, stepping into the light.

Rook could see handguns strapped to everyone's hips, they could kill him at their leisure if they wanted too.

"Leave him to die!" The woman shrugged aggressively.

"Tammy, Black cashed in her favor, I'm a man of my word, you and Wheaty should know that better than anyone else" The man said.

"He's been in that room for God knows how long, I've seen what that shit does to people, you haven't, you trust this one" The woman addressed as Tammy said.

"That's what everyone said about you" the man said, taking a step closer to Tammy.

"But luckily, I didn't listen, this is not up for discussion, we need him, that's all there is to it, understand?" He said.

Tammy didn't reply, she glared daggers at the man for a few seconds before looking at Rook, then stomped out off the room, clearly angry.

"Your right, she took that real well" Wheaty said as soon as Tammy was out of earshot.

"Out" The man snapped.

Wheaty sighed and sulked out of the room without putting up a fight.

"I didn't even do anything" he sulked as he left.

With Wheaty gone, the man walked right up to Rook, towering over him in the cot.

"Hey there Deputy" He said.

"I'm sure you got lots of questions and don't feel to good, so I'm going to give you a few answers then your going to get some rest" the man said.

"My name is Eli, Eli Palmer, I'm in charge of the Whitetail Militia and we're in the Wolves Den, it's the Militia's HQ, the reason why you're hear now and not back with Jacob Seed being his little tin soldier is because your friend Jess Black came banging on door last night, begging for our help, now normally I would have turned her away as we have much bigger things to worry about, I owed her a favor for something a long time ago, so, we let her in and she gave us a rather... Colorful description of you from and then we started poking around a few of Jacob's reconditioning places, we also told her we told her we'd help her on one condition; she stay behind and wait, she was clearly too emotionally close to this op and risked us being comprised and you will see her once you rest up" Eli said, but once he finished, it seemed like a grim air suddenly surround him.

And it made Rook nervous.

"I'll be honest with you Mister Rook, you didn't get away Scott free, as you can tell, Tammy there, didn't seem to take to kindly to you, that's because Jacob subjected you to his classical conditioning stimuli… brainwashing, he did something to you and now whenever you hear the song _Only You_ by_ The Platters_ it will trigger the sleeper cell indoctrinate within you and kill everyone you see, now I will admit I have never seen a triggered agent activate and start killing, and honestly I don't know how to get rid of it, if there even is a way, hell I don't even want you here with all my friends so close, Wheaty's barely an adult, but you still here _only _because you killed John, we need skill like that, now more then ever, but don't get me wrong Deputy; if I believe you to be under Jacob's brainwashing and are a threat to everyone here, I will kill you" Eli declared.

Listening to Eli's speech was just one blow after another, he couldn't imagine what kind of condition Jess was in as she fled from several armed peggies and now he was inflicted with a condition, it shook Rook to his core, the idea of music sending him into some Jason Voorhees-esqe rampage unnerved him, he adored music, he could imagine what would happen one day far from now after Joseph and his cult was gone and he'd be browsing the web for more tunes and he accidentally stumbles onto his trigger song, or hell, he could even click a video and a pre-video advertisement could feature the accursed song, and that was if he got that far, if Jacob wanted, he could fly helicopters over the mountains blasting the song on loop, he'd turn Rook into a monster.

"Now I'm sure this is a lot to take in" Eli said, shifting his weight.

Rook would throw up if he could when he heard Eli's speculation.

"Sorry, I'm not good at this kind of this, I'm better at getting things done, not delivering bad news, tell you what, let's get you rested huh, I'm sure you want to see Black" Eli said as he reached for something out of Rook's view.

He pulled his hand back to reveal a folded blanket, he quickly unfolded it and draped it over Rook, covering his body. Rook wasn't sure how he would just fall asleep after everything he just heard but the blanket was very warm, and he did still feel very exhausted. And with one big yawn, Rook was out cold once more.

* * *

Rook awoke again, this time feeling much better than before.

His head didn't feel like it was imploding and his body didn't feel like they were made of plastic, he sighed as he became reacquainted with his body, feeling his fingers and toes twitch in response to his commands, then his arms and legs, content with his range of movement, he brought a hand up to his face, and felt the slowly budding stubble that was building across his chin, but when he did this, he found that he wasn't tied down anymore, what was more was, he also found himself upon an old, beat up couch, someone must have deemed him safe and moved him to somewhere more comfortable, but still he expected Eli or Tammy to be towering over him, making sure he doesn't start killing, but no one was there, instead he looked like he was in some common room, a shelf was line with generic board games, a guitar sat in one corner in the room, and old CRT rested on a table and across from him on a old, rickety chair sat a woman, facing him, clad in a dark green jacket, a hood partially obstructing their face, a bow in their hands, balancing the tip on the ground and leaning against it like a cane.

Rook didn't need to be laying prone on the couch to see under the hood to know the person watching over him was Jess; she looked half asleep, like she was forcing herself to stay awake, staring off into infinity.

"Jess?" He mumbled as he slowly sat up, his body following his commands now.

It was like his words brought the woman back from the dead, her tired eyes drifted over to him before shooting open, seeing him awake and seemingly fine, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing as hard as she could.

"I'm… glad your OK to" Rook managed to say as she crushed the air out of him as he put his arms around her, returning the hug.

He was silently just as glad to see her well, she might have joined him in the brainwashing if she was not killed by her pursuers.

"How are you feeling, Dude" she asked, bewildered as she pulled away, but still held contact with him by gripping his sleeve.

"I'm really tired of just blacking out, my perception of time is so messed up right now" Rook complained as he looked over Jess.

Miraculously, she didn't have a scratch on her after all things considered.

"I mean Jacob had you like fuck, you got snatched by John three times, once by Faith and now by Jacob, dude you're a fucking legend" Jess declared proudly.

"You have no idea about the shit he does" she said.

Rook internally seized when she said that, it was a blatant reminder of the brainwashing he had endured, he couldn't tell her that he was now a constant danger as she might see him as a threat Instead of a friend, what if she hated him or what if she just ran off and do something dangerous, he couldn't let her hurt herself like that, he needed to protect her and himself.

"Yeah…" Rook muttered just as quiet.

Jess must have picked up on his undertones as she regarded him differently.

"I ain't no stranger to Jacob's bullshit" she said somberly.

"I get the sneaking suspicion that he hit you with that" Jess said quietly as she lightly poking a finger into his ribs.

Rook didn't know how to respond, he felt embarrassed and ashamed to admit it, like it was his fault or something, but maybe it was, with his eagerness to get to the Mountains and not heeding Faith's words, Rook genuinely didn't know how to move forward in the fight against Jacob, how could he when a doomsday switch had been permanently instilled in him.

As Rook sat in silence trying to think of something to say, the seconds ticked by and Jess took that silence as his answer, believing that silence to be a yes.

"Don't worry Boy Scout, I ain't bailing on you now that Jacob got his hooks in you, we'll find a way to defuse you" Jess said, lightly tapping his knee.

"And besides, if anyone is going to kill you, it sure as shit is going to be me, I haven't put up with your bullshit for nothing" Jess said, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.

But she wasn't sure if it landed the way she wanted too, how could she, despite is the time they spent together, he was getting harder to read by the day, his demeanor was changing, he seemed more closed off by the day, his temper seemed to get the better of him more and more, becoming irrational at times.

And it all reminded her of herself.

But she was willing to deal with that another day, one where her Boy Scout wasn't clearly afraid of himself.

Then Rook lurched forward, grabbing Jess and pulled her in for another hug, burying his face into her shoulder.

"Thank you" Rook near whispered.

Jess didn't move for a few seconds, probably letting the man give gratitude, then she finally pulled away

"I uh, let a few people in the valley know where we are, y'know... Just in case" Jess admitted.

"Turns out the Drubman's and Sharky also migrated up here at some point since they live up here" Jess sighed, crossing her arms.

"Well I guess it can't hurt to have friends near by ready to help" Rook offered.

"You have a weird fuckin' idea of what help is" Jess remarked, rolling her eyes.

"Speakin' of friends that will help, Eli and the rest of his dudes are probably waiting for us, they know they need you if they want a shot at Jacob, and I'm the package deal" Jess stated.

"How do you know these guys?" Rook asked, looking up at her.

"Dutch kinda rolled with them for a little bit since there all a bunch of doomsday preppers and they really hate peggies, so it just made sense" Jess offered.

"I can't see you working with people, back then I mean" Rook said.

"Yeah well, I did whatever I could to find the Cook and well… it didn't go well" Jess sighed.

"So uh, what's are plan, what do we do, moving forward?" Rook asked

"Well, we're already here so why not fuck up Jacob, the Whitetails are willing to work with us… unless you wanna fuck off and smack around that bitch; Faith?" Jess suggested.

"Faith won't be blasting that song that will make go crazy" Rook mumbled.

"Ok then let's go" Jess said as she stood up, then extending a hand towards up, offering to help him up.

Rook looked at his friends open hand, he wanted to take her hand and disappear into the Henbane River, he tried to put his hand in hers, put he just couldn't, his heart wouldn't let him abandon the Whitetails, they were just like the Falls End resistance, they were out manned and surrounded, and Pratt was under Jacob's thumb, his slave, his job was to help, not run away, he needed to save as many as possible, and if he did go to the Henbane, he couldn't bring himself to explain to Sheriff Whitehorse and Armstrong that he was a timebomb, they probably wouldn't trust him either. And besides, perhaps he could make up for John's murder by arresting Jacob, and if he got Jacob then there could be a chance of getting rid of this sleeper cell brainwashing.

With his mind made up, Rook took a hold of Jess's hand, making her squeeze his tightly before she pulled him to his feet, before Jess could move for the door, Rook met her gaze.

"I think we should kick Jacob's teeth in" Rook said firmly.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Jess grin cantankerously as she playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Now come on, I'm sure they're waiting for us" Jess said as she turned and headed for the door nearby, not letting go of Rook's hand and pulling him along.

Rook offered no resistance as she led him through the various tubes and rooms that made up the Wolves Den the areas full of militia members how eyed them cautiously, she made it clear she once worked with them, but Rook didn't think she worked with them long enough to memorize their hideout's layout and remember it years later, but then again Jess proved she was full of surprises.

As they wandered down the halls, Rook quickly found that the Wolves Den was actually a underground bunker, as the tight corridors were lined with pipes and valves, carrying water or steam, the walls of the rooms were either harsh concrete of smooth metal as if shipping containers were refashioned, it was a much bigger commercial bunker then he had seen, it had to be ten or fifteen times bigger then Dutch's bunker. It left Rook unsure of how many Whitetails there were.

Eventually, they stepped into a larger room to see Eli, Tammy and five whitetails huddled around an elongated table, Eli leaned in on the table analyzing in carefully, when Rook entered the room, Eli stepped back from the table and greeted him.

"Glad to see you could join us" Eli said, giving him a wary look.

"You can't be serious, we were waiting for them?" Tammy sighed, disgusted as she too saw who had entered.

"Yeah, missed you too Sweetheart" Jess taunted as she sauntered up to the table, Rook in tow.

A few annoyed mumblings passed through the few Whitetails also at the table as the flagrant disrespect Jess brought was not a normal thing in the Wolves Den.

Rook wanted to apologize for Jess's attitude, but when he went too, he saw that everyone other than Eli regarded him the same way Tammy was, with disapproving looks aimed at him as well, it was clear they all knew he had been conditioned, they saw him as a walking time bomb.

"I'm just about sick of you Black, your al-" Tammy retorted angrily before being cut off.

"Tammy" Eli said sternly, not wanting things to get out of hand any further.

"If they can prove they can work with us, then they can help us for the sort term for now, we need all the help we need" Eli said just as sternly to the room, asserting his authority over his comrades.

Nobody said anything after that, not even Tammy.

"Now that's sort" Eli said, turning to address Rook.

"Since you found a way through John's defenses, perhaps you can help us get through Jacob's" Eli asked, waving Rook over to the table.

Rook silently agreed and walked over to the table to see what they were working on, as Rook reached the edge of the table, a few Whitetails stepped aside, not because they wanted to make room for him, but to get away from him. But Rook didn't know the difference and focused on what was on the table, Jess now joining him, resting a forearm on his shoulder, leaning on him for support.

The table before them was adorned with a miniature replica of the Whitetail Mountains, something a land developer would use, it was complete with little roads and blue plastic lakes and rivers, the replica was dotted with little house and other structures made from clay, Lego, and other representative items, this was there staging table.

"So, what are we looking at?" Rook asked, taking it all in.

"This is the road map to saving the mountains, we have enough info to do so, so let me get you up to speed" Eli said, before looking down at the map.

"Just like John, Faith and Joseph, Jacob is hiding in his bunker, with all his soldiers, peggies and brainwashed" Eli said, tapping an Eden's Gate logo taped near the base of the mountain.

"But he doesn't spend all his time there, his above ground headquarters is here; Saint Francis Veterans Center, it's where he stages everything short term and does his high profile conditioning, if we're going to get him, it's going to be during that transition period" he continued, pointing at a tiny plastic skull that sat just down the road from the bunker.

"Also, there are various bullhorn towers scattered around the mountains, we believe ten, Jacob uses them to blast high frequency waves inaudible to the human ear, he does this because he has wolves, called judges which have been subjected to mind altering techniques and he uses the sound waves to manipulate the judges regardless where they are… but I don't mean to put a fear in you, but I don't see why he wouldn't blast _Only You _from it so be ready for that" Eli said grimly as he gestured to the tiny, red Lego pillars.

Rook shivered at Eli's words, it truly scared him that he could just go crazy at a moments notice.

"We also know that Jacob's soldiers have been trying to move a few crates worth of explosives for a while now, they plan to blow open the McKinley Dam, they're trying to shift the river and lake levels of the whole region for some insane reason, we don't know why, but what we do know is a good portion of those explosives are going to be at a Park Visitor's Center, if we can get our hands on it, not only can we stop the dam's destruction, but we can put those explosives to use" Eli said, pointing to the plastic model that was the dam, and the Swiss army knife near the center of the table, symbolizing the visitor's center.

"We can blow up a building, Elk Jaw Lodge, it's the place Jacob uses to mentally corrupt wolves and turns them into the monstrosities that are the judges, with that gone we won't have to worry about the constant threat of a pack of wolves won't come out of nowhere and rip our throats out, well they're wolves out there now, but production will be stopped, and that would be a great help, so Deputy, Black you in?" Eli asked, looking up from the map and at him.

Rook could feel all eyes on him, Tammy, Jess and everyone else around the map, and it made Rook quite skittish, these people were a lot more hardcore and well put together the Falls End resistance, it was just anther sign that the mountains had been getting worse by leaps and bounds while he fought against John.

But regardless of how dangerous or hopeless, he still needed to try.

"Yeah… let's do it" Rook nodded, trying to put on a brave face.

"Yeah sure, whatever" Jess shrugged unenthusiastic ally.

"Glad to hear it" Eli said, bringing his hands together in a single clap.

"Then let's get a move on then" he said as he departed from the table, Tammy and everyone else following suit.

"Wait, we're doing it right now?" Rook asked, not expecting this much efficiency.

"Of course, what, you think those explosives will steal themselves" Eli said as he neared the doorway to the next room, not looking at Rook as the rest of the Whitetails and Jess followed him.

"Wait, hold on, hold, on, I need a weapon if things go sideways, I don't even have a radio, Jacob took it all" Rook"

"Sorry Deputy, if you want to roll with us, you got to play by our rules" Eli said, stopping and facing him, everyone else continuing on.

"Then what do you want me to do, then?" Rook asked.

"Jacob's soldiers severely surpass us, in numbers, weapons and tactics, the only way we are getting anywhere is silently, so please Benjamin, use these" Eli asked as he walked back across the room, passed the planning table.

On the other side of the room was a line of lockers, all squeezed together to maximize the usage of space, Eli walked up to the right most locker, next to another closed door, sealed by a valve. He opened it and rummaged around in it for a few seconds before pulling something out of the locker and faced Rook, brandishing a compound bow in one hand and a leather quiver filled with two dozen white tailed arrows.

"Trust me, these will get you a lot farther then a gun, Jessica told me she gave you a few lessons with a bow a little while ago" Eli said as he walked over to Rook and held out the items.

"Uh yeah, we killed a few guys with what she taught me" Rook replied as he looped his arm through the quiver's strap and rested it comfortably on his shoulder then looped his other arm through the bow, so it rested on his other shoulder, just as he had seen Jess do so many times before

"That's might impressive, Jessica is the best archer I ever seen, she could go national with her skills, shame she just can't get past all killing peggies" Eli commented.

"Yeah well, she seemed to trust me after I helped her kill the Cook guy" Rook offered.

"You helped her kill the Cook?" Eli asked with an astonished look on his face.

"Yeah, I helped her track him down and she did what she had too" Rook shrugged.

"I'll be damn Benjamin, we couldn't even find him, I think I'll let people know, something like that means something around here, maybe people would trust you a little more if they knew just how much your worth" Eli grinned.

"Thanks, I guess, whatever we got to do to get to Jacob" Rook replied.

"Indeed, now take this" Eli said as he turned back to the planning table.

He quickly grabbed something off the corner of the table and offered it to Rook.

In his hand, he held out a small burlap sack with a single arm strap.

"Put any explosives you find in here, or anything else you might find useful, be it food or otherwise" Eli offered.

"Yeah sure" Rook said, taking the bag and slung it over his quiver arm.

"What about a walkie, how should I stay in touch with everyone?" Rook asked.

"Well Benjamin, we don't have to many walkie talkies as we just can't get our hands on any and we're nervous Jacob might intercept those transmissions… and well… the very few we have, we don't hand out lightly, prove you'll be an actual benefit to us and I'll think about getting you one" Eli admitted.

"Ok, fair enough… but one last question, how do I get to the visitors center?" Rook asked.

"Your going to have to walk, vehicles are too loud and will give away our position" Eli explained.

Rook let out a groan of disappointment, as now he would be walking for at least an hour now.

"I guess I'll get to that now" he sighed as he turned for the door, hoping to catch up with Jess and the other Whitetails as he didn't know where to go.

"Hey" Eli said somberly, grabbing Rook's forearm, stopping him.

Rook stopped and turned, curious to what he could need.

"What's up?" he asked.

"You mean a lot to her you know?" Eli said softly.

"Are you sure?" Rook asked, tilting his head.

"She wholeheartedly refused to teach anyone her skills, but yet she taught you, a cop…. And besides, the way she told us about you, I've never heard her talk about anyone that way" Eli stated.

"Well we're a team, we need to be at a certain level if we want to get things done" Rook said.

Sure, Rook felt there was some truth to Eli's words, but not to the extent Eli believed.

"Just you wait and see, now come on, we have explosives to steal" Eli said as he tapped Rook on the shoulder and walked past him towards the door.

Rook didn't say anything, instead he quickly followed the militia leader with what he had said stuck in his mind.

* * *

From Rook's perspective, everything sucked.

His feet hurt, he was tired of walking, his leg wound was bothering him, he wasn't sure if the sun was rising or setting, which didn't help reset his internal clock and Eli forbade talking unless it was actually important.

Eli and Rook had quickly caught up with Jess and the Whitetails before they properly journeyed through the mountains, with the visitors center so far away, it meant they had to walk for a long time, and by Rook's guess it was over two hours now. The only positive prospect was Jess had taken her place next to him the entire expedition, but the five whitetail Militiamen, Eli, Jess and Rook moved in such a tight formation, not even whispers between the two was not quiet enough. The trek was slow going with Eli leading, they all kept low and they ventured through the woods and fields, everyone keeping a sharp eye out for anything remotely peggie.

But nothing engaged them, they safely navigated the region as if Eli was following a predetermined path, and after even more walking, Eli suddenly stopped moving if front of some large rocks and raised his arm, bringing the group to a halt.

"Alright folks, we're here" Eli said just loud enough for all to hear.

His words made the whitetails spread around him, lining themselves along the rocks to see what lay before them, Rook followed Jess as he didn't know their protocols yet. Once he was against the rocks, he saw what was ahead of them. Before them lay a road that ran across the terrain, bleeding into the horizon, a single jeep with Eden Gate logos on either side was parked in the middle of the road and three peggies hung around near by conversing with each other while a forth peggie poured gasoline into the jeep, on the other side of the road sat two houses surrounded by trees; the left most was a barn style building, the edges of the room were lined with awnings and the walls were windowless, the entire building installed into the side of a large hill, a few meters above road level, a few peggies patrolled the perimeter, and of course, the building was littered in cult propaganda, the right most was a much smaller and all the walls were lined with windows, it was just as marked up as the other structure.

"Ok everyone, it looks like a standard sight, but let's stay on our toes and be ready for anything" Eli said

The five Whitetails joining them made noises of agreement.

"Grace, Zhang, Valdez, you're with me, we'll infiltrate from left, Freeman, Clarke, Black and Rook, infiltrate from the right, Freeman your on point, Black I swear to God follow orders just for once please" Eli commanded.

Again, all the Whitetails made noises of agreement while Jess groaned and bitched about something.

"Alright, then begin operation" Eli said before moving off to the left.

As Eli moved, three Whitetails broke off from the rocks and followed, the four of them removing the bows from their backs and loaded an arrow for when they bumped into something. Jess and the two remaining Whitetails moved to the right, doing the same with their bows, Rook lagged behind and mimicked everything they did, trying not to blow their cover. Both teams worked their way down to the road, taking a wide birth towards the building, scuttling across the road and working their way up to either side of the building.

The closer Rook and his team got to the building, the better of a view Rook got on the place, a singular stone staircase ran up the side of the hill connecting the ground level to the elevated building, leading to one of the entrances and more importantly, their way in. But on the top of the stairs was a peggie, leaning against the stone railing and keeping an eye on the peggies on the road, unaware of the two teams that slowly circled in on them. Rook wasn't the only one who was aware of the guarding peggie as the moment they passed the road and the unaware peggies, the Whitetails spoke up.

"Target in my sights" One of the Whitetails whispered.

"Roger that" the other Whitetail replied before breaking off from the group and sneaking off in a direction from the visitor's center, instead moving parallel with it until he vanished into the vegetation.

Rook wanted to ask what was going on but decided against it he felt he'd find out soon enough.

Then Jess and the remaining Whitetail stopped the second the other Whitetail broke off, Rook unaware of what they were scheming needed to be stopped as Jess held out an arm to keep him from advancing, once he was as still of them, they crouched down lower to the ground, Jess pulling Rook down, shushing him all the while. While she dealt with Rook the Whitetail lined up the tip of his arrow with the stationary peggie on the staircase for a half second before letting it go, launching the arrow. The three watched the arrow fly through the air and found its mark, burying itself into the peggie's chest. The peggie made a dull noise of pain as he dropped his gun, it clattered on the cement, seconds later the peggie hit the ground, dead.

The peggie had not been on the ground for barely a half dozen seconds before the vanished Whitetail appeared from over the stone railing and grabbed the body, dragging the corpse back into obscurity, firearm and all.

A bird call then echoed down from where the peggie once was, making the Whitetail whistle the exact same bird call.

"Zone is clear" the Whitetail said.

Then the Whitetail and Jess moved forward again.

Rook was left stunned over how effectual the Militia was, watching them was like watching a surgeon doing their work, if he had not been paying attention, he would not have noticed the peggie's life being snuffed out then the evidence being concealed, even the bird call went over his head, he had heard so many bird calls a day so the artificial call was common to him, this Militia must be operating under so many field rules, but he could now see why Jess couldn't conform to the Militia's standards.

With the party moving again, Rook boxed away his bewilderment and followed cohorts, going back to their path, they worked their way up the hill until they became parallel with the top of the stairs before turning to face it, the hurrying towards it, they hoped over the stone railing and regrouped with the missing Whitetail as he was waiting for them to catch up as he was crouched by the building's door and peered in as the door was slightly ajar.

"What are we looking at, Clarke?" the Whitetail asked.

"Looks empty inside, could be a trap, who knows, but it's a tourist trap, simple layout, nowhere to hide" Clarke said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go say hello then" the Whitetail said, who Rook presumed to be Freeman.

Clarke stood up and loaded an arrow into his bow and stepped away from the door as Jess and Freeman approached instead.

"Just like old times, huh Black?" Freeman offered.

"Yeah, yeah, just do the fucking thing" Jess sighed impatiently.

And with that, Freeman silently shoved the door open, allowing him and Jess just as quietly swooped in, loaded bows first and ready to fire, they did a quick sweep of the imitate area, checking corners and securing the room, Clarke and Rook coming in behind them, just as ready, Rook was scared to what they could fine as he greatly preferred a gun over an arrow.

But the tense moment was quickly defused as everyone quickly found the room was devoid of peggies, instead the room was a complete mess, the shelves that lined the building in rows were bare, a few items that once sat on those shelves lay on the floor or was outright gone, the floor was matted in various pamphlets, posters were ripped from the walls and replaced with cultist propaganda, blood stained the cashiers counter, the stain was next to the register that had been long since smashed.

"Alright, fan out" Freeman ordered as he quickly took the arrow out of his bow and placed it back in his quiver.

Everyone agreed as they also disarmed their bows and began scouring the room, Rook was particularly slow in his investigation, as he wasn't entirely sure what to look for, he never handled explosives in bulk before and wasn't sure what the appropriate containers would look like.

With the Whitetails and Jess scoured the front half of the building, Rook decided to check the back out, making him wander up and down the small aisles, but he found nothing as the shelves have been picked clean, he could only imagine what the room looked like before the peggies tore it up, it would have felt warm and rustic, a place he would have enjoyed to work at during the summer in his teens. But fantasizing had to come at another time, as he needed to remain focused, for explosives and prowling peggies, just the thought of being caught made him move a little faster up and down the isles looking for anything out of place, but as fast as he began his search through the isles, it ended as there were only for and they were very short, it put a pressure on his shoulders as he really felt that always present strain of what if this was the moment that their luck finally goes down hill from here, but before he could turn to Jess and ask for ideas to find said explosives, he couldn't help but notice that tucked a little to neatly in the far corner of the room, next to an upturned recycling bin was a large cube object with a blanket over it, it was no taller than the recycling bin, the blanket obscuring what it really was.

"Hey guys, I think I found something" Rook said quietly, the pressure relieving slightly.

His words made his three teammates freeze momentarily before turning his attention to the Junior Deputy before advancing on his position.

"What do you got?" Freeman asked.

"Well, this looks pretty suspicious" Rook said, pointing to the mystery box.

"What are you waiting for, pull it off" Jess groaned.

"Just letting you know just in case this is a trap" Rook replied as he turned back to the box and pulled off the blanket with a slightly shaking hand to reveal a large, bulky green case underneath.

"The explosives _have_ to be in there" Rook commented, feeling a lot better.

"I think your right Boy Scout, visitor centers don't store hiking trail map in shit like that" Jess replied.

"Let's see what we got" Rook said as he went to pop the lid but was quickly stopped as the lid refused to move.

Confused to why the lid did not move, Rook looked down at the containers ridge to discover a decent sized lock pinched the lid closed.

"We need a key" Rook sighed in annoyance, stepping away from the box.

Rook stepping away allowed Freeman and Clarke to step in and begin their assessment.

"We need to go through the peggies and find the key" Clarke suggested, looking at the lock.

"No, we should signal Eli and give a sit rep" Freeman retorted.

As Rook listened to the two men go back and forth, it made him wish he had his shotgun, he could smash the lock with the butt of the gun.

"Doesn't Valdez have bolt cutters, he is ever the wildcard" Clarke supposed.

Then Jess shoved both men aside, approaching the box.

"Oh, get out of the fucking way you babies" Jess griped as she brandished a large knife that she kept in her quiver.

She slid the blade into the lock's hoop and pushed downwards, trying to force the latch from the lock, and after a few moments of using her strength and the knife, the lock broke free.

"And there you go, you big babies" Jess snarked as she pulled the broken lock free and popped the lid.

With the lid off, the party could now see the box was stuffed with C4, plastic explosives despite the room was dimly light.

"Fucking, pay dirt" Jess smirked.

"Quit your gabbing and start grabbing" Freeman ordered as he crouched down and removed the burlap sack from his shoulder and begun stuffing the bag with C4.

No one argued with the man as everyone else crouched down and began load the explosives into their bags as fast as they could.

As Rook loaded his bag with explosives to the point of being half full, he couldn't help but notice a dull tapping noise echoed into the room, it almost sounded like something was bumping against one of the man windows that lined the walls. Curious, he looked around the room to see what the origin of the noise was just in case it was not a peggie, he scanned the windows to see nothing, which confused him more so, so much he was willing to forget about it as no one else seemed to care, but as he was about to go back to filling his bag, he finally noticed the sounds source; through the dimly light, occasionally strobing light to see that Eli and his three Whitetails stood on the other side of the window, looking in.

It made Rook reflexively flinch as he wasn't expecting to be snuck up on like that, he almost forgot the room was surrounded in glass, and he couldn't help but notice that Eli had a little bit of blood splashed across his chest.

Not only was Eli gently tapping on the window to get their attention, he was also pointing to a simple lock that kept one of the many windows shut.

Rook instantly understood what Eli wanted and stood up, leaving the half-filled bag on the floor and walked over to the window and popped the latch before opening the window, the glass quietly squeaked as it went.

"Look's like you guys fared better then us" Eli remarked as he began to climb through.

"There's totally enough to put a sizable hole in the dam" Freeman remarked as he turned to look as his leader and cohorts as they came through the window one by one.

"Then let's get it ready to go ASAP, I don't mean to rush all of you, but we heard from our friends in the other building that this stuff is going to be moved really soon" Eli relayed.

"Sounds good to me" Clarke said, sealing his bag and standing up to step away so his cohorts could step in and fill their bags.

And soon after Freeman, Jess and Rook also finished, allowing their remainder to fill their bags. As they did so, Rook peeked out of the door they had come in to see the four peggies on the street and sure enough they looked like they were arranging to move the explosives once again as they were preparing a large dolley. He was ready for any of the peggies to notice that the peggie that stood by the door had mysteriously vanished.

Seeing this, Rook turned back to his friends, their time was quickly running out just as Eli foretold.

"Hey guys, we need to wrap this up fast, they're going to come up soon" Rook whispered loudly.

"Don't worry Deputy, we're just about done here" Eli said as he shut is bag closed, his bag struggling to seal.

"How much room you got boys?" Eli asked, turning to his Whitetails.

"Almost done Boss, almost full" One of the Whitetails replied.

Rook let out a quiet, uneasy groan as he lightly bounced up and down in worry, things were taking much to long for his liking, if they were caught, they would be killed or dragged off for more conditioning, and Rook didn't know what was worse.

Unable to watch the Whitetails hurriedly back their bags anymore he returned to the door and peeked out the doorway once again, but this time found something much worse, a single peggie was working his way up the stairs, he was half way up and carrying a large automatic rifle while the other three were still on the road, messing with the dolley.

The peggie scared Rook, so much that he had to bit his tongue to keep himself from yelping in fear or calling for someone to deal with him, all of Jacob's soldiers scared him, he saw what they were capable when they grabbed him, they were ferocious, precise, tactical, they were real soldiers, something he couldn't fight.

But that paralyzing fear also pushed him forward, Rook knew he had to do something, the man was to close for him to call one of the Whitetails to do it, Rook knew what needed to be done.

He pulled an arrow from his quiver with a shaking hand and clumsily loaded it into the bow just as Jess had taught him, he pulled the drawstring back until the string was taunt and the arrow was reared back, he took in a few uneasy breathes as the peggie's footsteps on the stone stairs got louder and louder, but Rook knew better, he had spent to much time fearing John's men, but no more, if he would die in Hope's County, it would be a warrior's death, not a cowardly one, he was a Junior Deputy of Montana after all, not a coward.

Rook swallowed the spit in his mouth and gritted his teeth in determination, a spark was igniting in him, he was ready to fight, he was ready to win, then in one quick movement, he swung through the door and lined up his shot.

In the few seconds the peggie saw Rook and Rook letting go of the arrow, the peggie went through a slideshow of emotions, surprise, confusion, anger, and then right as Rook let go of the arrow, it almost looked like acceptance.

Rook's arrow shot from the bow, flying a few meters before burying itself into the peggie's chest, center mass, making the peggie wheeze once before falling back as his body went limp, but since he was on the stairs, gravity pulled him back, making him tumble down the stairs, crashing to the bottom with a crunch.

The three peggies heads snapped to their fallen ally in unison, seeing the body at the bottom of the stairs with the arrow sticking out of his chest, they all understood what had happened, as quick as they looked at the body, they craned their necks upward to the building's entrance to see no guard or Whitetail, still they knew they were being hunted, and they didn't like it.

As quiet as mice they hustled to their jeep to retrieve a few more ammo clips before making their move upon the building.

Meanwhile, Rook quickly returned inside the visitor's center as the man plummeted down the stairs, he knew the other peggies would notice the corpse rolling down the stairs, he had to let the team know.

"OK guys, time to go" Rook cried, trying his best to remain quiet as he almost ran back to the group.

"Is everything ok, Deputy?" Eli asked, looking at him with concern.

"Peggies know we're here, I just had to kill one that was coming up the stairs, he fell down the stairs" Rook explained quickly.

"Good work taking care of it so quietly, and you are right, we've spent to much time here" Eli said before turning to the three Whitetails kneeling before the box.

"You done boys?" he asked as Jess giggled at the thought of seeing a peggie fall down the stairs.

"You know it, let's bounce" One of them said confidently as all three began sealing up their bags.

As the Whitetails closed their bags, Rook stole a glance into the large box too see that the box was not completely empty a few dozen bricks sat at the bottom of the box, everyone's bags had been filled to max capacity and could not carry any more, but what wasn't taken was not enough to break through the dam.

"So how are we getting out of here?" Rook asked, eyeing the door.

"Through the way we entered" Eli replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder before moving to the still open window.

"Alright Whitetails, time to ex-filtrate" He said before beginning to climb out the window.

Then one by one, everyone quickly filed out the window, making it almost appear as if they were never there in the first place, something Rook hoped to pull off time and time again in the future, but that actually happening remained to be seen as the mountains was a much different battlefield then what he saw in the valley, and he knew he needed to change along with it.

Then the three peggies barged into the visitor's center, guns aimed and ready to shoot anyone, checking corners and barking death threats, but by then, Rook and his party had all clambered out of the window and disappeared into the woods.

* * *

The return to the Wolves Den was a welcome one.

Despite how low key the mission to retrieve the C4 was, its success was the saving grace of the mountains as who know how much damage would be done if the dam had a hole punched through it. And so when they returned to the Wolves Den, Eli and his teammates were given a hero's welcome, complete with clapping cheering and a few salutes, they had gotten one over Jacob Seed, or at the very least waylaid his plans, but as the Whitetails celebrated the return of their leader and his teammates, no one seemed to give way to Rook, most likely due to their distrust of him as it was widely known he was another one of Jacob's sleeper agent's, ready to go into a killing frenzy at a moments notice.

But Rook wasn't the only black sheep, Jess was just as invisible as he was, obviously due to her long history of fighting authority and tendencies to do things by herself. But that invisibility felt like a good thing as while Eli and his troupe was being praised, Jess grabbed Rook's arm and pulled him into the depths of the Wolves Den, showing him around and giving him a lay of the land, showing him how things worked and where the important necessities were, once Jess finished with her tour, she pulled him into what looked like a communal sleeping quarters, it was a large room lined with steel pole bunk beds, the type you'd see in prisons, she told him it was the only place where he'd get any decent sleep before pushing him down into one of the beds before plopping down next to him, confused to what her intentions were, Rook wanted to ask, but Jess was one step ahead of him, she made it abundantly clear that she merely wanted to talk and catch up despite not having any personally time together since what he believed to be last night, which was weird to Rook as she was never talkative, it was like she had ulterior motives, but Rook didn't feel that was the case as Jess subtly seem to enjoy expressing her gripes and how much she hates following Eli's rules, she hated existing in such a enclosed environment with so many people and missed the isolation of Rook's home, she enjoyed that the Militia was actually well put together and capable of doing something worth while, unlike the Falls End Resistance, she even dared to probe him on information on the music he adored so much, and in time, Rook had his turn to express his feelings and thoughts, his fears of being a music triggered monster, his anxieties of being the Militia's black sheep, his worries of the what if's and could be's of what could befall his friends far away from him.

The two of them went back and forth for a long time, talking about whatever they deemed interesting enough, all the while poking fun at each other when the opportunity arose, they did this until Rook felt that he needed to ask Eli if there was anything he could do to pull his weight around the Wolves den. Against Jess's opinion he got up and left the room, Jess stating how she didn't want him to go but it was very clear that wouldn't stop him so she would be impatiently waiting for his return.

Rook wandered the halls, looking for Eli with slight confusion as Jess's tour had not fully sunk into his mind, leaving him to meander around the bunker, walking in big circles, trying to get a lay of the land, then on his forth loop through what he believed to be a dinning hall, he finally bumped into Eli.

"There you are Deputy, I've been looking for you" He said.

"Oh, hey Eli, what's up?" Rook replied.

"I just wanted to say that even though not a lot happened this evening but I would still like to say you did pretty good out there, thank you for assisting us, a lot of people had a lot of trouble getting the hang of how we do things in the beginning but it came natural to you, people like you are few and far between, we need that if we want to win, so, welcome to the Whitetail Militia Deputy, you and Black" Eli said.

"Hey, no worries, it's why I'm here, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to arrest Jacob" Rook replied.

"Well I don't know about arresting him, but until we get to that point, why don't you hold on to that bow and quiver, you seem like you know your way around it" Eli remarked.

"Are you sure, I don't want to be taking up all your resources" Rook offered.

"It's fine, no one will miss it" Eli said, waving him off.

"Ok thanks, so… what do we do now?" Rook asked.

"Now we move to prepare to destroy Elk Jaw Lodge" Eli replied confidently.

"Wait really, just like that" Rook gasped, shocked at the aggressive speed the Militia operated at.

"Well yeah, do you think we're just going to stand around and let Jacob do what he wants, give me some time to talk with Tammy and we'll piece something together, then we group together and lay down some really groundwork, sound good?" Eli grinned.

"OK, I'll wait, just give the word" Rook nodded, feeling glad Eli was such a capable leader.

"Take care Benjamin, keep an eye on Jessica for me" Eli remarked before departing, most likely to find Tammy.

With Rook all alone again, thinking on what Eli had told him, listening to the creaking of pipes around him and the faint voices from other rooms, he felt like he didn't need to ask how he could pull his weight anymore and instead, he returned back to find his way back to the sleeping quarters, and more importantly, too Jess.


	44. Chapter 44

Rook was woken by a light shaking.

It made his eyelids fly open and heart rate spike, he thought he was under attack. He tried to quickly rise from his bed, taking in a deep breath as he did, balling his fists, ready to fight, but before he could properly rise, he was stopped.

"Hey, hey, easy there, Deputy, it's just me, Eli" Eli's voice came.

"What, who?" Rook stuttered as his senses came back to him.

The sleep quickly fell from his eyes and could see Eli standing over him in his bunk, he had taken a step back from Rook as tried to rise, just in case.

"You ok?" Eli asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I just…" Rook sighed before sinking back into his bunk

"Shit" he exhaled, his eyes tightened shut.

"If your feeling up to it, we're in the final stages of deciding on how to deal with Jacob's wolves, and I would really want everyone to hear your opinion on the matter" Eli stated.

"Uhh, yeah, I'll be there in a minute, just give me a minute to pull myself together" Rook replied, opening his eyes, staring at the bunk above him.

"Alright, sounds good, and uh Deputy, good luck getting up" Eli said with the smallest hint if a smile before walking away, back to the planning room.

"What?" Rook questioned before trying to get up.

But as he did, he felt a weight hold him down, like something was sitting on his chest, curious, Rook looked down at his body to see Jess was practically on top of him.

Jess might as well of claimed the entire bunk for herself as she was sprawled out over then entirety of mattress, even though she lay to his left, somehow both her arms lay across Rook's chest as her foot dangled off her side of the bed, all the while being parallel with Rook.

Rook was shocked too see Jess take such a sleeping position, she was such a closed off person, physically and socially, it was very weird to see her almost stretched out across him, even her hood was down, allowing Rook to clearly see her face, which also felt weird as her peaceful, resting face was a stark contrast to her usual scowling expression, Rook could feel his cheeks heat up slightly as he couldn't help but notice she was actually quite pretty when she wasn't irritably glaring constantly.

Pushing his feelings down, Rook assessed the best way to escape her hold on him without waking her up. He found the only real way he could get out was to very carefully lift her arms off his torso enough so he could wiggle out, but when he tried to escape, her arms were not halfway high enough before one of Jess's eye's cracked open.

"What?" She slurred, not fully awake.

"Eli wants me to join him in the planning room" Rook said gently.

Jess made some sort of grunt before responding.

"Yeah, yeah, go play your little scheming shit" she yawned as she rolled over.

Feeling glad she wouldn't rip his head off for disturbing her, Rook slowly rose from the bunk, feeling his joints click and his muscles moan, no matter how much he rested, his body would always ask to stop, but he promised to himself he wouldn't until Joseph was behind bars.

Once his body was acclimated to moving again, Rook left the bunk room and wandered the Wolves Dens halls for a few minutes, looking for the big room that had the big land development table, eventually he found it with the help of a Whitetail who gave him directions, but before he entered the room, he wanted to look halfway decent to the militia, they counted on him to a degree after all. As he prepared himself for whatever they had in store, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and tried to tame the mess that was his hair, once he felt half way decent, he opened the pressure sealed door that kept prying minds out.

"Alright I'm here, what's going on?" Rook asked, smoothing the wrinkles in his shirt out as he entered the room and approached the planning table.

Just like the last time he was at the table, it was surround by Eli, Tammy and a handful of Whitetails, some of which was the Militiamen that was with him on stealing the C4. It was clear they were discussing something prior to him showing up, but now he was here and had all eyes on him, and it didn't feel right.

"Well as you know Deputy, we are planning to put an end to Jacob's Judge manufacturing site by blowing it up with all the C4 we stole, we have our infiltration and exfiltration routes planned, but I want you to tell everyone your thoughts on what we should do once we get to the lodge" Eli explained before turning to face the Junior Deputy.

"I don't understand, why don't we just blow it up?" Rook questioned.

"We never entered the place much less go anywhere near it, it is to dangerous as it's where we believe Jacob to be making his Judges" Tammy said.

"Wait, you believe? Not know, I thought you said y'all know that's where the judge wolves are coming from" Rook stated.

"We believe it to be where the Judges are manufactured as there's been a lot of peggies going in and out for a long time know, something is being conditioned in there, we need to stop it" Eli affirmed.

"And we should verify what's actually in there, it could be hostages for all we know" Tammy interrupted.

"And this is why I want you to say your piece Benjamin, I also believe we should verify what's actually going on in there, but I want to take as many precautions as possible" Eli stated.

"I think we should plant the explosives and leave just like you said, the place is full of wolves and guys with guns, so let's just be extra careful, I mean you guys did say you've been casing the place for like what, weeks? Y'all must have seen something to think there are wolves in there and not people, I'm sure you would have noticed innocent people being forced inside right?" Rook questioned.

Tammy looked away from Rook, looking a little nervous as a few militiamen shifted uneasily in place.

"You do know if people have been going in or not?" Rook asked, feeling something was off.

"Like Tammy said, we don't go near the place, we just watch from a distance" Eli said grimly, crossing his arms

"So then what, Eli and I are just going to sneak in, semi blind?" Rook asked again.

"I won't be joining you, but yes" Eli stated.

"What why not?" Rook asked, slightly alarmed.

"Like I said, we got the infiltration and exfiltration route out, myself and a few of my guys will provide support and if needed, cover in the event something goes wrong and you and your team need a quick exit" Eli described.

"So hold on, you just want me and a few dudes who don't trust me to just saunter up to a place possibly filled with bad guys with guns and wolves that are being trained to explicitly devour us alive and just plant explosives, then slink out?" Rook confirmed, he couldn't help but sound a little irritated as he did.

Even though he was down to do whatever it took to but a stop to Jacob's reign, he didn't like being voluntold to go on highly dangerous missions, it made him feel like he was in Falls End again, being ordered around constantly like another grunt, it didn't help that the people ordering him around didn't seem to trust or him or care for his well being.

"In essence, you are correct" Eli said.

"But I want you to take a look to make sure our target is actually in there, it would be a waste of time, resource and housing structures" Tammy said in rebuttal, knocking on the planning table to pull attention back to herself.

"I feel like y'all would know better than me, you've been fighting Jacob longer then me" Rook said as he eyed everyone at the table.

As he eyed everyone, the last person he looked at was Eli, in doing so, it reminded him that he had specifically asked for his opinion, he needed to give a concrete one instead of half guessing if he wanted to gain some trust.

"But uh, I could always I'll poke my head in and see what's up when we go down there and place the explosives, it couldn't hurt to check" he shrugged.

"Alright then" Eli said, bringing his hands together in a clap.

"Rook, Rodgers, Redd and Tims, your team A, you'll go in first and plant the explosives and check to see what's actually in there, Valdez, Crest, Conway and myself, will be team B, we'll watch from a distance and make sure no one surprises team A and gets them out if things goes sideways" Eli described.

Everyone made noises of agreement as the plan made sense to them, even Rook agreed despite having no say in the matter.

"Then get your things together, I want everyone by the front door in ten minutes, so grab everything you'll need" Eli commanded.

And with that, everyone broke off from the table, they all hurried off to separate areas of the Wolves Den to get whatever possessions they deemed important enough to help them. But before Rook could break off from the table to retrieve his bow and arrows, Eli stopped him, grabbing his arm, making Rook stop to address the militia leader.

"Deputy I know we'll be flying blind to a degree, and I know Tammy is really pushing for checking out the inside of the Lodge, so am I but if something happens down there and it comes down to finding out what's in the lodge but getting caught and not finding out and getting away Scott free, then please, get away Scott free" Eli implored him.

"Alright sure, if that's what you want me to do, you're the boss" Rook shrugged.

Eli heard Rook's answer, but something about it didn't agree with him.

"I mean it Benjamin, be careful out there, this isn't the Holland Valley anymore, these peggies will kill you the first chance they get, and please, help us make this pay off, I don't want people thinking you're a liability" Eli almost begged Rook.

* * *

The morning, sun was just as hot like Rook remembered.

But he found it almost comforting, as he, Eli and their teams, trudged through the mountains to the Lodge, the slowly rising sun that sat in the cloudless sky helped Rook reset the long broken internal clock, by his guess it was around nine in the morning, which Rook was also glad about as he slept at an appropriate time, but the irritating weight of the sack of explosives, bow and quiver on his shoulders reminded him of what lay before them, he didn't know how to properly set up the C4, perhaps he should have asked how to do before they ventured outwards, or even where would be the best places to even place the explosives, but like all things he had encountered in the county, he'd just wing it.

By now, they had walked for a long time now and Eli had said the lodge was close by a while ago, he'd ask Jess how much long it was until they made it to the lodge but he couldn't as he left her behind at the Wolves Den, he decided to let her sleep, he could imagine what she went through, running from Jacobs men, finding her way to Eli, begging for his help then waiting from them to return, despite being the tough, stoic woman she was, she was still human.

Eventually Eli suddenly stopped and raised a hand to his side, brandishing a fist to the Whitetails who trailed behind him, the fist made them and Rook freeze on the spot, Rook's hand subconsciously drifted to the bow dangling from his shoulder, he expected enemy confrontation and was ready to take out whatever made Eli freeze like he did.

Then Eli crouched down and crept forward a few meters until he was behind some bushes, looking down at something up ahead, his Whitetails joined him and took cover behind various bushes and trees also looking at wherever he was, since Rook was more towards the back of the group, he crept forward and joined the rest of his allies in scouting whatever Eli found.

He could see, ahead of them, a few hundred feet away, on the other side an asphalt road, was what looked to be Elk Jaw Lodge. It was a wooden longhouse with a barn roof, a brick chimney poked up from over the top on the far side, puffing thick clouds of black smoke, there were no windows or any way to look inside without going through a door, a few empty, human sized cages were placed near the house on a raised platform as if the captives were supposed to be on display, the cages were surrounded by green tarped chain-link fences. A few armed guards milled about the outside perimeter, nothing new to Rook or the Whitetails. The building itself was situated near a large river that ran parallel to the building making the only point of entry the way both teams were entering from, but there was no signs of wolves or any animal, it was just armed goons, marching up and down the property.

"Alright, B Team spread out and find decent vantage points to cover A Team" Eli ordered quietly as he pulled the bow off his shoulder and took an arrow from his quiver.

And with that, the three men that orbited Eli's space broke off, two of them going left and another going right, they moved to cover the front of the building, forming a four point semi circle around the face of the building they could see.

"Ok, now B Team, the time is yours, don't disappoint" Eli ordered.

"You got it, Boss" one of the B Team Whitetails before moving in.

The other two and Rook followed him, the four of them gently worked their way towards the lodge, moving in two pairs of two, side by side with bows drawn and ready, they crept out of the trees and towards the road, thankfully the peggies didn't watch the road and stuck mainly to guarding the lodge, it allowed the men to get ever closer to the lodge, once they crossed the road and hid in the embankment to get a better look at what they were walking into.

"So how you guys want to handle this?" Rook whispered.

"Let's split up gents, two of us go loop around the place and do our thang" One of the Whitetails said, pointing to both ends of the building.

"Sounds good to me, don't give us away Deputy" Another Whitetail said.

"Don't worry I won't" Rook replied, trying to rebuff the Militiaman.

"Good, then Rodgers, you take the Deputy" The same Whitetail said before hustling out of the embankment, the taunting Whitetail following close behind.

The two kept low as they hurried off to the right of the building, a peggie was seen in that are a little while, the two Whitetails also must have seen him as they readied their bows as they approached, quickly and quietly. with them gone, it left Rook alone with the Whitetail, he didn't know the name of the man, but he was pretty his name was name Rodgers. Regardless of his name, Rook silently wished it was Jess with him.

"So uh, you wanna get this over with?" Rodgers asked uncomfortably as he fiddled with the strap that affixed the explosives bag to his back.

It was clear being near Rook perturbed the militiaman.

"Yeah, come on, let's move" Rook retorted.

"Alright, follow my lead then" Rodgers said as he scampered out of the embankment, pulling back an arrow in his bow.

Rook hurriedly followed the man, also trying to fluidly move as he did, but found he couldn't keep par with him.

As the two men crawled their way up to the building and flanked the left side, near the large, human sized cages, bows at the ready for any confrontations that they may run into, they could see a two peggies near the end of the building, they were heavily armed with large machine guns, they were talking and trading handfuls of papers with each other. Seeing the cultists, both men froze before scampering over to their immediate left and hid behind one the chain link fences with tarps affixed to them.

"Alright guy, we're going to take them out at the same time, you know how to use that thing?" Rodgers asked nervously as he pointed at the bow in Rook's hands.

"Yeah, Jess Black taught me" Rook nodded.

Rodgers regarded Rook for a few seconds, it was like he might not have believed him or doubted what he was capable of.

"OK, fine, let's just keep an eye out for our opening" Rodgers said as he inched his way to the edge of the fence to get a look at the peggies.

Rook carefully joined Rodgers and watched the peggies for a ideal time to fire their arrows, it was a straight shot essentially, there was nothing obstructing their shots, as they were a few dozen meters away from them at the other end of the building, there was no visible peggies to notice the murders, there was next to no wind so it should be easy, the peggies weren't even holding their guns, they dangled from their necks via straps while they traded their several papers and conversed.

"What do you think are on those papers?" Rook whispered, really focusing on the papers.

But Rook's question was met with a shushing from the Whitetail.

"Shut up, I'm trying to hear what they are saying, you're not helping" Rodgers muttered.

Rook made some noise of acknowledgment, as he didn't really appreciate the man's tone nor choice of words. Not being able to say anymore more, he and Rodgers watch the peggies for a few moments until the peggies put their papers away and bid each other adieu and departed from one another, most likely to return to their posts and keeping the location secured, as the two peggies turned away from each other, one of them almost looked directly at the two men, then began walking in their direction.

"Oh shit, get back" Rodgers whispered loudly as he shambled onto his knees while grabbing a handful of Rook and pulled the Junior Deputy and himself to the green tarped fences

"What do you want to do?" Rook whispered loudly.

"I'll take him out and you move him" Rodgers ordered through stutters.

"Yeah sure, you got it" Rook nodded before scuttling down the length of the tarped fences, trying to work his way around it and get closer to the peggie.

As Rook moved, he wasn't sure where the peggie was due to the tarped fences, but he knew Rodgers would take care of him if anything were to happen.

Then Rook reached the end of the fences, carefully he poke out just in time to see the peggie near Rodgers end of the building, right before he could signal to the militiaman was ready to go, a arrow suddenly flew through the air and buried itself in the peggie's throat, causing him to fall backwards silently and hit the ground with a dull thud, the second the body hit the ground, Rook leapt from his hiding place, powered by the fear of being caught and jogged up to the body and grabbed the corpse by its ankles and pulled with all his might as he tried to move backwards as fast as he could, retreating back to the fences he emerged from.

As he dragged the body back, rook's head snapped from left to right repeatedly, desperate to make sure there was nobody around to see what happened. Thankfully he was able to make it back to the fence without being caught, the second Rook felt the body was properly hidden, he let go of the corpse's legs, catching his breathe, Rook examined the peggie, besides the arrow protruding from his bleeding throat, the man reminded Rook of himself, the peggie was a twenty something looking Caucasian man, far to young to be doing what he was doing. Not wanting to dwell on that any further, he pulled the arrow from the corpse's throat, he was about to return to Rodger's before noticing that a handgun resting in the corpse's hip holster, looking at it, Rook wanted to take it, it would make a good back up, but he also knew the militia didn't really smile upon using firearms, but again, it would still make a good back up. Rook glances back up at Rodger's who wasn't looking back at him as he was keeping an eye out for more peggies,

He retrieved the handgun from the corpse of his firearm and promptly tucked it into his waistband

"What are you doing?" Rodgers asked, whispering loudly, finally noticing Rook was taking too long.

"Uh nothing, coming back now" Rook replied just as quietly loud.

Then he properly stood up and hurried back to his ally, who know stood next to the length of the building the peggie once patrolled, as soon as he regrouped with the man, Rook removed the bag of his back and knelt down before opening it up, revealing the abundance of C4 bricks within.

"You know what your doing, right?" Rodgers asked nervously.

"Yeah I believe so" Rook replied as he picked a brick up and squeezed it in his hand.

"Ok good, you get to work here, I'm going to take care of the front of the place, yeah?" Rodgers said.

"Sounds good to me, be careful" Rook warned as he stood up and approached the wall.

Rodgers didn't offer a reply as he turned to leave for the front of the building, leaving Rook to work by himself, he fastened a few bricks to the side of the building, attaching a few every few meters along the walls, even placing a few at the base of the building. Rook worked diligently, using up half of his bag on the wall, he felt paranoid as he worked, he feared getting caught as he worked, he didn't have the confidence to go head to head with Jacob's men, Eli made it painfully clear the only way to survive was to sneak around and use quiet weapons.

Rook was so focused on doing his work and trying not to get caught, he almost didn't notice Rodgers quickly returning, he didn't say anything to Rook as he did, instead he examined the wall that Rook decorated, he must have deemed it satisfactory as he then began chucking what little bricks he had left upwards onto the roof of the building.

"Is that wise?" Rook asked.

"Fuck if I know, I just wanna take the place down" Rodgers shrugged before throwing another brick onto the roof.

Rook looked down at the C4 in his hand then at the C4 covered wall in front of him, then up at the roof, he thought for a few seconds before also throwing a few bricks onto the roof as well.

"Hey, I think this side is good, let's catch up with the others in the back" Rodgers spoke as he packed up his bag.

"Yeah, sounds good" Rook replied, now also packing up his bag.

With everything ready to go, the two men quickly moved to the back of the building, the second they turned the corner, they were greeted by the two other Whitetails, Rook was pretty sure their names were Redd and Tims, they were standing at the back wall, coating it with their C4 bricks, a few dead peggies littering the floor around him.

"Look's like y'all been busy" Rodgers joked as he joined them at the wall, placing what little C4 he had left on the wall.

Either Redd or Tims said something that made the other two laugh as they worked, the joke inaudible to Rook, he didn't mind as he casual walked up to them and joined them in redecorating the walls, even throwing his last few bricks onto the roof.

"It looks like we used all the explosives up, you guy ready to jet?" Tims asked as he closed his empty bag and put it over his shoulder.

"Hey, did anyone like, check the inside yet?" Redd asked, also closing his bag.

"I'll go do it, you guy get out of here" Rook replied.

"Alright, don't ruin this, we'll be in the ditch by the side of the road" Redd spoke as he quickly hurried away, Rodgers and Tims in close pursuit.

With his allies gone, Rook examined the lodge's exterior for a way in, there was a door at the front but it was most likely locked, there was nothing on the side he and Rodgers worked on and it was most likely the same on the other side. Rook was thinking so hard to concoct a way in he almost failed to notice the low hanging balcony was attached to the second floor of the lodge, just low enough for him to just as high as he could and grab onto the ledge, with a self disappointing sigh, Rook looked up at the balcony and the two wooden logs that supported it, it was definitely low enough for him to jump and grab the ledge, with nothing better to do, he removed the bow, quiver and bag and placed it on the ground next to him, he believed that little weight reduction was enough to give him that little extra lift, he approached the balcony's lip and dropped low before springing back up, arms outstretched above him. And with a single hand, he was able to grab the lip, and with some effort, he was able to get his other hand on the balcony and slowly pulled himself up, grunting and groaning as he did.

Once he finally made it over the balcony railing and got his feet on the ground, he looked up to see a single plain door in the side of the building, his way in.

He carefully approached the door, fearing someone might be on the other side, once he got to the door, he reached for the doorknob and turned it very slowly, and against all odds, it popped open, which felt a little weird to him as the door should be locked.

Before Rook even entered the building, he could hear noises emanate from deeper within. He could hear movement inside, it was no doubt human, it was a bunch of low noises, like grunts of struggling or resistance, it was followed by the occasional rattling of chains and creaking of wood, it was probably Peggies dealing with the wolves, but there was also nothing to suggest there was wolves inside.

Regardless, it was enough for Rook, he felt he doesn't need to take a peek inside, there was no doubt the militia was right on the money, they were conditioning wolves here.

He gently closed the door and hurried back to his allies, hoping over the balcony, stumbling as he landed, grabbing his abandoned items and sneaking around the side of the building. Rook stayed low to the ground as he worked his way back, a few peggies still guarded the area, but thankfully they patrolled the perimeter and didn't worry about the building itself, since they were so far away, they failed to notice the Junior Deputy sneaking by them, a skill he was fast developing.

As he escaped the site, he could see his three allies who waited for him back in the embankment they hid in before moving on the lodge, their heads poking out of the ditch, watching him and the lodge intently.

"There are no wolves in there, but it sounds like a bunch of peggies" Rook said as he climbed into the ditch.

"All the more reason to knock the place down" Redd shrugged.

"So how do we set off the C4?" Rook asked, getting comfy among the dirt and weeds.

"With this little beauty here" Redd smirked, brandishing a small plastic box; a detonator.

"This will be one hell of a chain reaction" Redd grinned.

"Then press the button and get it over with, Eli is waiting on us" Tims spoke.

"Hold on, don't press it just yet" Rodgers interrupted.

"What's wrong?" Redd asked, looking at his friend.

"The Junior Deputy was the one who found out if we should actually blow the place or not, so why not let him do it" Rodgers offered.

"What, seriously?" Redd whined as he eyed Rook irritably.

"Yes seriously, we need to trust each other, if Eli says he can be trusted then we have to try" Rodgers retorted.

With another sigh, Redd limply tossed Rook the detonator, causing Rook to lurch forward so it didn't hit the ground.

"Just get it over with already so we can get out of here" Redd whined.

"Ok, get to cover then guys" Rook muttered as he looked down at the switch in his hands.

The three men ducked down further into the embankment, then Rook brought himself lower in the ditch, hoping it would protect him from whatever might be sent flying, once he found himself at a safe position, he glanced over to the three men who also looked like they were also ready to see the fireworks, then he looked back at the building before tucking his head down, then he pressed the button.

A second later the building was engulfed in smoke and fire, the structure shuttering and incinerating, the explosion launched pieces of the wooden building in every direction, the projectiles were various sizes ranging from tiny shrapnel splinters to blocks the size of tires, thick black smoke and vibrant brown dust clouds inflated, masking the bulk of the deconstruction, what didn't get launched outward, collapsed inwards, the whole building fell in on itself, the roof splitting into several pieces and shifting into different places like a porcelain plate being dropped onto the floor. Any and all remaining Peggies were on the floor and unmoving, either hid with the projectiles or simply bowled over from the force of the explosion.

As the smoke clear, everyone could see that the lodge was reduced to a smoldering pile of cooked tinder and seared brick, like a firework destroying a replica Popsicle house.

"Hol-ly shit, that was awesome!" Redd cried, shooting up from the embankment, fists in the air.

"Yeah, that was pretty rad" Rodgers said calmly as he also rose from the dirt.

"Alright boys, mission complete" Tims spoke as he and Rook rose from the ditch.

"Hold on, I want to make sure there is nothing the Peggies can salvage" Rook said as he marched to the building's ruins.

"Dude, the place is gone, you're not going to find anything in there, just bodies and wood" Redd groaned impatiently.

"Do you know how Jacob brainwashes?" Rook asked, turning around and walking backwards to the lodge's ruins so he could look at the man he was addressing.

"No?" Redd shrugged.

"Then Eli would want us to make sure there is nothing Eden's Gate can't use" Rook replied, turning back around and walking to the lodge.

"He has a point, if there's something still of use under there, we can't let Jacob get his hands on it" Rodgers said as he climbed out of the embankment.

"You can't be serious?" Redd groaned

"Come on, Eli would want us to verify, let's just get it over with" Tims sighed as he too climbed out of the ditch and walked towards the building's ruins.

With another irritated groan, Redd also rose from the ditch and reluctantly joined his friends and Rook to dig through the rubble.

They were able to shift a few smoldering pieces of lumber and layers of shingles, trying to find anything that looked like brainwashing tools, and with a few minutes of teamwork and heavy lifting they were able to sift through the wreckage and found what was inside, but what they found, made them all freeze in horror.

They found what they believed to be two dozen bodies, their bodies had been roasted a sickly red and black, their charred faces stuck in a twisted face of half melted horror as they understood what was happening at the very last second, their hair had caught fire and burned right down to the down, revealing patches of their sooty skulls that peeked through the blackened flesh, many snapped and jagged bones protruded from their ruined bodies as the weight of the roof and walls crushed and squashed them, those who still had their arms in one relative piece had their arms close to their chests as their wrists were bound together with chains that connected to the walls, the chains had been partially melted and burned into their captive's wrist, searing and cooking the flesh, almost becoming one with the metal, and not a single wolf was visible.

Rook looked down at this horror in horrified silence, the bodies were so badly ruined it was almost a struggle to decern if the bodies were male or female, just the smell alone made his knees buckle.

He was hit with a severe wave of nausea and dizziness, the world spun as he his stomach threatened to climb its way out of his chest and crawl out his mouth, his chest compressed and rose at uneven rates, going up and down like a broken accordion, breathing became a challenge as hyperventilation tried to overtake him, he truly couldn't handle what he was looking at, it was so bad it felt like it wasn't even real, but the truth of what happened here smacked him in his face and swirled around in his skull like swarming bats.

He pressed the button and killed all these people, he should have ventured further into the lodge and found the scared people who were to be shipped off to be conditioned, this could have been avoided, he wanted to stop explicitly this, these people looked just like the souls that were trapped on the Revelator, no matter what he did, he couldn't save anyone.

"It is all my fault, it is all my fault, it is all my fault, it is all my fault, it is all my fault" Rook's mind screamed on repeat.

_It's Jacob's fault._

Then something clicked in his brain, it was like something suddenly slipped into place, what it was made so much sense, so much that it felt like it was too obvious to be taken seriously, it was not his fault this was happening in the slightest, it was Jacob's.

Jacob was the reason he was in the situation he found himself in, John was a sick bastard who tortured people for fun, so why wouldn't Jacob be any different, he just had army training, Jacob need to suffer for this just like his brothers.

"Fuck!" Redd screamed as he stumbled backwards, trying to get away from what was once his countrymen.

"What the fuck!?" Tims shouted as he tripped backwards on smoldering rubble as landed on his butt, then kicked away from the crater.

"Fuck! This was a prison camp!" Rodgers screamed with his hands on his head before he threw up.

Rook saw his allies tremble and break just as he did, he wanted to say something that would encapsulate the now building anger of how this was Jacob's fault in hopes it would bolster their morale, but before he could, Redd suddenly charged at Rook, stepping over the bodies and got right up in Rook's space and punched him in the jaw, making him stumbled backwards.

"This is your fucking fault! We trusted you!" Redd screamed furiously.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything?" Rook rattled out as he regained balance and clutched his jaw, utterly bewildered his ally had struck him for no reason.

"You motherfucker!" Redd screamed as he charged Rook again but was stopped by Tims as he restrained him.

"Redd, enough, kicking the shit out of him won't solve anything!" Tims yelled.

Rook regarded the spectacle in front of him, and how Rodgers sinisterly eyed him from off to the side, he was shocked at their ignorance, how couldn't they understand, how could they not see the truth, it wasn't his fault, he was just doing what he was told, its Jacob's fault.

"What are you talking about?! Jacob caused this to happen, I didn't put these people in here, I wanted to save them, that's why I'm here" Rook desperately explained as his body began to shake.

"Stop shifting the fucking blame!" Tims yelled.

"It's Jacob's fault!" Rook yelled in exasperation, throwing his hands in the air.

"This is your fault!" Rodgers screamed as he pushed through his friends and shoved Rook backwards, not wanting such a monster near him or his friends.

As soon as he fell back a step, he pushed himself forward, returning the shove.

"Don't friggin' touch me!" Rook barked as he shoved the man back, more aggressively then what he had received, gulping down as much air as he could all the while.

The act of being shoved ignited the anger within Rook, it was clear they were upset over what happened, but that was no excuse to take it out on the untrusted, it was like they were crazy, everyone these days were crazy except for him, the men before him had been living in a while for weeks, screws were bound to come loose, it made sense, they didn't trust him because he was conditioned, this was they're excuse to make him the villain and expelled from the Wolves Den. Rook couldn't let the go off and act like he caused all this to happen intentionally.

_They are looking for someone to blame, they don't trust you, you're a threat to them._

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do!" Rodgers retorted with great anger.

"You said you checked, what is all this!?" he screamed.

_It's not my fault, It's not my fault, It's not my fault, It's not my fault._

"It's not my fault!" Rook yelled angrily.

"Yes, it is, you didn't check like Tammy said, you have no one to blame but yourself!"

"No, it's Jacob- this is his fault… and Joseph's- I'm just a Rookie for Christ sake, you would have done the same, I didn't have time to check!" Rook screamed, trying to get the Militiamen to back off by any means.

"I bet this was some sleeper cell shit, you're just working for Jacob, aren't you?!" Redd accused, pointing a finger at him.

Upon Redd accusing him, both Rodgers and Tims seemed to freeze for a second before regarding Rook strangely, Rook could feel their eyes examining every inch of him, looking for something, that's when a dark thought passed through Rook, he still had the handgun in his waistband, if they got hostile, he had a way to protect himself.

Then Redd's hand twitched and slowly reached for the bow dangling from his shoulder, and Rook knew what he was going to do.

His hand then slowly drifted to his back, for the handgun he was carrying.

"What the hell is going on down here!?" Eli's voice suddenly came.

The four men's heads snapped up to the source of the voice to see Eli standing feet from the ruins, glaring impatiently at his men and Rook.

"That psycho just killed a bunch of civvies!" Redd exclaimed, taking a few steps towards his leader.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Eli scowled.

"Look! Look at what the fucking Deputy did, he didn't check the interior!" Redd shouted, gesturing to the corpses that were sticking out of the ground.

It was clear Eli's curiosity was piqued, he stepped forward through the rubble and saw what was keeping the on site for so long. Seeing it all made Eli lurch back in shock and horror, not expecting such a sight, but once he eventually calmed down, he looked up at his men and Rook.

"Ok here's what we're going to do" Eli said gravely.

"We're not going to say anything until we get home an-" Eli began.

"You can't be serious?!" Redd explained.

"Zip it, Redd!" Eli barked, silencing the man.

Once everyone was silent, Eli began again.

"We're not going to say anything until we get home and then we figure out what really happened" Eli commanded.

"Boss, you can't just let this walk!?" Tims argued, stepping towards Eli.

"We are going to settle this back home, like adults" Eli stated.

"Are you being serious?!" Rodgers cried.

"Enough!" Eli yelled, silencing his men once again.

Then he pointed up at the hill the originally come down on.

"March" Eli said gravely.

All three men understood, they didn't want to march up back up the hill, but they still did it nonetheless, they dragged their feet as they climbed out of the rubble, giving Rook a whispered curse as they left the Junior Deputy in the ruins, leaving him and Eli in once used to be a happy little lodge a lifetime ago.

Rook was still frozen in his spot staring at the militia leader, neither man said anything, they didn't have too, Rook could read the look on his face like a book, his face said _You better pray you have a good explanation on this or you're in danger. _

Then Rook silently climbed out of the ruins and shuffled his way towards the hill.

* * *

As Rook, Eli and his Whitetails quickly traversed their way back to the Wolves Den, the atmosphere around them was so heavy it almost forced Rook to the floor.

Through whispers, Redd told the A team exactly what had happened, which in turn made them look at Rook with anger and hatred. It made Rook both angry and scared as Redd had so much more credibility then him, he could turn the whole Wolves Den against him, he was already in a negative light, and now this new thing was going to make him a pariah, his only saving grace was getting back to Jess as soon as possible, she knew these people more then he did, she could talk some sense into these people, he was just trying to protect them but Jacob was one step ahead of them, it made so much sense, they just didn't understand, if this happened back at Falls End, he could talk this whole mess away, Mary and Jerome knew he'd never hurt the innocent, he was a good man.

When they finally made it back to the Wolves Den, the whitetails, almost led by Redd, marched Rook right into the planning room, none of the returning Whitetails allowed Rook to go anywhere much less move, which angered Rook as he couldn't get to Jess before things could get worse, Eli must have picked up on that anger and whispered to a whitetail that was passing by, after hearing what he had to say, the militiaman took off into the bowels of the den, which did not inspire any confidence in Rook. All he could do was stand around at the planning table and wait as six men stood around him, wanting to beat him into the ground. As they waited for whatever Eli set in motion, others began to take notice of what was going on, when pressed for info, Eli demanded a silence to stop the spread of info until the time was right, eventually Jess and Tammy emerged from the doorway, seeing one woman made Rook's confidence skyrocket and seeing the other brought him back down to the sea of anxiety, then a few other Whitetails filtered into the room, curious to what was going on.

"What's going on? Tammy questioned Eli as she was able to pick up something was wrong, only to be ignored.

She sauntered up to the planning table and eyed the room, seeing the angry militiamen and uneasy Junior Deputy, Jess hanging around the edges of the room.

"There has been a hiccup in the Elk Jaw op" Eli stated dryly to the room, pressing his hands against the planning table's edge.

"A hiccup?!" Tims cried, not believing the casualness of the matter.

"What the fuck happened out there?" Tammy said accusingly, looking at Rook.

But neither Rook nor Eli acknowledged her, Eli merely questioned Rook.

"Benjamin, in your own words, tell us what happened out there?" Eli said cautiously.

Rook was silent for a moment, glancing at all the Whitetails who surrounded him, then to Eli and Tammy, then Jess, feeling the odds against him.

"We, we did the thing just like you said, we pl-planted the bombs and got out, I peaked inside, and it sounded like wolves inside" Rook stuttered helplessly, scared they might not see things his way.

"But did you or did you not get visual conformation on what was inside, wolves live, dead or otherwise?" Eli questioned, leaning on the table

"N-no, I-I that there was ch-ch-chains, wolves had ta' be in th-them" Rook stuttered, feeling every set of eyes on him, who knew how many people Redd, Tims and Rodgers had been whispering their lies too.

"Eli, what the fuck happened out there?" Tammy demanded again, marching right up to him.

Eli stared at Tammy for a few seconds, trying to put together a sentence that would deliver his message without causing an uproar from Tammy and everyone present.

"I'll tell you what the fuck happened!" Redd cried angrily, pushing through the people at the table.

"Redd wait a minute" Eli said worriedly, moving around the table to try to stop him.

But it was to late.

"The deputy murdered like, fifteen people!" Redd yelled for all to hear.

"He didn't even bother to check the interior! He brought the building down on a dozen or so civvies after tell us it was full of peggies!" He yelled.

Then the room erupted into a chorus of gasps, angry comments and spiteful stares as the room's energy became more and more hostile, from their collective reaction, it was like they almost expected something like this was going to happen, like Rook was a bad guy. It was clear no one was going to easily believe Rook's side of the story anymore, he wasn't even sure if Jess was on his side as she was still haven't said anything and seemed more concerned with the emotional state of the room.

"He did what?!" Tammy shrieked.

Then Tammy charged Rook, her eyes filled with vitriol and powered by anger, but she didn't around the table in time as Jess came up behind her and grabbed her, holding her in place long enough for Eli to swoop in and help, the two working to restrain the furious woman.

"Tammy wait, he was a right to explain himself" Eli said as he struggled to restrain her.

"I don't give a fuck!" Tammy roared.

"That son of a bitch killed our people! I don't want him in our home! I told you this was going to happen! He's one of Jacob's dogs!" Tammy screamed.

The second Tammy screamed that, all the resentment stopped, and the room's energy shifted, it was like everyone was reminded that Rook could go into a killing frenzy at the sound of a song, the room became one hundred new degrees of hostile as the vocalized anger simmered down and all eyes narrowed at Rook, fists were clenched and they became extra aware of the bows and arrows on their backs. It was then Rook realized the name Wolves Den was too on the nose for his liking, with everyone staring him down with blaming, accusatory eyes he felt like wolves were encircling him.

They were going to kill him for being one of Jacob's agents.

"Now hold on everyone let's take a minute" Eli tried to say to the room as he wrestled to keep his slipping grip on Tammy.

But it was useless, Tammy broke free from Eli and Jess's grasp, instead of trying to hurt Rook again, she turned to Eli, stabbing a finger into his chest.

"He is your mess, so you clean this up! If you don't I will, and you wont like how I do it!" she declared furiously.

Eli stared at Tammy before exhaling, then he turned to face the group of angry Whitetails

"Nobody is killing anybody" Eli voiced to the room.

"If we just start killing people over disagreements and arguments, we will be no better then the peggies, that's not how we do things around, situation withstanding or not, we will find a different way to deal with this" he declared.

Then the Whitetails finally spoke up in one big mob, airing their grievances, making it painfully clear they did not like Eli's decision or their alliance with the Junior Deputy.

"Get him out of here!" a Whitetail yelled angrily.

"Fucking asshole!" Another yelled.

"He's a threat to everyone here!" another screamed.

"He's a monster!" Redd yelled.

"Saving him was a mistake" Tammy yelled adding to the mob of voices.

Anything else was drowned out in the dozen angry voices that bounced off the cold steel walls of the bunker.

"Ok, enough, enough!" Eli tried to tell over the mob of angry militiamen.

He looked over at Rook who still stood where he was, at the side of the planning table, watching Eli nervously.

It was clear by the look on Eli's face he wanted to believe Rook, but the uproar of his militia pushed him to believe otherwise.

"Benjamin" Eli said sorrowfully, before slowly walking around the table and approached him.

Once Rook was within arm's length, Eli but a hand on his shoulder.

"It is clear no one is willing to work with you much less tolerant you or your actions... for the good of everyone I'm going to have to ask you to leave the Wolves Den" Eli said gently, a pained look on his face.

Rook stared at Eli in stunned silence, unable to believe what he just heard, how could he kick him out just like that after everything he had been through, he was supposed to help the locals, not be hated by them, Rook was desperate to argue his stay in the militia, but he also knew if he fought to stay, things would get worse for him.

"I think it would be best if you left now" Eli said gently, removing his hand from Rook's shoulder.

That's when the dozen Whitetails began booing and threatening him to leave their home again. And with that, Rook knew he was beat, there was nothing he could do anymore, he was hated now.

Without some much of a word, Rook slowly turned for the open bulkhead door and begun dragging his feet to the bunker's exit, booed and shunned as he went, a thrown Styrofoam cup or two bouncing off his person, it made him feel like Frankenstein's Monster being harassed by the village mob, as he neared the door, he could see Redd off to the side, smiling arrogantly, looking down his nose at him.

For some reason that better then you smirk was the final straw for Rook, it made something in him burn up like the lodge he brought down.

After everything _he_ had done for this county, this is how the militia treat him, how _dare_ they do this to him.

Didn't they know who he was, he was Benjamin Rook, savior of the Holland Valley, bane of Eden's Gate, and killer of John Seed, they needed him if they wanted to get to Jacob, Eli begged him for help, why else would they rescue him from Jacob's conditioning center, hell, at this point Rook wasn't sure if that was even true, maybe he wasn't conditioned at all and the Whitetails merely said he was to give him incentive to help fight Jacob and not leave for the Henbane.

As he passed Redd, he had to restrain himself from accosting the man as it would cement his supposed villainy that Redd was so eager to impose on everyone.

He was jealous of Rook's reputation.

Rook almost prowled the halls as he almost stomped his way through the halls, towards the exit, a few of the offending Whitetails trailed behind him to make sure he really was leaving, giving a few sparse threats and curses. A few Whitetails in nearby rooms who heard the commotion poked their heads out to see what was going on. A few half-concerned Whitetails dared to ask Rook what was going on, but he merely ignored them, too lost in his own rage, it wouldn't be to long now until everyone knew of Redd's smear campaign.

Rook shoved open the door to the metal staircase that led up to the surface, with each step up the staircase, he stomped, a hard echo reverberated up and down the corridor.

He flung open the topside hatch and trudged through the grass, not bothering to close the hatch behind him, he didn't know where to go, but he didn't care, he just wanted to get away from the Whitetails and make Jacob pay for what he had done to him, he was so caught up in his feelings he failed to notice the hooded woman following behind him.

"So that went sideways faster than I expected" Jess shrugged.

Hearing Jess's voice, Rook spun around to she her standing next to him.

"The hell you are doing out here, you here to shit on me too?" Rook spat angrily.

"Fuck no" Jess replied vehemently.

"You're not welcome here anymore so I'm coming with you, we got a lot of peggies to kill

Rook regarded Jess for a moment, he didn't believe her for some reason, he expected her to be against him.

"And your just fine leaving those guys" Rook asked, pointing at the bunker.

"You'll kill a hell of a lot more guys working with those idiots" Rook spat.

"Pssh, bitch, I hate these fucks, if I wanted to work with them, I never would have left them in the first place" Jess replied, shaking her head in disagreement.

Jess's casualness was starting to bother Rook, she was completely silent as Eli passed judgment on him, she didn't even remark upon Jacob's ploy to make him look like a monster or Redd who burnt down any sense of credibility he had, he wasn't sure if her motives really were to just kill peggies or wait for him to drop his guard and then get revenge for the people in the lodge.

"Do you even care that I'm being blamed for what Jacob has done?" Rook barked.

"Shit happens" Jess shrugged.

Rook wanted to scold her for her indifference, but who was he to judge, he was a monster apparently.

"So, what you just want to wander around the mountains, killing every peggie we come across until Jacob enters our cross hairs?" Rook sighed, his anger waning, he couldn't bring himself to take his anger out on Jess.

"Well you're not one hundred percent wrong" Jess said.

"We'll kill every Peggie we come across in the valley until we get Jacob in our cross hairs, but before that, we make our own little hideouts where we'll rest up, then we strike, I've seen you with a bow, my teachings somehow stuck in that big music and goodie two shoes brain of yours, we'll hit every outpost and hidey-hole they got, we'll beat the info we need out of them, no more pussyfooting around, we'll hit them hard and fast, they won't see us coming, they'll expect the militia, not two badasses like us, we're different then them, better than them, we can do what they're to afraid to do, what do you say, Partner?" Jess finished before extending a hand to him, wanting a handshake to seal the deal, a shark tooth grin on her face and a fire in her eyes.

Rook stared at her outstretched hand, heavily considering her offer, every time he tried to think of a reason not too his mind was flooded with memories of the countless cadavers that littered the county, executed, tortured or mutilated, the burning twisted corpses that were strapped to the Revelator, the buried and ruined bodies under the lodge's ruins, and every other atrocities that was caused by the Seeds.

He needed to make it all stop, he needed to get to Jacob, for revenge for all he had done, ruining his reputation, making him look like the bad guy, conditioning him into being his slave.

Rook took her hand and shook it.

"Let's make them pay for what they have done" Rook said emotionlessly.

Jess's shark tooth grin seemed to grow just a little bigger.

"Then let's get a move on" she said before freeing her hand and moved for the nearby forest, ready to get to work immediately.

He looked down at the bunker, doing so reignited his anger for the Whitetails and felt a scorn for them, no wonder they disliked Jess, they couldn't handle working with actual talent, it made Rook almost feel pity for Eli, having to keep all those imbeciles and inbred rednecks in line everyday, he was going to make everyone regret believing Redd's lies and kicking him out of the militia.

With is resolve set, he turned and quickly followed Jess, ready to do whatever it took.

* * *

Faith stared intently at the telephone that sat on her desk.

Benjamin made it quite clear that he aimed to venture out into the mountains in hopes of dealing with Jacob, hopefully not in the same manner as John. Thinking of John made her sigh, she knew the depths of John's cruelty, it made her shutter, but at the same time, he didn't deserve to die, he was an important piece in God's and Joseph's plans, it was unbelievable to think someone as sweet as Benjamin would gun down John, no matter how hot-blooded he got. But Jacob wasn't like John, we was something else entirely, which led Faith into the predicament she was in now, staring at her phone, she wanted to call Jacob and persuade him into using less aggressive tactics against the Junior Deputy, but Jacob was a stubborn one, he only seemed to follow Joseph's orders,

"You know I was expecting you to call me, hoping to get me to take it soft on the Deputy" Jacob replied.

"You did?" Faith asked, caught a little off guard.

"Yes, I know how you spin your webs and catch your flies, the Deputy is no different from the countless you seduced into our project, so that's why you should expect me to say I will not take it easy on him, I will do things my way, he is my concern now" Jacob explained.

"But you don't know him like I do, I know how he operates, he can be persuaded with kindness, not cruelty" Faith argued.

"Coddling men won't make a decent soldier, I will break him down and make him into something better, John told me what kind of man Benjamin Rook is, is emotions will just slow him down, I will remove those as well" Jacob remarked.

"He's not some machine you can take apart and put back together, you can't swap out his parts when they break, he's a human being, a complicated, thinking, kind human, we need humanity after the collapse, without it, what's the point of all this?" Faith preached.

"When the collapse comes, only the strongest will survive, everything else will be preyed upon and devoured, I intend to do the devouring, and I intend for the Deputy to devour whatever the Father points at" Jacob said.

"But he's not like that, he just someone who wants to do what's right" Faith argued.

"Then perhaps you need proof, be silent and listen" Jacob said before falling silent.

Faith did what she was asked and waited for whatever Jacob was preparing, after a few seconds of waiting she heard a soft beep, indicating Jacob had put his phone on speaker.

"Get in here!" Jacob called out.

His voice was distant as if he was facing away from the phone.

Then she could hear an odd shuffling, feet scraped against the floor more then they should, as their gait was slightly off. By the sounds they were giving off, they must have walked right up to the phone, next to Jacob, a rare event.

"Name and rank soldier" Jacob suddenly said.

"Matthew Gordon, First Officer" The new person addressed themselves as.

"Where have you been the last few days?" Jacob demanded

"Assisting John in the Holland Valley in capturing the Junior Deputy" Gordon replied curtly.

"And want is your assessment of the Junior Deputy?" Jacob ordered.

"The Junior Deputy is inexperienced in modern warfare and has no actual training to speak of, but yet he is smart enough tactically assess what is going on and engage in a manner that will secure his victory, what is more is it is clear he does not wish to kill if he doesn't have to, but if provoked he will engage lethally" Gordon surmised.

"What was your last exchange with him?" Jacob questioned.

"Inside John's ranch, John had planned to use the building as a cage and myself as the lion tamer, needless to say he escaped but not before wounding me with light lacerations to the shins and ankles" Gordon answered.

"As you can hear, time and time again, the Junior Deputy has been slipping by on luck and tactical planning, words alone won't bring him to our cause" Jacob said

"Mister Gordon, how do you expect to capture Be- the Junior Deputy if your legs are injured?" Faith asked.

"With all due respect ma'am, you don't need legs to fire a gun" Gordon said.

"I said capture, not kill, he needs to understand what we're doing before he can join our family" Faith asserted.

"What we are trying to say, Faith" Jacob cut in.

"While you are trying to play house, I am killing two birds with one stone, I've been forging a way to get rid of Palmer and his little militia and get the Junior Deputy on our side" he said.

"But you're not letting him join on his own, your forcing him too, your brainwashing him! It wouldn't be him anymore!" Faith cried.

"You heard my soldier, he has no experience and training, he refuses to fight, he is weak, cowardly, passive, but he has tactical genius, once I'm done with him, he will be strong, a true warrior, armed with his knowledge and my training he will be unstoppable, he will be just what the Father needs to keep everyone safe after everything collapses" Jacob stated grimly.

"You don't need to do this though, just talk with him" Faith cried.

"Faith, I don't tell you how to whisper your sweet words and seep your poison into people, so I would trust you would leave my work to me, I am the one who fought and bled for this country" Jacob asserted, growing tired of Faith's whining.

"Your going to get him killed!" Faith exclaimed.

"If he dies, then he dies, he needs to be ready if he really is to be our messiah, or so Joseph says" Jacob stated.

"But the Father said, we need him, he can't die!" Faith cried.

Jacob let out a groan, now tired of Faith's whining, he had much better things to do.

"Goodbye Faith" Jacob sighed as he moved to put the phone back on the receiver.

"Wait Jacob, don't-" Faith said before hanging up the phone.

With Faith gone Jacob looked over at Gordon who still stood near him, yet to be dismissed.

"You will keep everything you heard to yourself, you take that to your grave" he ordered.

"Yes sir" Gordon replied confidently.

"You will return to capturing the Junior Deputy as soon as possible" Jacob ordered.

"Yes sir" Gordon replied again.

"And if those two entry level followers are still alive, I will permit them to aid you in your mission" Jacob added.

"Yes sir, thank you sir" Gordon responded once more.

"Then get to your post, I have work to do" Jacob said gruffly.

"Yes sir" Gordon said one final time before hurrying out of the room, leaving Jacob to himself.

The second Gordon was gone and Jacob felt alone, he turned and walked over to the side of his room, up to the far wall where a cork board hung, it was covered in a mess of photographs, hand drawn pictures and small maps depicting Eli Palmer, Jess Black, other important Whitetails, strategic, important places and strategies, all of them were connected in someway by a thin red thread, creating a blood red spiderweb, but almost every piece of data was connected to a single photo in the center of the cork board.

The photo was an un-obfuscated, perfect photo of Benjamin Rook, bow in hand and a red Eden's Gate logo drawn on his forehead with a marker.


	45. Chapter 45

"Hit him again" Rook ordered.

And just as she was asked, Jess punched the Peggie again.

Rook and Jess stood at the edge of a forest, both were calm but a shadow of frustration rose within them as before them was a single peggie, he was tied to a tree with a thick rope many times over and completely helpless to the beating he was receiving, the cultist was the sole survivor of a ten person roadblock that was established just down the road but was quickly dismantled by the unseen force that was Rook and Jess. Now the Junior Deputy stood back, demanding answers from the man, and when he refused to cooperate, Jess would give him encouragement in the form of a beating.

"Come on bud, make this easy on yourself" Rook said coldly to the cultist.

"When is the next time Jacob will leave his bunker?" He asked.

But the Peggie remained silent, he merely glared menacingly at Rook

For some reason the defiant stare that was piercing him reminded him of the whitetails and how they stared angrily at him for something he didn't do, and despite being removed from the Wolves Den hours ago and a few dozen dead peggies later, there was still some kernel of hate still cooking within him.

"This is pointless" Rook sighed in annoyance as he removed the handgun from his waistband.

He walked up to the man, as Jess took a step to the side, excepting Rook to discharge his gun into the man's head, but instead Rook pulled back his arm and smacked the peggie across the face with it, knocking him unconscious, much to Jess's disappointment.

"Come on, we should look for someone else who will talk" Rook holstering the handgun before walking away from the scene.

"Why didn't you just shoot him, when he wakes up, he'll try to tell his buddies what we're doing" Jess whined.

"I don't want to just start executing enemies when they aren't useful or cooperative, I might as well just as bad as them" Rook sighed.

"Well that makes one of us" Jess muttered to herself as she unsheathed the large knife from her quiver and approached the unconscious man.

"There has to be another group of the son of a bitch's goons lurking around somewhere" Rook seethed as he looked over the landscape before him.

He had no idea where they were, all he could see was forest, road, fields and the ever-present mountains the loomed over them.

"Oh yeah, there's always more around, we just got to bait them out" Jess said, walking up to Rook's side, wiping the blood off her knife before putting it away.

"This was what, the third little camp out we hit, that's like twenty whatever men and woman we've gone through, this bullshit is getting on my nerves" Rook growled through grit teeth.

"Yeaah, these guys ain't like the bitches in the valley, they trained to have their shit pushed in" Jess sighed.

"So where do you want to go? Where's a good place to interrogate and kill peggies?" Rook asked.

"I can think of a few if you just wanna kill, but if you want to get something done, that's a whole other can of worms" Jess replied, rubbing her next.

"I've course I want to get something done, we'll do something and kill peggies" Rook scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Alright, fine Mister Initiative, the peggies like to keep an eye on the Pinko radio station so they can catch resistance transmissions"

"What kind of name is Pinko?" Rook asked, turning to give Jess a look.

"It's spelt like PIN-K0 or something, fuck if I know" Jess shrugged.

"OK well the Whitetails don't use walkie talkies, so I have no interest in the radio station, what else you got?" Rook asked.

"I don't fucking know, I don't pay attention to every little thing around here, I just kill motherfuckers" Jess huffed.

"Then we're wasting time, let's move out" Rook responded before marching forward, through the open field the stood on the edge of.

"What? slow down dude, we can't go stomping all over the place, Jacob has guy all over the place, we got to keep our heads down" Jess cried as she jogged up to Rook, trying to keep pace with him.

"Let them try to get us then, we'll kill them all, just as we've been doing all day" Rook replied, his eyes still locked on the horizon.

"Yes, I'm down for that but they have guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, they can get us a hell of a lot easier then we can get them, so lets take it slow and stick to the shadows" Jess explained.

"I feel you Jess, but we can't spend all summer slinking around, who knows how long until they move their attack to outside the county or whatever they plan to do, we need cut down every asshole we come across, we need to stop the cult" Rook demanded.

"Yes, we will, but we got to be careful, this isn't a video game, you get shot then you die, that's it, no retry, I don't want to lose you too" Jess said, getting a little annoyed at his behavior.

"I'm not going to die, peggies will" Rook said, before stopping his stride and turned to face his friend.

"Listen Jess, everything is going to be fine, so long as you and I work together, we can do everything, just keep trusting me" Rook asked.

Jess gave Rook am unhappy look, she liked his newfound desire to kill peggies, but she didn't like his willingness to throw caution to the wind.

She was about to comment on how she felt, but before she could, an explosion went off in the distance.

"Holy shit what was that?!" Rook cried, snapping his head towards the sound.

"Sounds like someone isn't being careful" Jess replied, also looking in the direction of the explosion.

Then the pair could see a column of steady, thick black smoke rose over the nearby treeline.

"Wanna check it out?" Rook asked, turning back to Jess.

"I guess, if there's obviously peggies involved so let go kill" Jess shrugged before moving for the forest the veiled whatever was happening.

Rook watched Jess casually walk for a few seconds before quickly deciding he didn't like the set pace and instead broke into a jog, hoping to get to the site before he missed whatever was happening.

"Oh, come on dude" Jess whined before she also started jogging to keep pace with the Junior Deputy.

"Time waits for no one" Rook called over his shoulder as he nearly ran.

Jess groaned as she quickly followed suite.

As the duo moved quickly through the woods, the smoke overhead was somewhat visible every now and again through the thick trees, just enough to signify that they were getting closer and closer, not only that but they were beginning to hear a few gunshots echoed from the smoke's location.

"Sounds like Whitetails got themselves in so trouble" Jess huffed as she ran.

Rook's only reply was a simple and curt _Good._

When the finally came out of the other side of the woods, they came to a hard stop as they were met with a lonely road that ran across some hills, it would have looked completely normal if not for the source of the thick smoke that was stuck on the side of a road.

On the side of the road, smashed against a large crumpled road sign was the corpse of a burning car, the driver side door was flung wide open, the frame and panels bent and twisted as fire engulfed the vehicle as it appeared the gas tank ignited and exploded, creating the smoke trail, bullet holes lined the side of the car and windshield shattered. Signs of peggies were evident, in both the cause of this mess and that they were meters from the fire,

"Damn, they really wanted the car to stop, huh" Rook muttered as he examined the scene.

Jess offered no reply as she studied the site intensely, despite her being near mute, Rook felt her silence to be off-putting.

"You ok?" Rook asked, turning to his companion.

"Something is up" Jess stated.

"What do you mean?" Rook questioned.

"The militia doesn't use vehicles, especially not some rinkydink boxcar with no protection like that" Jess observed, pointing to the ruined car.

Rook looked back at the car to see that it was indeed just a run of the mill car.

"Maybe someone from the valley or river came up hear thinking it was safer?" Rook offered.

"Then they would have been stopped at the border, we're nowhere near the border" Jess responded.

"Hm, this is quite odd" Rook muttered.

"Also where are the bodies, there's no one in front, the doors are wide open" Jess spoke.

"Maybe there being taken to be conditioned?" Rook pondered.

"No, they just don't take dudes like that, Jacob has to make the order, this was way to out there" Jess theorized.

Then more gunshots echoed down the road, in the direction the burning car was facing.

This time, Jess perked up more then Rook did, something was not on the level to her.

"Come on, the hunt is back on" Jess said before hurrying down the side of the road, bow and arrow in hand.

Rook offered her no reply as he quickly followed her, he could also feel something was up and it was going to lead them to more peggies, something Rook could not help but take advantage of. As they went, it was apparent that bullet casings littered the ground like, potholes on a long-ignored road, whatever they were chasing after, they were shooting to kill.

They carefully but quickly worked their way down the road, following the echoing gunfire and discharged shells a few minutes down the road before finally finding their culprits, there was four peggies, clad in camouflage fatigues, stood in the middle of the road firing into the nearby woods, it was clear their enemy was in the trees, with a little maneuvering and sneaking around, they were able to get behind the peggies without them and saw what they were firing at.

Somehow both surprisingly and not, it was Hurk Drubman, he was hiding behind a few large rocks, blind firing over the rockface with is patented SMG, but was failing to hit anything worthwhile. In response to his self defense, two of the four peggies tried to provide cover fire while the other two tried to flank Hurk on both sides.

"Aw shit we got to help him" Rook said loud enough for only Jess to hear as he removed an arrow from his quiver and prepared to line up a shot.

"Fine, but he's just gonna get himself killed tomorrow" Jess sighed as she also prepared to kill.

Thankfully, the Peggies were so distracted with trying to kill Hurk that they failed to notice that one by one, the soldiers fell with arrows in their backs, even as the last man realized what was happening, it was to late for him. A silence now washed over the mountains, barely a noise drifted across the area, even Hurk had stop haphazardly shooting.

After the last cultist was dispatched, Rook carefully scanned his surrounding to make sure there where no other peggies laying in wait but saw nothing to suggest anything. Feeling somewhat safe, Rook crept forward to retrieve his and Jess's arrows from the newly made corpses, in that time, Hurk nervously peaked up over the rocks and saw Rook pulling arrows from the dead cultists, seeing him made Hurk shoot up from his hiding spot.

"Holy shit Deputy Destruction, thanks for the save man, you really saved my bacon" Hurk exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.

Rook stared unenthusiastically at Hurk, he wasn't thrilled that he had to save Hurk for who knows how many times now, just about every time they meet, he had to help Hurk in some fashion, and it was getting tiring, and Jess was right, he was going to need saving in the near future.

"Hurk what the hell are you doing out here, by yourself?" Rook scolded his friend.

"I was just tryin' to get some supplies back to Casa Da La Hurkmugus but them cultist sons of bitches took out my ride" Hurk explained quickly.

"What no, I mean why are you here in the mountains, do you have any idea how dangerous the mountains are?" Rook scowled.

"Oh that, Bro I live up here, got a house and everything, remember?" Hurk laughed as he climbed over the log to greet his friend.

Hurk's response was met with a groan from Rook.

Of course someone like Hurk would live in possibly the most dangerous part of the county.

Then Hurk noticed Jess who hovered near Rook.

"Oh hey Jess, long time no see Brah, you and the Deputy are always hanging out together, when me and Sharky do that, people say we're doing stuff to each other, so what about you, you and Benny a thing" Hurk rambled rambunctiously as his eyebrows bounced a few times.

"Fuck yourself" Jess scowled.

"Alright, alright, cool, cool" Hurk said cautiously, taking a step back and patting the air.

"So, what do you need supplies for? What could you be possibly planning?" Rook asked.

In truth, Rook didn't care what Hurk had in motion, he just wanted to make sure his friend wasn't going to put himself back in danger then go back to killing peggies with a clear conscious.

"I have some people hanging out at my place and I was just trying to get stuff together cuz they're stayin' for the long haul, Imma try and look out for them until all this blows over" Hurk explained.

"Really, how is all of that going?" Rook asked, his curiosity piqued.

He was also wary of Hurk's long term providing skills.

"It's going ok I guess, whatever goods I had are probably gone now, I heard an explosion a little bit ago, I'm pretty sure it was my car" Hurk sighed.

"Yeah, it's gone dude" Rook said.

"Oh god damn it, Cupid help me" Hurk grumbled in frustration as he limply kicked a dead peggie's arm.

"Man, what am I going to tell those folks?" Hurk whined to himself as he ran his thick hands through his hair.

"Hey, we can work something out, why don't we head back to your place and get to brass tacks?" Rook offered.

"If that's what you want then sure, but you got some wheels, it's a bit of a walk" Hurk asked.

"Well your car is gone, and I don't have one, so I guess we have to walk" Rook stated.

Hearing that he would now have to walk a great distance, Hurk let out a long-winded whine to let everyone know he was upset.

"No way dude, that's so far away, my place is like, on the other side of the mountains!" Hurk whined.

"Wait seriously, you needed to get to the other side of the mountains to get supplies?" Rook asked, surprised at the scarce level of supplies.

"It might as well be, to get there we got to walk for like twenty minutes that way if we wanna get to my place" Hurk gripped as he pointed towards where his car was originally pointed.

He pointed nowhere near the mountains, in fact he was pointing in the opposite direction and was merely making it sound so much worse than it really was.

Before Rook could scold Hurk for his whining and over-exaggerating, Hurk kept on talking.

"Ughhhh, man I'm going to die" Hurk whined as he began shuffling down the road, dragging his feet all the way.

After a few feet, Rook was about to join him, but then Jess pulled him back, intent on speaking with him alone.

"What's up?" Rook asked.

"Dude this is bullshit, we don't have time for this" Jess gripped.

"Ok sure maybe, but we can't just leave people with Hurk, he can barely take care of himself, I want to at least set them up, so they'll be ok" Rook replied.

"You said it yourself, we need to hit peggies and hit them hard, why else have we been knocking out peggies left and right all day, why not just clear out everyone around his place, he's safe and we can get info, two birds with one stone" Jess tried to offer but let out more irritation then intended.

"Then more peggies will fill the void and come find out what happened in the first place" Rook retorted.

"Your so impossible sometimes" Jess growled in anger.

"Just chill ok, we will kill, I just want to make sure everyone is ok" Rook said, trying to calm her down.

"No dude, fuck off, this is stupid" Jess bit back, keeping her stance on the matter.

Rook felt he didn't have the time or patience when it came to dealing with her stubbornness, he knew she was just going to bitch and moan until he caved in or she just has enough and ran off somewhere else, and he didn't want her to be by herself in a place like the mountains.

"Tell you what Jess, once we get this over with, I'll let you decide how we do things for a bit, you can take the lead and deal with Jacob your way" Rook offered.

He wasn't too thrilled about giving Jess the reins as she knew just what kind of person she was, but he also knew what kind of person Jacob was, there was no way he could deal with the army vet by himself, he needed to fight hardcore with hardcore, even if that meant making a few sacrifices along the way.

Jess regarded rook for a moment as she almost looked down her nose at him.

"Your fucking serious, aren't you?" she asked.

"Aren't I always?" Rook countered.

"Alright Boy Scout, you got yourself a fuckin' deal" Jess said before hurrying passed Rook, catching up to Hurk.

Rook probably should have been worried how quickly Jess took the bait like that, but another part of him didn't care, he had a feeling just about everything up until Jacob is taken care of will have some sort of means to and end attached to it.

* * *

Just as Hurk said, it took them twenty minutes to get to the Drubman estate.

Perhaps it took a little longer then that as every now and again, they had to hide or sneak to avoid the patrolling groups of peggies in heavily armor trucks, Hurk sung songs of praise as the three of them walked up the driveway, happy that he made it without stopping to take a break as the house came into view. It was a simple wooden house with a porch and awning running along the front of the house, a few windows dotted the walls and a bulky air conditioning unit stuck out of the wall on the second floor, poorly tended flower bed lined the sides of the porch, a flagpole stood feet from the house, at the top, three American flags flew valiantly in the wind.

"This is it fam, Hurk's gate!" Hurk proclaimed proudly as they walked up the front yard to the house.

"Yeah cool man, nice place" Rook said quickly, more interested the people in need then the prominence of the estate.

Jess said nothing and kept following Rook, not wanting to be here, Hurk merely rambled on about something as the three approached the front porch, Rook didn't listen, he was to focused on inspect the house in case peggies tried to raid the premises.

Then Hurk hopped up the porch and stopped at the door before fishing out the keys and inserting it into the lock.

"Come on in, me casa eh su casa" Hurk said as he unlocked the door.

"I'm pretty sure it pronounced differently" Rook commented as the door swung open.

Hurk didn't give a response as he stepped inside his home

As soon as they entered, Rook could tell it was a fairly modest home, but there were very peculiar things that littered the house, be it hanging from walls or tucked in the corners of room, things Rook couldn't quite piece together why Hurk would have on display besides from letting guests know he had a hand in decorating the place.

"So how many people are here with you?" Rook asked as he examined the foyer, and more importantly watched Jess, who had the all to familiar mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh, you know, a few, c'mon I'll introduce y'all" Hurk said casually as he entered the room on Rook's immediate left.

"Yeah sure" Rook replied as he followed his friend into the next room.

By the way Hurk spoke, Rook assumed there was a few people were in the house, maybe a family, no more then six, but he quickly discovered he was sorely mistaken, as soon as he entered the living room, he saw that room was packed with men, woman and children, fifteen in all, all of various ages, some sat on the couch and other pieces of furniture, some leaned against walls or huddled together on the floor, trying to do something to kill time, they looked dirty and a little malnourished, their hair was a little to long to be stylish, but the second Rook, Hurk and Jess stepped into the room, everyone looked up at the newcomers with fear in their eyes, they had not seen anyone new in a time.

"It ain't just peggies and militia dudes out here" Hurk muttered as Rook took in the civilians.

Rook looked down at the scared people essentially trapped inside for their own good, chained to Hurk as he was the only one brave enough to go out and get what was needed.

"Hey y'all this is the guy I was talking about" Hurk said with a grin, putting an arm on Rook's shoulder and pointing a thumb at him with the other hand.

"This is my bud, Ben, the Junior Deputy" he boasted.

Upon hearing the newcomers name, Rook could see the civilians eyes light up and a few whispers were passed around, Rook wasn't sure if news of his slander had reached their ears or not, Hurk was no help figuring that out as he was either that relaxed when it came to death or the militia really does stay away from him.

Then someone from the back of the room stood up and stumbled towards Rook, the person was a woman, she was in her mid thirties and clothes were distressed along the edges and had seen far too much wear and tear, she lurched towards Rook almost as if her legs were not her own, most likely from lack of exercise within Hurk's walls,

She grabbed one of Rook's hands with both of hers and shook it vigorously before looking up at the Junior Deputy.

"Thank you… thank you, for all you have done, please, please, kill every last peggie, make them pay for what they did" She begged Rook with a fragile voice, shaking his hand all the while.

"Of course, I will take care of all this" Rook said, hoping to reassure the woman, hoping she would give back his hand and go back to whence she came.

But as seconds ticked by, she kept shaking his hand, almost whispering to herself her plea for help, it was clear something was wrong with her, then someone else rose from the crowd of people and approached the woman, they gently placed their hands one the woman's shoulders and pulled back slowly, by the woman's reaction, she must have understood what was going on and released Rook's hand before being shepherded back to a place to sit down, the woman quietly rambling to herself as she returned to her spot.

Rook watched the woman as she went in a state of awe, he had no idea there were even civilians in the mountains let alone what condition they would be in, the woman was in a perpetual state of shell shock, he couldn't imagine what state the children were in, he needed to get the out of the mountains and to the valley, it wasn't right to stuff this many people into one small house. There was no way all these people could live in a healthy manner like this for weeks if not months.

But one thing did spark Rook's curiosity; Hurk's dad, Hurk Senior, Rook knew exactly what kind of man he was, he was the type who wanted to deport all Canadians for some obscene reason and was almost hostile to his own son in regards to his decision making skills, there was no way Hurk Senior had been ok with sharing twenty something strangers for possibly weeks.

"Hurk can I talk to you for a moment?" Rook asked, grabbing Hurk's arm and pulled him into the adjacent room.,

"What's up Broski?" He asked as they entered the room.

"Hey uh, where's your dad in all this, I doubt he's cool about all this" Rook asked quietly.

"Well uh, you see" Hurk said uncomfortably as he rubbed the back of his neck, breaking eye contact with Rook.

"At some point while I was helpin' y'all down in th' valley, I guess Jacob's guys came in here and killed him, they tore up the place something fierce too, but noting I can't tape back together or cover up" Hurk said uncomfortably.

"Shit dude, I'm sorry to hear that, I'll make sure Jacob pays for what he did" Rook said, hoping to reassure his friend.

"Thanks Bro, but I could really use your help again, my Pa was always going on about how I was a good for nothing, so I guess I'm just tryin' to prove him wrong and help people, just like you Bro, and I can't get everything done by myself" Hurk explained.

Rook stared at Hurk for a few seconds, he could tell his words were genuine, he really wanted to help these people, but Rook had absolutely no faith Hurk could actually provide what these people needed to survive, but by god he refused to go crawling back to the militia for help.

"Is there anything I can do to help you keep these people safe?" Rook asked.

"Well we're short on food, unless you got some Doritos hidden somewhere, we got to go get some more" Hurk said.

"Well if you're in the red, I guess Jess and I could go hunting and bring a few deer's back" Rook offered only to have Jess in irritation.

"Oh no it's not like we need it ASAP, we got maybe two or three weeks left, but that goes fast y'know, I'm just trying to keep us out of the danger zone, it's what you would do, right?" Hurk asked.

"Right, obviously" Rook almost sighed, struggling not to strangle Hurk for wasting his time.

"But asides from food we're ok, peggies don't really come up here, I figure its on account of me bein' so fuckin' radical all day everyday, it's like you say Bro; be rad not bad" Hurk beamed.

"Hurk, I have not once said that ever in my life" Rook responded near instantly.

But Hurk didn't give his rebuttal, instead he just moved on as if Rook had agreed with him.

"So, how's shit going for you, are you moving with that militia yet?" Hurk asked.

"Uhhh, no not yet, but hey uh, bout them, have you talked to the militia, like at all?" Rook inquired.

"What you kidding?" Hurk giggled.

"The militia stays far the fuck away from me all the time, they can't handle my ways" He grinned.

"Ok that's good, don't let them in here, trust me, you do one thing wrong and they'll make you out to be a monster" Rook seethed a subtle anger.

"Uh yeah Bro, I hear yeah loud and clear, don't want 'em here anyways" Hurk nodded, picking up the venom hidden in his words.

Then the floorboards creaked softly behind Rook, the noise caused him to look over his shoulder in a fear of someone hostile was coming up behind him, but instead discovered Jess was leaning against the door frame and watched him impatiently, her arms were crossed, and fingers drummed against her arms, Rook couldn't blame her for wanting to go as soon as possible, yet again Hurk has wasted their time, he should have sent the man child on his way so they could have gone back to killing son of a bitch cultists and finding out Jacob's schedule,

"Hey since you seem fine to a degree here, me and Jess are going to head out" Rook said quickly.

"Aw really man, you wanna stay the night?" Hurk asked.

"No thank you man, we got things to do" Rook replied as he back pedaled, moving to the door.

By the creaks in the floorboards, he could tell Jess nearly ran for the door.

"Alright, that's cool man, you gotta save the day, I feel you" Hurk nodded.

And with that, Rook quickly turned around and hurried for the door, as he got close to it, he could see it was ever so slightly open, Jess had snuck out. As the door flew open and Rook swiftly left the house, Hurk warmly and loudly bid them farewell before closing the door again. As soon as Rook left the house he could see Jess hurrying down the driveway, not wanting to be left behind, he ran up and caught up to her, the second he caught up to her voiced, she voiced her thoughts.

"Fuck man, that was fucking gross in there" Jess gripped.

"I know, perhaps we can help the later down the line" Rook responded.

"We can help them by killing every peggie in the county" Jess whined.

"Your probably right but they need a better living condition" Rook spoke.

"Then let's get them out of the house by making it safer, let's go knock over some peggie infested sites near here" Jess offered, getting impatient again.

For thought about reprimanding Jess again for wanting to kill everyone in the area as that will just draw attention to Hurk's house, and that was something he couldn't abide by, but then again, he did really want to kill peggies as well, he wanted Jacob to feel the sting of losing people just as he did.

Change wasn't going to come easy, if he wanted it, he had to make it happened.

With a sigh he turned to his hooded companion.

"Alright, fine let's go" Rook nodded.

"Bout fuckin' time" Jess groaned before grabbing a hold on Rook and pulled him off into the unknown.

* * *

Just like the beginning of their day. Rook and Jess went from one site after another at Jess's discretion in hopes of killing more peggies, but once they finally arrived at the first makeshift campsite, equip with tables, desks and other furniture to be used as barricades and walls, but both of them were surprised to see not only were the locations were deserted, but the site was ransacked, tables were flipped, containers were upturned and their contents scattered along the ground, drawers ripped from desks, the place had been torn apart as the attackers had been looking for something, feeling disappointed her "fishing" spot had been poached, Jess lead Rook to another site nearby, but yet again, that spot to had been emptied and despoiled, making the pair to move again, but one after another, site after site, they discovered everything nearby had been all empty and vandalized, not even bodies could be seen, the only evidence that lives were taken were a few half-dried bloodstains most likely created from a person being hit by an arrow, the bodies nowhere in sight. Getting frustrated at the fruitlessness of their venture, they moved to another, as the afternoon turned over to the evening, they were zeroing in on site number eight.

"This is fucking bullshit, why the shit are the Whitetails suddenly so aggressive? I swear to God I'm going to fucking lose it if this place is fucked too" Jess growled in frustration as they walked through the woods, trying to find the campsite Jess once knew about.

"Maybe they're trying to camouflage their attacks inside of ours" Rook shrugged casually.

But deep down he was getting just as impatient as her, this isn't how he wanted to spend his time, he wanted to make a difference, not wander through the mountains.

"We haven't been here that long, there's no way they could hide behind our shit, there must be something going on" Jess theorized.

"Who knows, maybe they're just stepping up their game since things seem to be getting worse here" Rook gruffed.

"Fuck knows, those nerds are a really careful bunch" Jess spoke.

"No wonder you jumped ship when you did" Rook commented.

"See, told you I had my reasons" Jess laughed.

"Yeah, you're uh, a lot cooler than them, you'r-" tried to say before being cut off.

"Bu, bu, bu, shush now" Jess suddenly whispered loudly, waving a hand at him while shushing him as she lowered herself into her usual crouch.

"What?" Rook whisper shouted back, crouching slightly as her sudden change in demeanor made him nervous.

"We're getting close, come on" Jess signaled before moving faster, towards the site.

Rook wanted to call out to her to wait, but it was to late, she had already moved forward, to far away to hear his lowered tones, hoping she had the restraint not to do anything rash without him, Rook warily tried to catch up with her, ready for gunshots to ring out, but as he moved forward he heard none, instead he found Jess tucked behind a thick oak tree, peaking over the side, watching something, she briefly looked back at him to give him an order.

"Dude, check this out" She said, nodding towards whatever she was watching.

Rook sighed in annoyance as he did not enjoy Jess's need to run off ahead, he slowly worked is way over to her, taking his place next to her within some bushes, once he was comfy he was able to see what had Jess so engrossed, in front of the was the campsite they were supposed to hit, it was similar to what they had seen before, blood stained the ground here and there, a few boxes and containers were thrown to the ground and items discarded. But what was different from the previous seven sites was that there was a handful of Whitetail militiamen and woman combing through the site, seven in all, all looking for something.

"Goddammit, of course there's Whitetails out here" Rook sighed in frustration.

But Jess had a completely different line of thought.

"Look at that" Jess cackled lightly.

"They're a bunch of newbies" She giggled.

"What makes you say that?" Rook asked.

"Look at 'em, no one's on lookout, there all searching for something, I could pick them off one by one and no one would notice" Jess grinned sinisterly.

Rook examined the militiamen and woman before him, and he saw Jess was right, even he knew better then that, whoever these people were, they weren't used to doing what they were doing.

"So, you wanna go somewhere else?" Rook offered, really wanting to leave.

"Not yet, check this out" Jess said before standing up to full height and casually walked into the makeshift campsite.

As she walked in all the Whitetails were far to preoccupied with what they were doing to notice Jess nonchalantly enter.

"Well, well, well, what do we got here?" Jess said loudly as she entered the center of the site, her voice making all the Whitetails freeze and faced the new voice as fast as they could, expecting the worst.

"Looks like a bunch of greenhorns who didn't remember to keep an eye on their perimeter" Jess snarked,

"Your Jess Black, aren't you? Eli told is about you" one Whitetail claimed, stepping forward while everyone stayed back, unsure of what to do.

He was a younger male, barely a man and far to young to be killing to stay alive.

"Glad to see he hasn't forgotten about me just yet" Jess sneered as she shelved her hands in her hoodie's pockets.

"How could anyone forget you, you were like, one of the best there was until you ran off with that murder" the young man alleged.

"So, what are you grunts doing all the way out here, looking for your tampons?" Jess teased.

From the bushes, Rook growled to himself in displeasure.

"We're picking clean campsites, our mentors are emptying them and moving on while we comb through the sites" the man said.

"Looking for something good" Jess asked, taking a step towards the man, she was planning to squeeze everything she can out of him.

"The peggies are trying to landlock sections of the region, we're trying to find out what areas and how to sneak in, they're bound to be up to something really bad" he said.

Then another Whitetail quickly walked up to him and grabbed his arm tightly.

"Hey, shut up, you don't need to tell her anything, she's not with us anymore" She said sternly.

Then she turned to Jess who was lackadaisically watching.

"We have what we need, take whatever you want from this place and leave us alone, you're not getting anything from us" She said, just as sternly.

"I don't suppose it has anything to do with that?" Jess asked, pointing down at the woman's hand, not the one that was once on her cohorts' forearm, but her other on as she had a crumpled manila envelope clenched in her fist.

"We've been collecting bits and pieces all day, like I said, we are not giving you anything" The woman warned.

Still watching the whole exchange from a distance, Rook was growing increasingly annoyed, he was regretting allowing Jess to just wander out there, he knew she'd just pick a fight, and he was already villainized enough already, he didn't need Jess brand of madness weighing him down as well. Not wanting to let things go from bad to worse, he rose from the pushed and stomped towards Jess, the second he entered everyone's eyesight, everyone's attitude and posture changed, everyone became more wary and hide any visible anger to keep any altercations from occurring as Eli had instructed them. But one Whitetail, the one who engaged with Jess, he did not follow the rules given to him and made it clear how he felt.

"And why is _he_ here?" he spat in disgust that the Junior Deputy was before him.

"Excuse me?" Rook countered, not taking the man's attitude lightly.

"You heard me" He spat challengingly.

"We're no here to do business with you, so just go back to where you came from and let us work in peace" The man ordered.

"Tell you what, why don't you tell us what you know, and we'll leave, I just want to help people, I can't do that if I'm not informed on what's going on" Rook offered, trying to sound positive as he spoke, but he could feel the gravel tones deep down tried to climb it's way out.

"You want to help, you mean like those people in the lodge?!" The man challenged, a fist tightening around the bow on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't just through out rumors and half truths like that, that's how you divide a team" Rook growled, the gravel and grit, coating his words.

"Just help us out, Toady" Jess grinned dangerously.

The man stared at the two people hassling him for info, a series of emotions, trying to decide what to say, but before he could, the woman stepped in again.

"Sorry Deputy, we can't let you do that" the woman next to the man said assertively.

"We were told not to help you in any way, orders straight from Eli himself" she said.

Rook regarded the young man and woman, they we're basically kids, they didn't know right from wrong, they were just blindly following someone who they believed they knew what they were doing, a feeling he felt many times in his life, but regardless he couldn't let something like their feelings get in his way.

"Well nothing Eli won't know, won't hurt him" Rook said, trying to blow them off as he began walking forward again, an arm outstretched to snatch the worn-down envelope out of the Militia woman's hand.

But after a few steps, the Whitetail pulled back, moving away from Rook, denying him of what he wanted.

"We're not going to give you anything, kindly fuck off" he said, his words sounding more like a threat then a warning.

"I'm just trying to help! Stop getting in my way and let me do my job!" Rook cried angrily, he was losing his patience.

"You made it clear to us how you do your job, we don't want someone who has no problem killing innocent people to get the job done, we're trying to help the county, not ruin it" The militia woman declared.

"I'm not the bad guy here, we're all on the same side" Rook said.

He was getting very frustration at the kid's stubbornness.

"No, go away Deputy, we will not help you, we are leaving" the man said as he began walking backwards, away from Rook and Jess.

Something about the whole conversation was coalescing something in Rook and it was making him angrier and angrier, he was so sick and tired of the Militia fighting him despite it not even being twenty-four hours since he was kicked out, and he was done taking their shit.

"Shut up and stop fighting me!" Rook cried as he stormed forward, intent on relieving the children of their info

But his actions were not taken kindly.

"Back off Deputy!" The woman barked as she stepped back further as the man next to her removed his bow and quickly loaded an arrow into it.

The act made Rook stop in his tracks, as Jess was ready to jump at a moments notice, to either attack the militia members or to cover Rook, the other Whitetail around them shifted and moved, all on edge, they knew of what Rook was capable of.

"We will get aggressive if we have too" he threatened.

"I didn't do anything I wasn't told to do!" Rook exclaimed angrily.

"You were told to get visual conformation! But you didn't, you only poked your head in and listened! You killed those people and have no one to blame by yourself!" The whitetail declared sternly.

"You shut your Goddamn mouth!" Rook bellowed angerly, pointing an accusing finger at him.

These people knew how to press his buttons, and Rook hated it.

"Your surrounded Deputy, you know it and Miss Black knows it, so why not get the fuck out of here, I'm sure peggies are looking for you" The man warned.

As much as Rook hated to admit it, he knew the militiaman was right, he could see the whitetails flittering around in his peripherals, they were all nervous and ready to defend themselves if need be, seven versus two was an easy equation. Rook stared angrily at the kid who pushed against him, he was making himself sick with anger, people in the valley would be falling over themselves to help him, but the mountains were different, and Rook had to be as well.

Then Jess tugged his arm.

"Come on dude, they ain't gonna play ball, let's bounce and make a campsite and set up for the night, we can try some shit in the middle of the night" Jess growled lowly.

Rook continued to stare motionlessly at the Whitetails in front of him, seething in anger.

"Yeah sure, whatever" Rook growled be fore turning around and stopping back the way he came, the Whitetails behind him gave him a wide birth as he passed by.

Jess who had yet to move, regarded the man and woman who fought them.

"You're not going to survive like this" she said, looking down her nose at them before trailing after her partner.

"Neither will either of you" The man called out, wanting to get the last laugh.

But neither Huntress nor Junior Deputy offered a response as they left the campsite.

* * *

After forty-five minutes of walking, Rook and Jess found a comfy little spot among the trees and rocks of a small forest to set up for the night, but despite the long walk, Rook had not calmed down, if anything he was getting worse as he was left alone with his thoughts for the majority of the walk as Jess preferred the silence. Once they had finally settled down for the evening, a small fire pit was erected and a half dead log was rolled towards it to be used as a bench, once the site was as good as it could possibly be, Rook was left at the campsite while Jess hunted dinner, he wanted to join her but she declined his help, she claimed his anger would clout his judgment and skew the hunt, but they also need someone to guard the camp in case someone came wandering by, be it peggie or Militia. Not liking his situation Jess had given him her walkie talkie to hold on to temporarily so he may call a friend to calm down, as despite Jess's short temper, she would not put up with his all night, leaving Rook to stare down at the walkie impatiently half waiting for Jess to return and half thinking of someone to call. He fiddled with her walkie for a few moments, it was beat up and scuffed from prolonged neglect, no wonder she easily gave it to him. He didn't want to talk to Nick or Mary as they would ask more questions then give help and there was no way he'd call Sharky or Hurk, eventually his mind drifted over to one such "Friend" to call upon, Faith, but he felt uncertain about calling her, he felt their "Friendship" had been on the rocks recently as there conversations were becoming few and far between, and they were shorter and shorter each time, if he wanted to use her for information he'd need to try better with her, she extended the pseudo olive branch to him, she could easily retract it at any time.

Finally, he decided he needed to pay the woman a call and tuned the walkie to the frequency they normally used.

"Faith you home?" he gruffed.

But his question was only met with the silence within the white noise.

"Faith? Faith? You there?" He asked again, getting more annoyed.

But only more white noise crackled through the speaker.

With an exasperated sigh, Rook was ready to give up and go back to impatiently waiting for Jess, but before he could but the walkie down, the walkie crackled and buzzed to life.

"Benjamin, is that you?" Faith's voice came, she almost sounded surprised to her his voice.

"Yeah, it's me" Rook sighed, trying to calm down, even if slightly.

"Is everything alright, normally I am the one who calls you" Faith asked.

"Oh, things could be better" Rook growled in response.

"Ben are you ok, you seem very irritated" Faith asked, concerned.

"No, I am not ok Faith, I am angry, I am very angry, I have been for a while now!" Rook nearly exclaimed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Faith asked, a little surprised to hear Rook was so worked up.

"I have been made out to be a villain, people are treating me like I'm trying to hurt people" Rook spat scornfully.

"What happened?" Faith asked.

"Jacob put a bunch of innocent people in a building for some unknown reason and made me and the militia believe it was wolves, so we went to go blow up the building so he can't condition them, but when I blew it up we found out there were people inside and the militia blamed me for it, I checked inside, I checked just like they asked, but Jacob tricked me!" Rook almost yelled his angry tangent into his walkie.

"And now if you can believe it, they won't even share info with me when we bump into each other in the field, maybe if I had their info, maybe I can actually save people rather then hide in some bunker like a bunch of pack rats, obsessively scheming and plotting to survive for another day, maybe if they got off their asses and actually looked at stuff, I wouldn't have hurt those people Jacob tricked me with!" he fumed angrily.

"It's all Jacob's fault not mine, Jacob did it, not me" Rook ranted, his voice cracking as his anger quickly fizzled out as he tried to make it clear it wasn't his fault.

"It's not your fault" Faith said, trying to reaffirm him.

"I know, that's what I've been telling everyone, but no one believes me!" Rook cried in relief that someone was believing him.

"I'm not surprised this is happening, the militia are a bunch of bad guys" Faith said.

"Exactly!" Rook cried in agreement.

"Well ok, Eli is fine, I don't think he's a piece of shit, but everyone is, there all a bunch of gullible, inbred hicks, I don't think they care if a cult is taking over the county, they just want someone to shoot at!" Rook cried.

"Yes, the militia are bad people, I don't think you should associate with them, they can easily be tricked by Jacob and just want to use and discard you" Faith reassured him.

"Totally, that's why I'm doing this on my own, me an' Jess are out here, killing peggies, trying to get to Jacob, I'm going to show the militia how dumb they are, they'll regret being so blind"

"Why not come down to the Henbane, get away from all the war and violence, come to me and we can discuss this calmly like the mature adults we are" Faith offered.

"No, I can't do that Faith, no, no, no" Rook said quickly, shaking his head.

"I need to make him pay, I need to make Jacob pay for everything he's done, for making it look like I killed innocent people!" Rook cried.

"I believe your innocent Ben, all this killing and killing your planning to do won't clean the blood off your name, if we work together, we can accomplish your goal, I have connection, but I need you to come to me" Faith offered.

"Faith, I'm sorry, I'm not leaving the mountains, I need to clear my name and stop Jacob, I have to do what is right" Rook demanded.

"I'm worried what will happen if you do stay and try to fight, Ben you don't know my brother like I do, he won't go easy on you, he will throw everything he has at you if it completes his goals" Faith said, trying to talk her friend out of his plans.

"And so will I, I will throw everything at Jacob to stop him, I am a Junior Deputy of Montana, it is my duty to not rest until the people of this fair county are safe, through hell or high water, I will do whatever must be done to save the populace, no criminal will go unpunished" Rook preached.

"Ben you sound like those militiamen" Faith said, worried.

"I'm nothing like those in the militia!" Rook spat angrily.

"I don't know how they can live like they do, eating rations all day, not bathing, it's like the like that kind of thing, I for one don't, hell, I like… I like… I don't know what I like at the moment, but I know it's not living in the hole like a bunch of animals" Rook ranted, stuttering occasionally.

"Don't trust them Ben, they see you as a pawn, don't let them move you like one" Faith implored her friend.

"No need to worry, I got out of there this morning I think, I'm not going back there" Rook stated.

"And where will you go since you won't work with them?" Faith asked.

"I-I don't know, I'm sticking with Jess like always, we're going to kill every peggie we see, we'll fix the county" Rook preached.

"Jess? Whose Jess, you never spoke of her before" Faith inquired.

"Jess is a friend of mine, we've been working together for a long time now, we're really close, we've killed so many peggies and we won't stop" Rook stated gruffly.

"Well at the very least I'm lad your making friends and have someone who will keep you safe in these trying times" Faith said anxiously.

"Yeah, you should meet all the friends I have back in the Holland Valley, now those are good people" Rook said, thinking of all the people he could trust.

"How many friends have you made out there?" Faith asked.

Rook was about to answer, but a few sticks cracked, a hundred meters ahead of Rook, the noise, made him snap his head forward as he feared it to be peggies, or worse, Whitetails.

Rook watched his surroundings with baited breath as nothing suggested the source of the noise, his experience didn't let him relax, and since he couldn't see the possible threat, his hand slowly and subconsciously drifted for his bow that sat next to him on the log, ready to move at a moments notice.

Faith said something but Rook didn't perceive it, he was too focused on what was going on around him.

Then the perpetrator emerged from the leaves and trees, it made Rook let out a sigh of relief as he saw it was actually Jess returning to the campsite, but this time she came back with a triumphantly look as she held two dead rabbits in her clenched fist. But seeing the woman made him tense up in a quiet state of panic, he knew he had to end his conversation with Faith, if Jess found out, even everything they had been through, she'd probably kill him for it.

"Hey Faith, I got to go, some shit came up, I need to deal with it" Rook said quickly, not to loudly as he feared Jess hearing.

"Please call me back at a later date, I do wish to talk to you about a few things" Faith begged.

"Yeah sure, I'll do it later" Rook sighed as he clicked off the walkie before changing its channel.

Then Rook's eyes flicked back up to Jess who approached the campsite, unaware of what he was doing, Rook didn't say anything as she entered the campsite.

"We eatin' tonight boy" Jess grinned as she sat down on the log and placed the rabbits on the soon to be light fire pit.

"Nice work Jess" rook said, trying to sound innocent.

"this shit was easy, you should see what I could do in an hour" Jess remarked.

Thankfully by the way she spoke, it sounded like she believed him. Then Jess sat down next to him on the log, admiring her handiwork.

"So, anything happen while I was gone?" Jess asked.

"Nope, not a thing went down" Rook sighed.

"Sweet, if we're this deep in, no one can find us, that should be enough for you to do your planning bullshit or whatever you do" Jess sighed in dissatisfaction as she leaned back as much as she could on her log.

"That's not a bad idea, it wouldn't hurt to try to stay ahead" Rook remarked.

"So, what? let me guess, you wanna take the slow approach, you wanna interrogate more peggies, trying to scavenge little bits of info that we can use to get to Jacob right?" Jess asked.

"I don't know Jess" Rook sighed, leaning back into his portion of the log.

"Maybe you were right, maybe I should have listened to your more, maybe if we did things your way, maybe we wouldn't be where we are now" Rook guessed.

Jess stared at Rook in utter disbelief over what had just left his mouth, never had she expected him to say as such, but once the initial shock subsided she tilted her head back and laughed, it wasn't her usual, evil cackle, or her malicious haunting laugh, her laugh was soft and happy, like a girl with not a worry in the world, it even carried a squeak to it, like her lungs weren't used to laughing.

He couldn't help to feel a warmth wash over his face.

"You always laugh like that, Squeaky?" Rook teased.

Hearing that, Jess immediate turned to the Junior Deputy.

"Oh fuck off and die, bitch" Jess demanded, trying to stifle her laughed.

"Whatever you say, Squeaky" Rook replied as he turned himself away from her, facing back to the fire pit.

"I'm just glad you feel that way because we got a big day ahead of us" Jess grinned.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked.

"Well in case you forgot Boy Scout, you told me if I held on while you dealt with Drubman and his fuckin' gulag, then you would let me take the wheel and be the brains of the operation for a while" Jess said with a shark tooth grin.

"Yes, I do remember that" Rook nodded, remembering his promise to his friend.

"Good, get ready, we got some shit to do later tonight" Jess said

"What to you have planned?" Rook asked, noticing her subtle excitement.

"You'll just have to wait and see dude, it's going to be wild" she smirked.

* * *

**Hello everyone.**

**I'm sure you are all aware of what is going on in the world, covid-19 and how it is affecting the world. As of a little while ago, my province was declared a state of emergency and almost all business have shut down on the day to day, just as they have around the world, I for one am one of the lucky/unlucky few who have a job that is deemed "essential" Now that in it of itself is fine with me as I am at no risk of dying from such a disease as I am a healthy young adult, but regardless, a lot is changing in my life because of what's going on around me. Writing has been a passion of mine for a long time and I wish to do my best with what I love, and I believe quality is better then quantity, that being said I wish to say.**

**I am taking a small break from this story.**

**I feel my writing has declining these past few chapters and that is something I can not abide by, and with things getting worse and worse by the day, the odds of me holding a job is slowly shrinking and it is apparent to me that that fact and many other things in my life are distracting me from my passion, now I will say I'm possibly putting this on hold until Covid is gone.**

**I feel at most I will be not updating for a month, but with the way things are that could be longer.**

**I'm sorry if this is dis-satisfactory but I refuse to deliver a sub par product.**

**Peace and God bless.**

**K.B.K.**


	46. Chapter 46

When Rook walked through the door, he was not where he expected to be.

When he walked through the door, he was in the kitchen of his childhood home, and it was just as he remembered, nothing had changed since he had been in that very room months ago. The room still had slightly faded egg white coloured walls, pencil marks dotted the inside of the kitchen door that measured his height as he grew, the same tropical themed calendar his mother hung by the window that overlooked the backyard.

A framed photograph of him and his father on Rook's graduation from the police academy, both men clad in the uniform that pronounced their profession hung next to the old corded phone that rested in it's receiver mounted on the wall by the doorway, the table was still in the corner of the room with four chairs tucked around it, a single chair never used, except for guests, the gentle hum of the fridge filled the silent room.

Rook was unsure how he got here, what felt like hours ago, he was with Jess, by a campfire and chewing threw the gamey meat that was a rabbit, but now, he was back home in the adjacent state to Montana?

Unsure of what was going on, Rook wordlessly crossed the small kitchen and approached the table, he pulled back one of the chairs tucked into the table, then legs scraping across the ceramic tiles below, then sat down with hands folded in front of him, he didn't know what to do, he felt like he should wait for something, but at the same time, something most certainly felt off, how did he get home and where were his parents, by the sunlight shining through the window, it was still a warm summer day, barely noon, his father was indefinitely home, most his mother was an unknown element, she never stopped.

But regardless of either parents schedule, the house was silent, not a sound, other then the refrigerator, Rook knew he was home alone, years growing up in this very house taught him what every creak, groan, and shift of the house meant, and there were none. Rook looked down at his hands folded in front of him, resting on the table, he examined his hands and the table beneath it, the table still had its light nicks and marks from decades of use, and by the no existent use of gloves, so to did his hands. Then whatever Rook was thinking about was whisked away by the voice of his mother.

"Benjamin, sweetheart" her voice came from directly in front of him.

Hearing that, Rook's air caught in his throat, he was not expecting to hear his mother's voice, especially not from in front of him. He looked away from his hands and up at the voice, and sure enough, there she was, some how the woman that had raised him had somehow got into the seat across from him within the few seconds he was looking at his hands.

Rook stared at her from a few seconds, taking in her form, bewildered how she moved passed him and got to the seat with such speed and silence, while he saw she was exactly the same as when he last saw her; she still had lines under her eyes from constant work, her hair was in the ever-present messy bun, she still wore the apron that was her work uniform of the retail store she worked at, her voice carried a light, tired undertone to it, her age slowing her down faster then she would like too.

Rook felt something was off, it was almost like she was not her, but she looked and sounded the same, she even called him Benjamin, she always called him Benjamin, never Ben.

"M-Mom, what's going on? Where's dad?" Rook asked, leaning away from her slightly, unsure of what was going on.

"Everything is ok sweetie, your Father is fine" Rook's Mother said gently, not breaking eye contact with her son.

"What, what's going on? I was somewhere else, I was in Montana, a few minutes ago… I think, did you hear he come home, how long have I been home?" Rook asked, his voice raising slightly in concern, his anxiety rising quickly.

"It's ok Pumpkin, you were just having a bad dream, nothing to worry about right now" Rook's Mother said as her hand drifted across the table and gently squeezed his hand.

"Where's Dad?" Rook asked again, trying to assert importance on where his father was.

"Father is… doing the best he can, he has a lot on his plate, he has so much to do, but there are thing that are getting in his way" Rook's mother said, finally breaking her gaze and looking downwards.

"Mom seriously, what the hell is going on, Dad should not be on his own?!" Rook cried as he tried to stand up, he wanted to stand up, but he could not as it felt like his leg and turned to melted wax.

"Sweetheart, I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now, but there is only so much I can do, you'll understand in time" Rook's mother said, reaffirming her gaze with Rook.

"You see Benjamin, the world is not a kind place, there will be a lot of hardships and tough decisions ahead, and there will be no real right answer… not from your perspective at least, and sometimes fighting against it will just make things harder, nothing is going to come easy… What I am trying to say is your Father is trying to help you, he's been trying to help you for a long time, and you need to reach out to him if you want his help, but you will not like what will come from his help" Rook's mother spoke.

"Mom, I don't understand, what the hell is going on, did someone come by the house and say something do you, did they threaten you!?" Rook yelled, trying to rise from his seat, but he could not.

"Benjamin, everything is going to be ok, just trust your Father, I have told him what he needs to do, and he can do it, but only with your help… Please, help your Father sweetheart" Rook's mother said as she cast her eyes downward once more.

"What?! Mom how could you just let Dad go off on his own, you know he's not all there anymore, how could you?!" Rook screamed as he tried to pull his hand free from his Mother's grasp, but found just like his legs, he was unable too.

Then a vibrant white light flashed from the window, it wasn't a quick flash like from a camera but a long lasting one like a flash grenade going off, the light stung Rook's eyes and he could see the residuals of the light every time he blinked. Then everything began to shake, very softly at first, then it grew stronger and stronger, so much so that the cutlery rattled in their resting places, the photo and calendar slipped from the walls, it was like a earthquake was winding up as the once bright summer day out that was outside the window was quickly absorbed by black before a being replaced by a quickly growing red and orange as if a massive fire was being erected in the back yard, a massive unrelenting heat pushed against the walls of the house. His Mother was completely unfazed by what was going on, she sat unmoving, holding her son's hand has she stared at the table before her, tired and defeated, Rook begged his Mother to further explain what was going on but his voice was drowned out by unyielding winds that bombarded the house in one continuous gust, like the house was being subjected to the force of a massive leaf blower.

And then the house was destroyed by whatever was happening outside.

And then Rook woke.

He awoke from his stupor coughing and sputtering as if something polluted his lungs, he lurched forward, trying to clear his air ways. But all of Rook's commotion did not go unnoticed, the person next to him, hearing the noise, turned to address him.

"Dude, what the fuck? Did you fall asleep?" Jess scolded.

"What?" Rook coughed as he looked up at the person crouched next to him.

"I can't fucking believe you fucking fell asleep on a stakeout, asshole!" Jess groused.

"Stakeout?" Rook thought to himself as his air waves cleared.

As he felt his body normalize, he sat back up again and looked around to see the usual Montana landscape, trees, rocks, grass, a starry night sky, the chittering of night life insects, Jess angrily glaring at him, waiting for a response, he was glad to see that he was still in Hope's County so he may continue his work, but at the same time, he wished he really was at home, more then usual, his dream, or nightmare felt so real, as if he really was back in his childhood kitchen, but now that dream was just a fleeting memory, just as whatever he had schemed up with Jess, his eyes drifted back up to Jess.

"What the hell are we doing again?" He asked sheepishly.

"Are you fucking for real!?" Jess griped again before sighing angrily.

"Take a look, Boy Scout" She said as she grabbed Rook and dragged him to the other side of her person.

There he could see they were atop a valley's lip, and below them in the valley's stomach, would be a contender for Sharky's paradise

The compound below them was some shoddily made shanty town on wooden planks and scrap metal panels, the creators of the closely places dozen shacks did not know what they were doing, but the "shacks" weren't the only things in the valley, the place was filled with large, metal gas tanks surrounded the place, some were completely normal while other had their tops altered to spray a continuous stream of fire, smaller propane tanks littered the air like discarded trash and other large, highly flammable containers surrounded the air, other contained, others spewing fire.

"Jesus, Crap" Rook swore in awe, he could not believe something like this was left unattended as he could not see any signs of life inside the blazing maze.

"These fuck boys followed the Cook around like he was a Seed, they worshipped him, and now with him gone, those psychopaths have been trying to one up each other and the Cook to earn Jacob's favor, they've been burning each other, everyone and everything at every chance they get so Jacob will give them a ticket to paradise" Jess seethed.

"You can't be serious?" Rook asked, looking back up at his friend.

"Does it look like I'm fucking joking?" Jess almost yelled.

"Ok, ok, so how you want to deal with this?" Rook asked, trying to calm her down.

"With this, remember?" Jess groaned as she upholstered the grenade launcher Rook failed to notice from her shoulder.

"Holy crap, where'd we get that?" Rook asked, surprised Jess would have such a weapon.

"Dude, what the fuck, why are you forgetting everything?" Jess asked.

"Uhhh, no" Rook lied, not remembering.

"Fuck your hopeless" Jess groaned.

"Ok, ok, I get it" Rook sighed, trying to hide his annoyance of Jess's constant beratement.

"We're going to wait for the fuckers to come home then we blow them the fuck up, I mean look at their home, we could just got to drop a match and the whole place goes up in a big ball of fire" she said.

"So how long until they return?" Rook asked.

"Who knows, it's probably why you fell asleep like you did, we've been out here for a while" Jess replied.

"So how do you want to do to kill time, Squeaky?" Rook shrugged

"We don't, we will fucking sit here and wait, like we've been doing for hours" Jess affirmed.

"Oh, come on" Rook whined.

"We can be doing other things instead of waiting hours, we can be like, killing so many dudes in the hours we waited" he complained.

"Well to bad for you, you let me control what we do for a bit, so this is what we're doing" Jess affirmed.

"I mean I get it you want to kill these guys because of the Cook and all, but let's just blow up their place now, by the looks of things, these losers can't survive in the wild with no tools" Rook argued.

"Neither can you, but you don't here me complaining" Jess retorted.

"But I'm not friggin' crazy!" Rook declared.

Jess was about to say something, but her eyes flicked off Rook for a second to look over his shoulder and down over the valley, whatever she saw made her stop arguing.

"Here we go" Jess said pointed at the valley behind Rook.

Rook turned to see what she was look at and was met with a line off trucks came rolling in from the far side of the valley's stomach, three truck in all, the valley Rook and Jess were on was not that large or wide, nothing comparable to the Holland Valley, and they were close enough to hear the occupants of the vehicles whooping and hollering as the returned home, nearly all of them were firing off their flamethrowers of firearms out the windows or from the flatbed, excitedly returning from whatever they were doing. To Rook, they looked like a pack of post apocalyptic raiders returning from finishing their namesake, these men seemed wild, disconnected from reality, wild animals.

"Christ, how did they get like this, I thought Jacob had control over all his guys?" Rook asked, disgusted.

"I don't fucking know, it doesn't matter, they're going to die" Jess spat.

Rook silently agreed, leaving the two of them to watch the pack of animals return to their lair, as the line of trucks came to a stop on the edge of the flaming fortress, the truck in the back of the line broke off and pulled inside the inferno proper, it was then Rook and Jess could see that on the back of the last truck's flatbed was a cage just small enough to fit in the back, and within the cage was a few people, all crammed in far to tightly as the cage was overpacked.

"Shit, we got to help them!" Rook cried as he tried to stand up but was pulled back down by Jess.

"What the Christ are you doing!?" Rook hissed.

"Dude, it's to late, look" Jess said, looking back down into the pyromaniac's paradise.

Rook thought about shoving free from her grip and rushing down the small valley to free the people, but he would be quite literally running into an oven, and he would be outnumbered. Against everything is body screamed to do, Rook stood still and watched.

Down below, by now those within the truck with the cage on it, exited the vehicle and sauntered up to the cage as an excited crowd from the other truck began to gather, two men approached the cage and jumped up and grabbed the top of the cage and used their body weight to pull the cage out of the of the truck, making it tumble out of the flatbed, it hit the ground with a bang as hit the ground and the people in side, yelling in horror, the cage was on the ground for a handful of seconds as the peggies stepped away from the cage and brandished their flamethrowers before igniting the contents of the cage in walls of fire, the people in side screaming in horror as they just about melted, their screams of pain and horror echoed off the surroundings for all to hear.

"Christ on a crutch" Rook muttered to himself as he watched the burning cage.

"See what I mean, their just burning things for the sake of burning" Jess said quietly.

"They need to go" Rook said confidently.

"Now your speaking my language" Jess agreed.

"How do you want to do this?" Rook asked.

"I'm just going to walk right down there and fire" Jess said, brandishing the grenade launcher.

"Sounds good, that thing doesn't have the best range" Rook replied.

"Yeah, yeah, follow my lead" Jess said as she put away the launcher and prowled up to the ledge of the valley.

The valley was steep, but not steep enough to keep Jess from going down the side, as silent as the mouse, she slid down the side of the small valley with no one being none the wiser, and once she made it down, Rook followed suite, but not as silently or gracefully. Once they both made it to the bottom, they slowly crept towards the fiery shanty town, but kept a safe distance away as everything was about to go boom.

"Holy shit, this is going to be awesome" Jess giggled to herself.

"Keep it down, they might here us" Rook hushed.

"They can't hear us over each other and the flame vent things, we're good" Jess countered, trying to blow him off.

"But still, we've seen worse stuff, just do the thing and let's go" Rook said.

"Uh huh" Jess hummed as she equipped the grenade launcher once more.

She stared down at the device, examining it as she never really used firearms before, it was a foreign tool to her, a part of her wanted it to hand it over to Rook so he could do the deed effectively, but a more brash side of her wanted to do it, these fuckers were the Cook's followers after all, she needed to end it, she killed the Cook, she should take care of the rest as well.

"You know how to use that thing, right?" Rook asked, noticing how long Jess was taking.

"Of course, I know, just point, and shoot, you're not the only one how can use a gun" Jess quipped.

"Then let's get it done" Rook replied, gesturing for her to do what she needed to do.

Jess stared at the launcher in her hands for a few more seconds as if she second guessing herself before steeling herself and taking a few steps towards the shanty town, but still far enough away to protect her from any kind of dangerous blowback, she raised the launcher just as she had seen Rook do it so many times and fired.

The grenade sailed through the air and collided with at the biggest flame spewing propane tanks, making it become a miniature sun for a half second before becoming a destructive ball of death, launching superheated shrapnel everywhere, the ensuing explosion hit nearby shacks and other propane tanks, exploding them as well, the whooping peggies quickly went from celebrating to fearful as their home caught fire all around them, the large fires that went up quickly died out as their was no fuel to support them aside from the shacks, but that made the fires no less dangerous.

Jess fired a few more, in different directions, fanning out and delivering as much damage as she could. The intense heat blew outwards as the place went up in smoke and fire, so much so that Rook had to cover his face to protect his eyes and fear of losing his eyebrows. But even with his eyes protected he could still figure out what was going on, he could hear the propane tanks go boom, the crackling and collapsing of the wooden shacks, the occasional confused scream on a cultist, it was like listening to a disaster movie.

Eventually the heat subsided enough for Rook to uncover his face and see just what Jess had wrought; shacks had been reduced to piles of burning wood, pieces of exploded metal sporadically littered the ground, burning peggie bodies dotted the area, all cooking.

Not wanting to look at the scene any further, Rook looked over at his friend to see if she had felt like she got what she wanted, but when he did, he could see there was a lack of light in Jess's eyes, sure there was that light was only visible when she was killing peggies, but this was different, she looked, downtrodden, hollow.

"Hey Squeaky, you good to go?" Rook asked, hoping to get a rise out of here and switch her focus.

"M' fine" Jess muttered as the grenade launcher fell from her grip and clattered to the ground before dragging herself into what was left of the shanty town, most likely to inspect her work.

Rook remained silent and let her make sure everyone was dead, he also wanted to make sure ever sick son of a bitch that was down with burning people alive was dead, but even if he didn't, he didn't believe he could stop Jess from searching the camp, even if it clearly bothered her, but who could blame her. Despite these pyromaniac cultists totally deserving what was happening to them, it also greatly unnerved Rook, all of it looked like something out of a war documentary; the engulfing fire that ate the surroundings, the dying moans of agony, the smell of ash and burnt meat and Jess who stood in the middle of it all, with a dying fire behind her, she was deeply examining her work, taking in every bit of damage, at one point it looked like she was about to jump to a pile a burning tinder to make sure there was nothing living underneath it.

All of it made Rook think back on that strange dream he had before all this happened.

Eventually Jess got her fill of the carnage that she created before turning back to Rook and slowly made her way back to him, she still did not look good, her eyes gave her away.

As she made her way to Rook who still stood on the edge of the burning shanty town, she passed by what was left of one of the pathetic wooden shacks, a ruin, burned hand emerged from the pile of burning lumber, their blacked digging into the smoky dirt and pulled themselves forward, revealing his form, the man was clearly scorched from the intense blaze, that and he was battered from the burning shack collapsing upon him, the man looked like a corpse, burned red and black, powered solely on willpower, he dragged himself half free from the ruins before his arms gave out, unable to go any further. With movement now lost to him, the cultist instead dragged his hand forward again, but this time he numbly touched Jess's ankle as she passed, his lips barely moved in an attempt to say something, but no words left his lips.

Feeling something touch her, Jess wordlessly, looked down and examined the half dead man, now numbly clawing at her boot for help for a few seconds before she raised the clawed at leg and stomped down as hard as she could, directly on the man's head, the man made no sound as the force smashed against his head, he just tried to uselessly drag his dead body forward, then Jess stomped and stomped again, grunting as she slowly crushed the man's skull, stomp after stomp, her grunting became swears, quiet as whispers that grew into shouts.

Then the man's skull collapsed in on itself.

But yet, Jess did not stop, she continued to stomp the man's head, yelling her curses at the corpse, it was clear to Rook who had observed from a distance, saw that she was lost in her emotions, she needed to be stopped, very cautiously he approached Jess, coming up to her side so she could see him coming and walked right up next to her.

"Jess, you got him" Rook said in a loud voice.

But she did not hear him, she was far to distracted with what she was doing.

"Jess come on" Rook said again, a little louder as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

But the second Rook touched Jess, she snapped and lashed out, reflexively shirking him off and moving to hit him back.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! It's me!" Rook yelled as he tried to pull back.

Upon hearing his voice, Jess realized who she was snapping at and stopped mid swing.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Jess spat as she pulled herself back.

"What the hell am I doing? Look at what the hell your doing!"

"I'm killing a fucking peggie!" Jess angrily retorted.

"He's been dead for a while now, I mean Christ, look at what the hell you did!" Rook scolded, pointing down at the man's head.

Jess looked down to see that the man's head looked like a smashed pumpkin.

Despite her lust for killing cultists, deep down Jess could see what Rook was talking about, what she was doing was sloppy, her grandmother taught her to be so much better than this.

"Come on, take a minute and pull yourself to pull yourself together" Rook ordered gently.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Jess sighed as she looked away from Rook and the body so she could drag her boot along the ground a few times to scrap the gore from the bottom of her boot.

Rook watched her calm down for a few moments before turning to leave, there was no way he was going back up the valley wall, instead he chose to go where the peggie trucks had come from, the mouth of the valley, as he made his way out, with Jess slowly following behind, he passed by a particularly bigger wooden shack, he could help but notice a set of Bilco doors embedded into the ground directly next to what as once the shack, the doors were charred and stained with scorch marks, the bulk of the fire didn't touch it due to the doors being at the ground, Rook knew what Bilco doors were used for, the doors had to mean that the shanty town had to have been built directly over some kind of bunker, there was no locking mechanism on the doors so there was no reason to believe it was locked.

Curious, Rook approached the burn sodden door and yanked them open, the hinges creaking and squeaking as they moved, the doors making a thud as they opened all the way and hit the scorched earth, revealing their contents, a cold lonely staircase that lead down to somewhere unseen due to the sheer darkness at the bottom, save for the faintest of lights at what was possibly the far end of the room, but it didn't help that it was the dead of night, the stairs went down deep enough that it looked like the floor was seven feet below.

"You're really going to go down there?" Jess asked, giving Rook a glare.

"You want to kill all the peggies right? let's see if we did the thing" Rook shrugged before descending down the stairs, bow now in hand.

Jess rolled her eyes and watched Rook go down the stairs before following him after a few steps, Rook carefully stepped down the stairs, expecting to be attacked at any moment, but nothing came, he didn't see or hear any enemies, but what he did see was a dim light at the bottom of the staircase which piqued his interest. Once he got to the both off the stairs, the room opened up into a bigger rectangular room, from the inside, it looked like the bunker was actually just a buried shipping container with a staircase built into the side, but Rook was not interested in fundamentals of the bunker, instead he was marveling at what was inside, the room was full of equipment, two dozen bows, quivers full of arrows, camping equipment, survival guides and clothes, everything one would need to be totally self sufficient in the wild.

"Holy shit, why do they have all of this?!" Rook cried in awe.

"They probably took all this stuff off their victims and stored it in here, maybe they wanted to give it to Jacob?" Jess guessed, uninterested.

"This is a lot of shit" Rook replied.

"To bad we can't use any of it, come on, let's go" Jess sighed before turning and leaving the room.

Rook heard what she said, but he refused to accept that truth, this room was full of so much because so many had been killed, he couldn't let that sacrifice go unused, nor the resources left behind, his mind spun, trying to figure out to make use of such a gift.

Then he had an idea.

"We should give these to the people who are camped at Hurk's place" Rook stated.

"Why?" Jess asked, looking at Rook from the doorway like he had said something crazy.

"I didn't see any guns or weapons while we were there, they need something to protect themselves with" Rook declared.

"I'm sure they will be just fine on their own, Drubman has a rocket launcher" Jedd said, still disinterested.

"Yes, but counter point, Hurk has a rocket launcher, would you want that as your first and last line of defense?" Rook asked.

"Ok when it's like that then no, no way in fuck do I trust that, but still that doesn't mean I'm going to help them" Jess groaned.

"Well then you can do your own thing because this is what I'm going to do" Rook said as he walked deeper into the room and grabbed as much as he could.

"You can either help me and make this go faster or you can run off somewhere and leave my to my own devices" he said as he tried to carry it out of the room.

Jess was silent for a few seconds, weighing her options, he had a point, and she did not want to be left alone.

With a groan and a curse Jess resigned herself into helping the Boy Scout in emptying out the impromptu bunker, and was barely able to fit it all in the back of one of the pickup trucks that the peggies rolled up in a little while ago. Thankfully the trucks were relatively ok as some of them had pulled up on the edge of town, they were fine enough to be driven for a while, just long enough to get to Hurk's home and then to wherever they wanted to go after that despite the scorch marks and coin sized holes in the metal. Somehow, someway they were able to get to Hurk's home without and peggie incursions, but that did not keep Rook from being painfully careful, he had developed a fear of driving around the mountains due to being ripped from the last car he was in and brainwashed. Once they finally made it to Hurk's house, they quickly began unloading the contents of the truck before knocking on Hurk's door, Hurk was very happy to receive such gifts from a friend, but Rook made Hurk doubly promise that Hurk would not horde the new equipment for himself in some wild endeavour he deemed _totally radical _and instead make sure it would be used to benefit the poor people trapped up within his house like the ill, quarantined for the good of all. Rook made sure that the goods were distributed evenly throughout the group of people, some were elated over receiving a means to protect themselves and more with the survival guides, they were ready to learn how to use what they were given while others were quite anxious or even afraid of what they were given bows and arrows were a stark contrast to the gun they were used to, more so to the people who had never killed anything as they were just scared civilians, regardless the mixed feelings of the group, before Rook departed the Drubman residence, he imparted to them a speech, he hoped his words gave those scared people some kind of hope or determination so they would push themselves into using and getting skilled what they were given, even if a single person was willing to fight against the cult, then there was still a chance of victory. Once Rook's business was done, he and Jess drove back to the campsite they established before going after the Cook's following, Rook dropped Jess off nearby the camp before taking off, he wanted to take the vehicle away from the campsite to abandon it so no one would investigate. By the time Rook left the truck behind, it would be daybreak in a few hours, and both Junior Deputy and Huntress were tired, once he returned to their little camp, he wanted to settle down to sleep through what was left of the night.

Rook sighed as he trudged down the side of the road, he was starting to regret driving so far way, he was getting far too paranoid for his liking as his eyes darted to every little movement in his vison, be it the swaying of tree branches or animals, fearing Jacob's men to jump out and attack him again, not only that, his exhaustion was catching up too him.

As he trekked down the long-abandoned roadside, the walkie talkie that Jess had leant him hours ago crackled, and Faith Seed's voice came sighing out.

"Benjamin, are you there?" She asked.

Rook removed the walkie from his hip as his eyes constantly scanned his surroundings, tracking every little instance of movement, expecting this conversation to lower his guard.

"What'd up?" he asked.

"I wanted to check up on you, the last few times we spoke, you were quite angry, and I just want to make sure your ok, Your running around in the mountain area after all" Faith spoke.

"I'm fine" Rook said gruffly.

"You know, I have a hard time believing that" Faith prodded.

"I don't know what else to say, I'm alive, that's a hard thing to be these days" Rook said.

"Yes and that's why I'm asking you, it's a hard life out there, and I want to make sure your faring well, I know how much helping people in need means to you" Faith remarked.

"People are dying out here everyday and I can't save everyone, peggies are going crazy out here" Rook stated.

"Just try to stay safe, eat three times a day, and make smart decisions" Faith offered.

"Yes ma'am" Rook responded.

Faith did not respond for a few seconds, leaving the two in silence, Rook did not blame her for the unusual silence, he was not being very talkative tonight.

"Hey Ben, can I ask you a question?" Faith asked, breaking the silence.

"Well your kind of just did" Rook joked, trying to break the mood.

"Oh, come on, you know what I mean" faith replied, trying to suppress a giggle, before clearing her throat.

"When we were up on that lookout tower a few weeks ago, I told you all about myself, my life in its entirety, the good and the bad, but... I never gave you a chance to open up about yourself, would you mind if I asked you about your life" Faith asked.

"Wait really, you want to know about my life?" Rook said, almost not believing what he was hearing.

"Yes Benjamin, I wish to learn about my friend, I want to know you, I care about you, I can't imagine what being out there all day is like, getting things off your chest will make you feel better, so why not start with small things, like your past, so we can be even and we'll both have nothing to hide" Faith suggested.

"I really don't know what to say, I didn't have a real remarkable life, I'm just some guy" Rook said.

"But you're some guy that I am interested in, so please, tell me about yourself" Faith asked.

Rook sighed as he thought about what to say, he did not care anymore, it was not like she could use it against him.

"I was born and raised one state over in Wyoming, some tiny little place; Rock Springs, nothing really happened out there or to me, just usual childhood, my father was a police officer and my mother works retail. I was always in love with music for as long as I can remember, I was in that crappy garage band with my friends, I played the guitar, we didn't really get any traction, or ground swell, our band; Dead On Arrival didn't really go anywhere, who knows, maybe it would have if I focused on it instead of uhhhh... but uh... If my final year of high school... My uh... My, my dad... The police officer uhhhh..." Rook stutter and pausing randomly as the subject of his father was accidentally brought up. It was something he rarely talked to anyone about.

"Are you ok Ben, you sound troubled" Faith asked, concerned.

But Rook did not acknowledge the question.

"He was uh... Responding to a breaking an entering... And uh, his partner was checking something out... Away from him and uh, the burglar or whoever snuck up behind him an uhhh... I guess he had a wrench a hammer or something and they hit him over the head, my dad is a tough guy, years on the force will do that to you and well... The hit didn't uhm, it didn't knock him out or make him fall over or anything, I guess he sort of... stumbled instead, which made the guy... Uhm, it uh, made him it my dad over the head again, same place as uh, the first time, it didn't kill him or anything... He is fine but uhhh... He has really, really bad memory problems, they uh, had to take him off the force because of it, took his driver's license too... sometimes he thinks he still has a job and tries to get in uniform early in the morning, me and my Ma really gotta keep an eye on him sometimes, but he tries to not let affect him, but I know it does... I could see the shame in his eyes, it kills him when he sometimes struggles to remember his only child's name... I know my Ma was not the biggest fan of me being an officer too but uh... I just had to do something y'know... and know with me hear in the county, probably written off as dead, if my Ma is hiding her grief, then my dad probably thinks everything is perfectly fine"

Faith was silent for a few seconds, most likely trying to figure out what was the best thing to say and make him feel better, as she always did.

"Benjamin, I'm so terribly sorry to here that, that's truly awful" Faith said heartfully.

"It's fine, it was years ago" Rook sighed.

"What happened must have been very traumatic for you, I can't image having to cope with that" Faith responded.

"I found a few ways, music was one of them" Rook muttered.

"But speaking of music, isn't there already an established band called Dead on Arrival?" Faith asked.

Rook was internally glad she was moving the conversation along.

"Yeah… we didn't really find out until we got some shirts and stuff printed, so we just planned to roll with it, I didn't make to much of a fuss about it, I didn't think we'd get _that_ big" Rook stated.

"Tell me more about your band playing days" Faith asked.

"There isn't too much to tell, me and a few friends just enjoy music and tried to get up there with the greats, but we didn't really get anywhere, at one point I thought we would at our high school talent show, but the crowd wasn't feeling what we were putting out, but we kept trying, doing a few thing here and there, but that kinda made things simmer down, that and my uh, dad, kinda made me lose focus on everything for a while" Rook said.

"How long have you been playing guitar?" Faith asked.

"I don't know, I think since I was ten so like, fifteen years now I think" Rook responded.

"You must be quite skilled, I would love to hear you play sometimes" Faith offered.

"It would just be me doing covers, I never wrote anything, it was all my band leader, he spearheaded all that" Rook supposed.

"I see nothing wrong with that, music is beautiful" Faith responded.

"Just don't ask me to sing" Rook joked.

"Fair enough" Faith giggled.

"So how are you faring out there, do you have a safe place to sleep?" she asked.

"I'm uh, camping out in the middle of nowhere" as he stepped off the road, turning ninety degrees and into the woods where Jess was waiting.

Knowing he was getting close to her, he had to wrap things up with Faith fast so Jess would not hear, but he needed to not be a dick this time.

"Hey, it's like, two in the morning or something, why are you awake?" Rook asked.

"I'm a busy woman, with… John's passing, there has been a influx of followers in my flock, and I've been trying to make sure everyone is integrating well, John's flock is rather skittish, it's like they feared him or something" Faith explained.

"Hm, I couldn't imagine why" Rook said, biting his tongue to hide his sarcasm.

"I feel like John may have indulged a little too much" Faith said awkwardly.

"I can agree with that" Rook said just as awkwardly, he could feel the sudden shift in tone.

Faith was silent for a few moments, as if she were gearing up for something.

"Benjamin I will not beat around the bush with you, I am not happy at all that you murdered my brother, I know he wasn't perfect but that doesn't give you the right to take his life, but I am willing to put it behind me, I can forgive my enemy for the good of all, I will not scold you for your decisions, but please, think about what your doing, all this indiscriminate killing will not go unnoticed in the eyes of God, there is only so much you can get away with before you become unsavable, please, stop this and come to the Henbane River, we can talk thing out like adults and I can have you safely brought into our project, no one will rise against you, and together we can save so many lives, no more fear, no more pain, just love, please Benjamin help me help you" Faith implored.

"Faith, I…" Rook sighed, not wanting to go down this road another time.

"It's quite alright, say no more" Faith said quickly. Knowing what was to come.

"Very well, I can not force you into this, if you do not wish to join then so be it, we have all the time left in the world for me to convince you, but if you will excuse me, I have a lot of work to attend to and I would like to get ahead of it, goodbye" she said bluntly before the walkie clicked dead.

Rook looked down at the walkie talkie, surprised the way that conversation went, Faith was not the type to just abruptly end a conversation like that, but who was he to argue, he needed to end the conversation quickly so Jess wouldn't hear her. He wordlessly holstered the walkie and quietly crept through woods, and after a while, with no peggie intervention he was finally able to regroup with Jess who was patiently waited at their makeshift camp. And in usual Jess fashion, she was not interested in talking, instead she was more interested in securing the before going to sleep, which Rook helped with. Once everything was deemed safe, the two hunkered down in the dirt and grass and promptly fell asleep.

Rook was awoken by the sounds of panting and whimpering, unsure of what was going on, he sat up from the dirt ground that was his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, as his eyes adjusted to the level of light he could see through the trees that surrounded him that sunlight was slowly peaking over the horizon, lightly tinting the sky with dim light, with him being fully conscious now, he quickly concluded that the noises were not from some sort of animal, or even worse, a peggie, instead the noise was quite close near by, near Jess.

He looked over to his side to see Jess, a few meters away, also sleeping on the ground, but sleeping was a hard word to describe what she was doing, instead of slumbering peacefully, she was tossing and turning in her sleep, muttering in scared squeaky voice, twitching and moving, she was clearly having a very bad nightmare. Whatever she was saying was inaudible to Rook, but he didn't need to hear her to know what was going on, her earlier behaviour gave it way, she was having a nightmare of fire and burning, even when he was dead, the Cook still haunted her.

Seeing all this, he crawled over too her and slowly reached out a hand to wake her up, hoping to free her from her mental prison, but the second he slightly shook her, she snapped to life, rising from her spot with a loud yelp a hand darted to Rook's throat, squeezing him tightly and her other hand futility pummelled his stomach.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! It's me, Ben, it's ok!" Rook croaked as he struggled to breathe.

But he was unsure if his words reached her as she still grunted and panted as she ineffectively punched him over and over again, moving purely on the reflects that kept her alive for so long.

"Jess, it's me Boy Scout, your ok, everything is safe" Rook croaked as he tried to free himself from her grip as her fingers dug painfully into his neck.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you're my friend, I care about you" he cried.

With a gasp, Jess shuttered as awareness returned to her, taking in what was happening and what she was doing, her hand did not leave his neck, but her grip completely relaxed, allowing him to breathe unobstructed once more, feeling air rush through his lungs again, Rook made it a point to check on his panicking friend.

"Hey are you ok?" Rook asked as he looked down at his friend who looked like she was about to crumple in front of him.

But when he looked down at her, he could see behind the tears, was true unadulterated fear in her eyes, Jess was truly afraid of what was haunting her mind.

Then Jess did the unexpected, surprising Rook, she removed her hand on her friend's throat before she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him close, burying her face in his shoulder, her body shutter before she started sobbing, her cries muffled by the fabric, Rook could feel his shoulder quickly becoming flush with tears.

Rook was not expecting Jess to show such weakness, such vulnerability, and to him no less, but again he still couldn't blame her, she was haunted by the man who killed her family and essentially stole her future, it was clear she was never going to get away from all this, she was stuck if fire and fear. It was clear he couldn't just talk her about of her fears, not without a psychology degree, instead he decided to be there for her physically, he decided to be a shield for her, to shake off the fear that hung to her like cobwebs or someone to talk to when things got hard, years of solitude have taken a toll on her, and he wanted to guide her back to the path of safety.

Rook returned the embrace and tightened his arms around her, trying to give her some semblance of safety, she had done so much for him, he had to do something, he needed to be there for the friend who he cared about so much.

"It's ok Squeaky, I got you, nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here, it's ok" Rook hushed, trying to comfort his friend.

But Jess continued to cry and wail into his shoulder, her hold on him increasing in time.

"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise, I will never abandon you" he said as he gently rubbed her back.

Rook was so focused on trying to stop the cult and save the people who couldn't save themselves that he didn't see the person who was next to him the while time silently needed help, she was quietly suffering, and he had been overlooking her, but he decided no more, he would but her at the top of his list, she would be priority number one now, she was his partner and he needed to act like it. As Jess continued to soak his shoulder, clinging to him, Rook silently vowed to eliminate anything that dared harm her just as she watched over him all this time, and as he ran through all the different ways he could keep

Jess safe, one prevailing ideal kept surfacing to the top, it was once that he wholeheartedly agreed with.

He will personally make Joseph pay.


	47. Chapter 47

When Rook awoke once more, his vision was met with blue skies that dotted with white fluffy clouds, a stark contrast to the last time he woke up.

With a groan, he rose from the dirt patch he slept on, it was not the most comfortable thing in the world as his back didn't agree with it, once he was back on his feet he did his mandatory scan of his surrounding to make sure no peggies were about to get the jump on him, but he quickly saw no one was slinking through the trees, ready to kill him. As he grabbed his bow and quiver and prepared for the day, from within the little forest he was camping in, the world was silent, no gunshots, no yelling, no death, just nature, all around him, Rook could hear bird calls and glimpses of herbivores foraging for their morning meal. And for some reason it put him on edge, he was so used to the fighting, the violence, the death, anything else felt foreign these days, now with every snapping twig an herbivore stepped on, Rook's ears perked up, believing it to be peggies, it made him want to leave the woods and get back to the world of violence that somehow felt normal to him.

Ready to start his day and eager to kill peggies for the good of justice, Rook turned to the spot of ground where Jess slept to wake her up, but as he did, he quickly realized Jess was not only not where she was last, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing his friend gone without a trace, he quickly and nervously looked around his surroundings once more, looking for some sign of what happened to her but could not find anything, and it made Rook's nerves fray. The last time he saw Jess, she was not in a good state of mind whatsoever, and who knows what kind of repercussions that would have on her waking mind. He staggered a few meters out of their camp, he was starting to lightly pant in anxiety over what could have happened, who knows what she could be doing right now.

He brought shaking hands to his mouth before hollering Jess's name a few times, but his cries were only met with silence, seeing as Jess was nowhere near his voice range, he began pacing in tight circles, running his hands through his hair a few times, muttering to himself, trying to figure out, some kind of plan to track down his only ally.

His mind flittered through all the nearby places that peggies populated, all the places Jess could have ran to in hopes of killing the cultists, there were a few places close by, enough for her to get too, and in turn, close enough for him to get to.

Rook steeled himself, ready to go knock over place after place, hoping to find Jess, as his emotions fell into place, trying to get himself ready for the task at hand, a voice spoke to him.

"The fuck are you doing, dude?" Jess's voice came from behind him.

Rook whipped around to the source of the voice to see Jess standing a few meters away from him, eyeing him curiously. she wasn't wearing her usual jacket, not only that but she wasn't wearing her undershirt, she was just about topless except for a very old and ratty black bra, frayed from years of use, it looked like she had worn it for years on end.

Rook continued to take in her visage for a few more seconds, doing so, he was that her jacket and undershirt were being carried under her arm, and by the looks of them, they look slick with moisture.

"Where the hell did you go, I woke up and you were gone?!" Rook cried, taking a step towards her.

"I went down to a nearby river and washed my clothes, they really smelt like blood and ash, animals can smell that for miles and at the way we move it won't be long till people smell it" Jess explained.

"And you couldn't have been bothered to let me know!?" Rook gripped.

"Oh yeah sure dude, I'll write you a note next time" Jess groaned, rolling her eyes before walking over to the campsite.

Rook silently watched Jess stride over to the camp, seeing that she was alright, a tidal wave of relief washed over him, he brought his hands up and buried his face in them and sighed deeply, feeling some semblance of calm return to him now that she was safe. Rook removed the hands from his face and shook them vigorously as if to shake out all the bad emotions before turning to join Jess at the camp site.

He sauntered over to the campsite and sat down on the other end of the log Jess was at and got comfy, out the corner of his eye he could see Jess just sitting there with her shirt and jacket on her lap, it was like see was just sitting there, enjoying the crisp summer morning, he also couldn't help but notice that she wasn't putting on her clothes, she didn't even look like she was planning to put it on anytime soon, it didn't bother him that she chose to remain topless, but his hormones did, he didn't remember the last line he was in a situation this intimate, he didn't expect things to get risque, but his body said otherwise, and by now, Jess must have noticed his wandering eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know I'm shirtless calm down, it's just tits, nothing to make a big deal of" Jess said, monotone.

"Uh yeah, I agree" Rook said, trying to sound just as casual.

"Really? Cuz your leg says otherwise" Jess replied.

Rook wasn't sure what she meant by that until he looked down to see one of his legs were bouncing up in down sporadically without his knowledge.

In his defense, his reaction wasn't abnormal, Jess did have all the right curves to Rook, though he wouldn't admit it.

"So, what do you wanna do today, Squeaky?" Rook asked, clearing his throat and forcing his leg to a stop, trying to move away from the subject.

"What we do everyday, kill peggies" Jess replied curtly.

"I'm down to kill every peggie we come across, but if we're just going to kill indiscriminately for the foreseeable future, then I feel we need a better place to hide out at, we have no protection out here" Rook suggested.

Jess was silent for a few moments, thinking on his words, he agreed with him, but the only viable place to stow a way was a place she almost feared to go, but they we're as good as dead if they continued to sleep on the ground every night.

With a gruff sigh, Jess gathered up her clothes and equipment before standing up and walking away from Rook and the campsite.

"Come on Dude, I know a place" she said sternly.

"What, right now?" Rook asked, surprised.

"Yeah, let's move" Jess responded as she did not wait for him.

Still surprised, Rook jumped up from his seat and gathered up his things before chasing after Jess.

* * *

Throughout their trek, Rook repeatedly tried to engage Jess in some sort of conversation, but every time, Jess made it clear she wasn't going to play ball, which Rook picked up on and was worried about it, this wasn't her usual tough girl attitude, something was going on with her to keep her quiet, Rook believed it to be the product of their little heart to heart last night, he wasn't sure if he should talk to her about those events, her eerie silence wasn't going to give anything away.

As the sun rose higher and higher in the sky and the summer heat slowly came back, the duo finally arrived at their destination, a single building Jess believed to be safe enough for them, the building before them was one Rook did not expect, the building was a single story home, time was slowly reclaiming it, the exterior paint was dulled and peeling from the walls, many of the windows were smashed and boarded over, small scorch marks dotted the front of the house here and there, the roof's shingles were deteriorating, and vegetation threatened to swallow the building whole as vines, grass and moss slowly crept up the side.

"Jess, where are we?" Rook asked as he watched her approach the front door.

"Home sweet home" She said as she forced up the previously stuck door, causing a plume of dust to fall from above the door.

He didn't want to consider such a decrepit place home, but it did look like no one had been here for a long time, so he didn't complain, wordlessly he followed behind Jess, closing the creaky door behind him.

And to his surprise, the interior was just as bad as the exterior, despite the low level of light, he can see the place's condition, the hardwood floor creaked and threaten to snap with every step, a few blades of grass poked in between the boards here and there, the whole place smelled of mildew and had one or two fist sized holes in on corner on the main hall, the ceiling was marked with water spots from the ruined roof, the whole place looked like it was going to collapse any day now.

"What a place, huh?" Rook remarked, taking the place in.

Jess merely hummed in acknowledgement has she continued down the hall and into the main living room.

"So uh, how'd you find this place?" Rook asked.

"I just always known about this place" Jess replied, not skipping a beat.

"Well this place does look like it's always been here" Rook offered as he followed her into the living room.

"Yeah I guess" Jess sighed as she walked up to an old ratted couch in the corner of the room and dropped down on the old couch, before tossing her clothes on the couch's arm, the springs groaning from the weight as she stretched out over the couch,

"This place looks like where a serial killer kills people but hey, this place does offer a lot more safety then outside" Rook said as he sat down in an equally ruined reclining chair.

"That's arguable but whatever" Jess groaned as she thought about putting her shirt back on.

"It could be worse" Rook supposed.

"You could be your usual grumpy self rather then silent" Rook said, hoping his taunt would make her rise to normalcy.

Jess let out a very loud and drawn out sigh.

"This used to be my home" Jess muttered.

"Oh shit" Rook barked.

"Hey, I uh, didn't mean what I said, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it" Rook said nervously, hoping he did not tick off Jess.

"It's whatever Dude" Jess sighed as she fidgeted along the couch, trying to get comfy.

"Hey now that we got a place secured why don't we go out and kill a bunch of peggies now?" Rook asked, hoping to move away from what was just said.

"Peggies are usually still hiding in some pit, sleeping this time of day, we should wait a little bit before we go out on the hunt" Jess suggested.

"Uh yeah, I'm cool with that" Rook said, leaning back into the reclining chair.

But Jess didn't respond and was unmoving, leaving the two in an uncomfortable silence.

"So uh, what's up?" Rook asked sheepishly, hoping to make something happen.

"Just hanging out in my old place" Jess sighed.

"You must have been up to some real mischief… before all this, huh?" Rook spoke.

"I mean I guess, I'd prefer to do my shit far away from here, brought a boyfriend or two back here when the house wasn't at war… Speaking of fucking around, you get in Fairgrave's pants yet?" Jess asked, looking away from Rook.

"Excuse me?" Rook stuttered, caught off guard.

"Have you boned Mary May Fairgrave yet?" Jess said, being more direct.

"Of course, not!" Rook reaffirmed.

"Well she's clearly trying to get you there for a while now, you've just been too dense to notice" Jess groaned as she looked back in his general direction.

"I'm not dense" Rook retorted.

"Dude, you're the densest motherfucker I've ever met, if a woman gave you clear as fuck signals it will go right over your head, it has been going over your head" Jess groaned angrily.

"How would you know, yeah sure we're always together but you're not with me one hundred percent of the time" Rook argued.

"Because you're _that_ fucking predictable, you're practically a fucking stereotype, sure you've been manning the fuck here and there these days, but underneath I can read you like a book" Jess spat.

"Why are you so aggressive, listen I'm sorry what I said about your place ok, can we just move on like normal adults, I mean why are we even here still, we got a home base, let's just go kill peggies while their asleep, we need all the advantages we can get" Rook groaned, getting tired of her tone.

"If we go now, we will have to sneak into their little bases and kill them in their beds, it would be so much easier to wait for them to go on their patrols, and I'm not begin aggressive with you, if I was, you'd fucking know it" Jess retorted.

"Why do you even care about my sexual history so much?" Rook countered loudly.

"I don't!" Jess countered, just as loud.

As she did, she quickly looked away from him even though she was not looking in his general direction.

"Tell you what, why don't we put this behind us and just go set up for today, let's go post up and wait by some outpost or whatever, I mean there has to be something vile around here" Rook offered in annoyance.

"Well now that you mention it, there's some creepy ass extermination camp in the area to the north, it's where all the people Jacob deems useless gets sent there to be executed or whatever, feeds them to the wolves, shoots em, burn them up like it's fuck Auschwitz, I guess that's where the Cook came from" Jess sighed.

"What!?" Rook exclaimed, lurching forward in his seat.

"What?" Jess asked, rolling over in her spot to look at him.

"What do you mean what. we got to go and shut that shit down!" Rook cried as he jumped up from his seat, grabbing his bow and quiver.

"Dude come on" Jess groaned in disagreement as she rolled over in her spot once more.

"That place is a waste of time" she yawned.

"You can't be serious, you, of all people are refusing to go and kill peggies" Rook said in utter bewilderment over what Jess had just said.

"You really think I haven't tried?" Jess said, glaring at Rook.

"One look at the place and you'll come scurrying back here, the place is a fortress, trust me Dude, if I can't do it, then there's now way in hell can you do it, we would need like, a team but fuck that" she exhaled.

Rook was motionless where he stood, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, after everything they had witnessed together, she was now actively refusing to even try to take a few lives she was more invested in lounging around on the sofa like some house cat.

"Fine" Rook spat, slinging his quiver over his shoulder.

"If you just want to sit around until you think it's ok to go and kill peggies then fine, you go do that while I actually do something now, I am going to scope out this place and see what can be done, if you want to join then great, if not then lounge around" Rook fumed before stomping out of the room, towards the front door.

Jess lazily called out to him from the comfort of the couch, refusing to budge from her spot, she half shouted warning and potential threats, but Rook didn't listen, he just marched up to the front door, threw it open, and strode outside.

* * *

By now, it had to be noon, to Rook it felt like more then enough time had passed for the peggies to crawl from their holes and begin their day, and in turn, so should Jess, but he didn't care, if she didn't want to help then so be it. he was getting frustrated anyways, all Jess had said about this horrible place he was looking for was it was nearby and to the north, which could really mean anything, the Whitetail Mountains were a big place, leaving him to wander around, but despite all that he felt like he was getting closer, a little while ago, a suspiciously large column of black smoke stretched up into the sky, even if it wasn't what he was looking for, it still meant something was going on.

As Rook slowly worked his way to the origins of the smoke, getting closer and closer, he was able to climb a sizable hill that gave him a vantage point on where the smoke was coming from, and once he saw what was creating that smoke he knew he had arrived, he had found what he was looking for.

And the place was just as Jess described, a fortress.

The peggies had taken over some sort of construction site that was halted in the beginning steps. The base was set upon a large, prefect cement foundation, a large rectangle to be used as a foundation, big enough to hold an apartment building, the entire compound, on the outside the foundation was large cement blocks, seven feet by seven feet. A few mobile offices were parked on the edge, most likely used by those in charge of this operation, nearby construction vehicles had been used to push the blocks around as they made ideal maze of walls that surrounded the center, in the center, enough building development had happened so a few actual concrete walls had been thrown up here and there along with a few load bearing pillars, off to the edge of the walls was a flimsy wooden staircase that led up to a barely made second floor which was just small square of concrete, up there, stood a lone sniper, carefully watching over their allies, the concrete blocks that surround the center, maybe twenty or even thirty, all place unevenly creating a labyrinth, he could see a few people zigzag in between the cement blocks, wolves by their side and keeping pace, despite the amount of space being taken up, there was ample space on foundation, so much that a dozen or so peggies were in the middle of some training exercise off to the side. The thick black smoke streamed up from the center of the intention walls, blocking Rook's sight to the source of the fire, but Rook did not wish to see what the fuel source was. The wind carried the faint smell of burnt meat, and Rook knew it was not due to a terrible chief at a cultist cookout. and to top it all off, the place was lined with a large chain link fence.

Taking in everything there was so see, Rook wanted to march down there, metaphorically kick in the front door and start handing out his arrows at high speeds via his bow, but as much as he wanted to go down there and do what needed to be done, some of Jess's words came back to haunt him, something about how not even she could do it and they would need some sort of team to attempt such a task. But a rebellious part of him adamantly refused to heed those words, what does she know anyways, she never really worked with a team before, she never tried anything other then her bow and arrows.

To be fair he also did not want to use anything other then a bow and arrow, he still had the handgun he acquired days ago, there was no way in hell did he want to use it, but it brought a comfort to him, it was a good backup, something Jess would never use, and perhaps that willingness to use such weapons would be the winning factor in this fight.

He sat up on that hill for a while, analyzing every inch of the place, trying to figure out a way in, as much as he hated to admit it, the only way in was through the front door, at that front door was just a large gap in the fence a few meters by the dirt road nearby, but since he could see far and wide from his position, he could see in the distance a lone pickup truck in the distance, it was driving down a small dirt road that linked up to the construction sight, this had to be no coincidence, the driver had to be coming to the construction site, what else could be out here.

Rook's mind raced as he watched the truck, hoping he could use it to sneak into the compound,

As the truck got closer and closer, inspiration hit, the idea made him hurry down the hill, away from the truck so he wouldn't be seen on his way down, thankfully it was far enough away that it wouldn't beat him to the site

It didn't seem like there was to much perimeter safety allowing Rook to position himself a handful of meters away from the gate's right and hid within the tall grass as previous construction moguls prioritized the building over general lawn care, and as Rook waited, withing a minute the truck slowly rolled up and pulled off the road, and into the tall grass, towards the front entrance, eventually the truck stopped feet from the site's entrance, meters from Rook, and waited as a single peggies casual approached the vehicle, as he did, Rook could see the driver had rolled down his window, intent on talking to the other, once the peggie approached and interacted with the driver, Rook listened to them speak to one another, they talked of how the militia was giving them problems, making everything harder, they talked about how hard it was to train the newbies that have migrated from John's region and how most of those how came to the mountains have been killed off already, he let the cultists get comfortable in their conversation before he slowly crept through the grass and worked his way up to the truck, so close that he just about pressed up against the right side of the vehicle and slowly peeked up over the side to see the peggies, the driver wouldn't notice a thing but the person who approached was facing his general direction, he needed a distraction, his eyes went downward to the dirt road he was on, and found a series of pebbles and stones dotting the path. Feeling he has done this before, he grabbed one of the stones before sneaking around to the rear of the truck and lightly tossed the stone in their general direction, making the rock skipped and hopped through the grass, making a series of thuds as the rustle through the grass. The noise made both men quickly shut their mouths as the standing one quickly turned around as his hand went to his hip, his hand resting upon his sidearm, ready to deal with anything.

But that prudence was what Rook was hoping for as the second the peggies were looking away, he mounted a foot onto the back tire and hoisted himself into the flatbed, silently and effectively, but to his horror, the flatbed had several bodies, stripped naked and not recently dead as when he came in contact with the corpses, he could hear several flies buzzing about, feeding upon the dead flesh and it didn't help that the bodies smelt absolutely awful.

It felt like an eternity, laying on his back with the dead, waiting for the peggies to finish talking, he just wanted out of the flatbed, he wasn't dealing well with his fellow passengers, he could feel their dead, glassy eyes watching him, their cold limbs pressing up against his own, he couldn't bring himself too look at anything but the sky above him, he was so unnerved by the bodies he couldn't even focus on what the cultist were saying, he was just too worried about getting staining with blood, then after who knows how long, the truck shifted slightly as it was put into drive before it slowly rolled forward into the compound, while it did so, Rook sat motionless in the truck among the dead, he tightly clutched his bow with one hand and gripped the strap of the quiver over his shoulder with the other, just as tight. He was expecting the moment the truck stops, someone would come and unload the bodies, and it terrified him.

And then the truck stopped, making Rook's breath catch in his throat, expecting things to get really hot in the next few seconds, he nearly cradled the bows in his arms like a child with their stuffed animal. Rook's heart skipped a beat every time he thought he heard footsteps, but all he could hear the world all around him, the noises between peggies as they went through their training regiment, the barking of wolves, and the crackling of fire.

Steeling himself, with trembling hands, he slowly pushed himself up and slowly peaked over the lip of the truck to see a close up look of what he saw from the nearby hill, the peggies training, the wolves being walked around on chains, the maze of cement blocks, the thick black smoke and the smell of it's fuel. Rook wasn't sure what to do, jumping out and start killing everyone in sight, that was a death sentence, silent or not, but the maze of large blocks, it would make the perfect hiding spot as from above it appeared to run deep enough. He did a quick three sixty to make sure no one was looking directly at him before he holstered his bow and vaulted out of the flatbed before scurrying into the maze, as he ran, Rook couldn't help but breath though his mouth as his fears rose with each step, all it took was one cursory glance in his direction and it would be all over, but yet nothing ever indicated that his presence was known even as he entered the maze and breaking any line of sight from the outside, a wave of awe and reprieve hit him as he leaned against one of the block sand inhaled ragged breathes as safety washed over him, he couldn't believe with what he had just done, he had no idea how he made it from the truck without being spotted.

But know it was over and it didn't matter now. All that was left to do was to go deeper into the maze.

Rook pushed himself off the wall before marching deeper into the labyrinth, now that the fear had somewhat dissipated, the gears in his mind began to turn, his mind began to comprehend and explore what he had witness, the corpses in the back of the truck and why they were brought to this particular place. By what was going on in this place, the corpses were either going to be eaten by wolves or throw onto the fire, Rook didn't know those corpses, but he didn't need to in order to feel what he did, anyone who wasn't insane would feel the swirling mass of disgust, hate, and horror at the idea of what was going to happen to them, what had happened to them. The cult didn't respect life, they should at least respect the dead.

But Rook couldn't worry about that now, a much more important task lay before him, whatever emotions he felt needed to be shunted deep down.

* * *

The large blocks were placed sporadically around the compounding, turning the blocked section of the place into a maze with little gaps in every direction making every movement a chance to be seen, but as much as that terrified him, he still pushed forward, weaving through the blocks, his breathe catching in his throat every time he could be seen, fully expecting for someone to start yelling, but thankfully no one seemed to notice. He was not sure how far in the concrete maze he was, but he was pretty sure he was in the middle as the blocks begin to thin out and be replaced by a few intentional walls he saw from a distance.

He approached the building wall and leaned up against it for a few seconds to catch his breath and listen carefully, through his light panting he could have sworn he heard someone talking, someone very close by. As his breathing normalized again, the words he thought he heard became clearer and clearer, it made Rook push off the wall and began slowly creeping forward, he wanted to make sure they were not able to see him if they turned their heads, and as he crept along the wall, the voices still became clearer and clearer.

And then Rook stopped, ahead of him, a few meters away, were two peggies with their backs to him, standing side by side, leaning against a long-abandoned sawhorse and smoking, by the looks of things, they were on a smoke break, all the while, they were laughing and talking to each other as if this was another day at the office to them. As Rook crept closer, trying to devise a way to kill them both in quick succession, he could begin to what they were conversing about.

They were giggling to each other about all the people they had cruelly murdered.

Rook couldn't believe what he was hearing, their words almost paralyzed him for a few seconds, they were laughing and joking about the innocent people that they were butchering, they were cracking wise about the extinguishing of innocent life in such horrible ways as if they didn't believe their victims were actually real, they talked like they were disposing of garbage. It made that angry, hot feeling that Jess put in in him when she said she wouldn't help feel like it exploded within his chest, radiating his bones and burning his skin, it was a teeth gnashing, hair pulling anger that filled him.

How dare they call themselves worth of God's protection, much less call themselves human.

Rook began to drag his feet forward again, slowly moving towards the men, he was not sure what he was going to do, but he was going to do it, he had too.

Then his foot tapped against something hard and metal.

He looked down to discover that he had just about kicked an old, red toolbox, coated in a layer of dust, in it, a bevy of different tools one would need to work on a place such as this. A few feet away from the toolbox, integrated in the nearby cement wall, was a few lead pipes and valves, mostly likely to be the plumbing or water system, but by the looks of things, if the pipes were to ever do their job, they would need to be replaced completely as all the neglect and environmental damage from being exposed to the elements had taken it's toll, rusting the metal pipes and eating away at the nuts and bolts that held them together.

He wrapped his hand around a pipe that was nearly free standing as it was only attached to another pipe from one side, the lead pipe fit perfectly in his hand like the handle of a baseball bat, it was almost as long too, he grabbed it as he felt he needed some kind of support, just listening to the cultists conversation, pissed him off to no end, so much so, that he felt a little lightheaded.

After a few deep breathes he could feel his anger subsiding, but nowhere near where he wanted it to be.

As he pulled himself from the pipe installation, regaining his balance, the pipe moved with him, only by a little bit, it squeaked as it twisted towards Rook, if he so wanted to, he could easily pull the pipe free from the wall.

Seeing how loose the pipe was, a sinister idea wormed its way into Rook's grey matter, a melee weapon would fair much better then two projectiles.

Wordlessly, he grabbed a hold of the lead pipe once more and slowly twisted and pulled, the metal groaning and whining under the stress, Rook never took his eyes off the two men as they talked and laughed about how they found it funny how people tried to fight the wolves as they devoured them, unaware of what was going on a few meters behind them.

As the pipe groan and whinged. Rook gave one stiff pull and the bolts popped from their screws and the length of metal came free, the parts keeping the pipe in rolled across the smooth ground with a dull dither.

With the pipe free from the wall, Rook examined the length of lead in his grip, despite it is condition it felt quite sturdy and would not dent easy, the dark idea that crawled through his skull got louder and louder with each passing second until he could no longer hold back.

His eyes, still firmly locked onto the two men, listening to every vile, noxious word that their mouths, every word fueling his anger, he decided to silence them, not because it would mean less eyes to see him, but such an evil needed to be expunged from this world, he knew what needed to be done and began slowly creeping up behind the two cultists.

Rook must have been dragging his feet again as he got very close to them, as when he got withing striking distance, one of the peggies almost turned around to see what was behind him, but it was to late for him, Rook had already brought the pipe over his head and brought it down as hard as he could on the man's head, it was clear right before Rook hit him, the cultist saw him out of the corner of his eye, but it didn't matter as before he could properly register what he saw, Rook brought down metal pipe on his head with all his might and a sickening crack, and a second later, he collapsed onto the floor. With the man now on the ground, the second man lurched forward, caught off guard by whatever just happened, he quickly spun around to see his attacker but before the man could understand what had just happening, Rook cracked him across the jaw, sending the man sprawling against the floor. Rook quickly stomped over to the downed man to tower menacingly over him and raised the pipe high over his head, right before Rook brought the length of metal down, the fallen peggie brought a hand up to his face to protect himself, but Rook didn't care, it didn't matter, then he brought down the metal pipe hit the man, earning a loud pained grunt from him, then Rook hit him, again and again and again and again an again and again and again and again.

With the deed down and the men gone, Rook, panting, looked down at the length of metal in his grip, the far end of it was a dark red, slick with blood, viscera, and flecks of bone, he stared at it for a few seconds before reality caught back up with him, making him realize just what he had done, with a horrified and disgusted gasp, Rook threw the pipe away from him, not wanting such a thing that close to his person, it making a wet clattering against the cement ground.

Still panting, Rook watched in horror as the pipe slowly rolled away from him, he couldn't believe what he had done, it had all happened so quickly, he barely remembered it, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel it was the right thing to do, these pieces of shit deserved it, not only that but, removing those peggies was so easy, sure his bow and arrows could have made everything quicker and clearer, but his down fall would come in the time it would take him to load the second arrow, and by then the second man would have ran off yelling bloody murder to the rest of his buddies.

Getting a little more intimate with the cultists seemed to be the better thing, and now that he had come to terms with it, he was ready to do it again, Rook carefully stepped around the bodies and slowly approached the discarded metal rod and carefully picked it back up, he stared at it for a few seconds before tightening his grip on it, the smell coming from the piece of lead made him queasy, but he was able to make up his mind, he kept the pipe with him as he moved forward.

He could hear the barking of a few large wolves, it was fairly obvious that they were really wolves, conditioned by Jacob, it sounded aggressive, but not _there is an intruder _aggressive, regardless, it but him on edge.

Just the thought of the conditioned wolves brought back painful memories, memories of how Jacob tricked the entire militia into thinking he was some kind of monster, and it added a few pieces of lumber that fueled Rook anger, it made Rook want to send some kind of message to Jacob, one that said he wasn't just going to sit by and let things be as they are, he was going to clear out this compound and let the whole world know about it. and right now, step two was the sniper on what could be considered the second floor of the building, thankfully the two men he had just piped to death were directly behind him and so was the unreliable looking staircase and could very well give away his position, making the easiest way to get him was to get the angle on him from below and hit him with an arrow, ready to move again, Rook held the dripping pipe tightly in his hand before stalking through the many large cubes.

* * *

Rook slowly rounded the corner of another block, after a few minutes of creeping around, looking for the ideal vantage point on the sniper without being seen, but now he was sure he finally found the perfect spot to kill them. He slowly peeked out from behind a cube and examined his prey, the sniper was a lone woman in full body camo, which made no sense since she was in a grey background, but Rook didn't care, instead he carefully put the pipe down and removed an arrow from his quiver and prepared to take the shot, he spent no time at all lining up his shot and fired, the arrow finding it's mark, Jess's training was paying off.

Rook intently watched as the guard horribly jerked and staggered backwards, trying to stand up in fear, dropping her gun and clasping the arrow protruding from her throat but instead she fell backwards, and by the series of bangs and thuds that followed, it sounded like the woman fell down the stairs, but those leaden thuds were nothing compared to the real noises that followed. When the rifle slipped from her grip as the woman dropped it in favor of applying pressure to her surprise wound. The rifle fell and slammed against the ground with a loud thud on the edge of his little platform before slipping off the edge, bouncing off a concrete block before disappearing from sight as it fell to the ground, both impacts making loud banging noises.

The noises made Rook's whole body lock up, the noises might as well have been a peggie calling card, he just about let everyone know he was here, but as seconds ticked by no alarms were raised, no one was yelling, and to Rook that meant everything was alright, relaxed again, he was ready to carry on with his mission, he picked up his pipe and moved through the maze.

But sure enough on the other side of the block maze, things were not as he believed.

On the other side, the troupe of peggies going through the motions with their training regimen was within hearing range of the brash banging, and it was loud enough for the one leading the training exercise, the one in charge of the compound, unsure of the unregulated noise, he looked up to the watchful sniper for conformation everything was alright, but to their surprise, their guardian was not in sight, which meant something was wrong, very wrong.

Not wanting to go on full blown red alert just yet, he ordered to of his newly appointed grunts to go and investigate while everyone kept their training polished, if the one in command was right, the training was going to escalate real quick.

Rook cautiously moved between blocks, looking for the fallen sniper rifle, if he was lucky, the rifle had a silencer on it, and with that, he could bring some real holy hell, but whatever joy Rook found in that idea was now gone as out of the corner of his eye, Rook saw a flash of movement from between the blocks, he did not need a direct look to know what it was, it was a peggie, instantly, he gave up on the rifle and silently chased after the peggie, and as he came around the corner, he faced the peggie, his back to him. the cultist was slow, moving in long sweeps, scouring the area, and looking for something, this person knew something was off and Rook couldn't let that happen.

He slowly crept closer to the cultist, then in one quick motion, Rook took one large step forward, the lead pipe raised above his head and the second the peggie got close enough, Rook brought down the pipe as hard as he could on the man's head, making a loud wet noise come his skull as it caved in on itself, making the cultist fall soundlessly to the ground, leaving Rook standing over the now corpse, panting in exhilaration, satisfied with his work, watching, the blood pooling from the man's scalp like an overturned container of water.

"This section is clear" another other peggie called out from somewhere close by.

Rook swore in anger, he didn't anticipate another person looking for him, and he didn't have enough time to hide the body, he _had_ to deal with the second person right now, he tried his best to find the source of the voice, but the peggie only spoke once, perhaps he realized something was up when hiss buddy didn't talk back to him, which made Rook all the more wary.

After some time stalking and creeping, Rook was sure he found his prey, there had been some sort of constant tapping noise, be intentional or not, something was going on. Rook readied the pipe in his hand, ready to hit the guy over the head like last time, with one final breath, he swooped around the corner, but to his surprise, he came face to face with the peggie, he stood, several feet away and shotgun pointed at him, for a few seconds, both men were frozen in fear, after that the two men came back to life.

Rook immediately dove to his side, hiding himself from the shotgun within the maze, but not before throwing the pipe at the man in hopes of skewing his aim.

"It's the Deputy he's right there!" the peggie screamed as he sidestepped the pipe and fired his gun, the buckshot colliding into the cement block Rook hid behind, chipping a chunk of cement.

It made Rook freeze, for a single second, Rook's whole body locked up as his breath caught in his throat, as in that split second, everything went quiet, no yelling, no barking, not even the call of some animal, a part of Rook almost believed that they had all died or given up somehow. Then a loud piercing noise rang out from the compound, it was a long, slow whine that emanated from the bullhorn alarm system, it was unsettling and drawn out like a world war two, air raid siren.

And then noise returned to the world, peggies started shouting, wolves starting barking and howling, it sounded like the whole world suddenly went mad and turn against him. It made all the anger, the hate, all the vitriol drain from his system as the site lit up all around him, and was replaced with fear as it flooded his system, and in that moment, he knew.

He fucked up.

He cursed every decision he had made since he left Jess's home, he should have listened to Jess, he shouldn't've let his emotions get the best of him, he shouldn't have been so stupid. But it didn't matter now, now he needed to escape before he is surrounded. He considered throwing away the bow for a second before looping it around his arm and resting it on his shoulder and before sprinting off to the nearest exit, it wasn't to far away, nothing was blocking the large gap in the fence, just a hundred feet or so from the maze's edge. He spent all his energy bobbing and weaving through the maze trying his best to break out without getting shot in the back, and by the man's yelling, he wasn't to far behind.

Then thankfully, the maze's edge was not that far away either, the second Rook ran out of the maze, he brandished the long untouched handgun he kept tucked away in his waistband, he was ready to start shooting anyone or anything that popped up in front of him, but nothing dared step in his path as he ran for the door, everyone seemed to run for cover it was a weird mix up from the usual over aggressive military tactics, but regardless, just to feel safe he tried to aim behind him and fired a few times to escape his pursuer but he wasn't sure if he hit anything, but he didn't care, he just wanted to make it to the exit.

As Rook barely made it halfway to the front gate, back at the edge of the labyrinthian compound, a peggie stepped out, in his hands was a thick chain, on the other end was a wolf, barking and howling, desperate to be let off the chain and start killing, so much so that the peggie could barely hold onto the chain, as he struggled to hold onto the chain, a second peggie quickly approached the snarling creature and fiddled with its collar, the second he unchained the wolf, he pointed at Rook.

"Go!" the peggie ordered angrily.

Then the wolf took off like a rocket, bee lining after the Junior Deputy, barking and snarling as it rapidly closed the distance between them. As Rook tried to run to the place's exit, he could hear a lack of gunshots, no one was firing at him, sure he was dodging and weaving around construction vehicles, trying to protect himself as he moved closer to the exit, but there was no way he was _that_ good, maybe they were heeding Joseph's words just as John's men had and intended to capture him alive, but then again, a bloodthirsty beast was chasing him down like a hunting dog after a rabbit. Rook knew he wasn't not capable of outrunning the wolf, nor did he think just because he gets out of the outpost does that mean he would be safe, if he wanted to stop the beast, he needed to kill it.

He hesitantly looked over his shoulder to see how fast the wolf was gaining, and sure enough, it was a scant few meters, snarling and frothing, ready to kill, despite the Deputy looking back while sprinting, the wolf was so close Rook could see the hate in it's eyes, but he saw one thing that didn't click in his mind as it didn't seem necessary, for some reason the majority of the wolf's fur was tinted red, as if it was sprayed by a red mist and left to dry, but none of that mattered, he didn't care, he was to preoccupied with not being torn apart by the creature and not getting shot.

But with the beast in such close proximity, that wasn't a likely outcome, if he wanted to get away relatively clean, he had to do something, he was going to die otherwise.

With no actually good options available to him, Rook swallowed whatever emotions he felt before, in one quick motion, he stopped running and turned around, raising his gun to the monster, and fired.

But the single shot he fired was useless as his aim was skewed, the bullet sinking into what would be the wolf's shoulder, and it didn't stop him, he kept charging, but maybe it did do something as the second the wolf got within pouncing distance, it jumped at Rook and used it's weight to knock him onto his back, Rook raised his arms up to futility protect himself, the impact onto the ground jostled the bow off his shoulder and slid down his arm while the handgun went flying from his grasp.

Somehow the bow made his way into his hand, seeing as it was the only thing in between him and death, he held it firm and held it up, horizontally as the wolf's maw came down on him, instead of the teeth sinking into Rook's neck, it met the bow, stopping it's progress, the wolf bit and gnawed into the bow as if it were a horse's bridle, causing saliva and froth to slather from the animal's mouth and plastered on Rook's face and chest. But the beast was much to heavy, Rook could barley hold up the bow, and the bow could barely hold the wolf as his elbows was pushed harder and harder into the concrete as he tried to keep the bow up, he could feel the bow trembling and straining as the length of wood buckled under the immense weight of the wolf, he could feel the wolf's claws lightly digging into his body.

At this point, he wasn't sure what the peggies were doing or planning, but he was pretty sure they weren't going to try to capture him alive. No matter what he did, he couldn't stop or even shake off the beast on top of him. With the massive strength and weight the wolf had, it was able to push itself down upon Rook until it's somewhat snapping jaws were inches from Rook's face, it made Rook's mind go into overdrive, trying to scheme a way out, but everything looked bleak.

Then wolf went limp, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he pushed the beast off him, and to his surprise, the wolf flopped onto its side with no resistance and lay there motionless. Rook wasn't sure what had happened, but he didn't care, with the weight now off him, he held onto his bow and crawled backwards, away from the beast, with heavy breaths, still fearing for his life, he wasn't sure where his handgun went and he was sure his arrows were all crushed as the quiver was still on his back.

His eyes quickly scanned his surrounding to make sure no one was approaching and quickly saw that the bulk of the encroaching peggies were not interested in him, but in something behind him, then they scattered, putting ample space between one another, a few errant yells and commands went between them, Rook's eyes drifted over to the wolf next to him and saw that the creature was indeed dead an arrow protruded deep from the animal's neck, it had killed it instantly, Rook easily concluded that it was either from Jess or the Militia, and he hoped to God it was Jess.

The next thing Rook knew, there was rough hands grabbing the collar of his shirt, before he could do anything, he was harshly hoisted to his feet, but before he could find his footing, he was thrown back down into the dirt, knocking the air from his lungs, coughing, he struggled to looked up to what had taken him down and was met with a peggie was towering over him.

"You're not getting out of here alive, Sinner" the man spat as he stared down at Rook like a predator staking its prey.

Then the peggie brandished a large knife, intent of skinning him like a rabbit.

Rook looked up at the man in awe, captivated by the large knife in his hand, then the peggie took a quick step forward, he could do anything, just like the wolf, an arrow miraculously appeared in his throat, causing him to gurgle and choke as his legs buckled before he fell backwards, dead

"Yeah, well neither are you" Rook spat indigently as he crawled on his elbows backwards again.

And that is when the gunfire started, the repeated booming almost sounded like fireworks on the fourth of July, making him snap his attention to it's source, fearing they were aiming for him, but found the cultists were shooting over, up on the hill.

Be it the wind that was knocked out of him or the constant adrenaline, he sat there in a daze, panting as he watched the peggies completely ignore him and dealt with another problem.

"What are you waiting for? fucking run!" Jess's voice cascaded from outside the hideout.

Her voice pulled Rook together, making him shake his head before turning up to the nearby hill the stood over the compound, to instantly see Jess perched up within the trees and vegetation, trying to line up a decent shot as she tried to protect herself from the gunfire. She was hidden up on the hill he stood on before entering the base, her jacket had given her some amount of camouflage against the large hill, but the ample time he had spent with her allowed him to identify her from a mile away, and by the accuracy of the peggies, they all also gained the same ability due to fighting the militia for so long.

With everything popping off around him, Rook believed it foolish to continue without his firearm, but with a quick scan the ground around him revealed that it was still hidden and most likely under the wolf somehow, cursing, he quickly cast his gaze over to the dead peggie a foot away from him and the knife still in his grasp, with no other weapons, he grabbed the large knife before pushing himself onto his feet before sprinting towards the entrance, but by the sounds of the gunfire, the peggies pushed up, it was a slow move as there was almost no cover to take other then the truck that rolled in a little while ago, and a few pieces of construction equipment.

As Rook continued to run for the exit, getting and closer, he felt he was home free, but as if fate was trying to spite him, suddenly a peggie darted into Rook's vision, charging straight at him from the corner of his eye, the cultist didn't have a weapon for some reason, before Rook could turn and ready himself to start stabbing, the peggie threw himself at him.

"You're not going anywhere!" The man yelled as he tackled Rook to the ground, but this time, Rook kept an extra tight grip on his weapon.

Then the peggie rose back to his feet while Rook tried to squirm away, as he did, Rook painfully watched every movement of the man, feeling fear with the slightest of movements.

The peggie then stepped forward, an arm outstretched to grab the Junior Deputy, but before he can do anything meaningful, an arrow impaled itself in the peggie's shoulder, making the peggie stagger backward as he gasped in pain, then another arrow came down, slamming into the peggie's knee, causing him to drop to the floor. Before anyone could do anything, another arrow came down, bouncing off the concrete ground a few feet away from the downed man. Despite everything that was going on, Rook could help but stare at the third arrow, Rook knew it came from Jess, but what perturbed him so much was that she missed, she missed what should have been a killing blow twice before getting it with a third, something was not right.

As he watched the downed cultist writhed and tried to drag themselves away, Rook heard another peggie yell.

"Incoming!" they cried for all to hear.

Rook's eyes dragged up to the battlefield in front of him to see something fell from the sky, then another, then another and another and another, arrows sporadically rained down some arrows hit their mark, so to speak, hitting peggies in vital and non vital places, but it dropped them all the same, a arrow was almost as bad as a bullet, other arrows plinked off objects nearby the peggies, some merely bounced off the ground, the arrows fell from the sky in slow intervals of twenty, Rook who still watched the falling arrows while laying on the ground, he would have blamed this on the Militia for interrupting, but their aim was nowhere near as bad, something was still amiss.

By then, the peggies seemed to lose interest in Rook and began firing off into the hill behind him, by how they moved their guns horizontal as they fired, whatever it was, there were many targets.

And Rook couldn't let this opportunity pass, he needed to assist his unknown confidants, his hand shot up to the quiver on his back to fish an arrow out but he could tell just by touch that the arrows were broken, bent or otherwise unusable due to him being harshly thrown on his back a couple times, with an angry scowl, he scanned what was going on around him for something he could use to help with killing the peggies, but that he saw was the ground was lightly littered with arrows, be it missed shots, or didn't go far enough.

As much as Rook didn't want to be a vulture and pick through the battlefield, but he didn't know what else to do. As much as he didn't like it, he crawled on all fours quickly towards was an arrow that lay on the cement a few feet away, once he got it he readied his bow and fired it at a nearby peggie, killing them, but no one seemed to notice, they were just to focused on the hill, leaving Rook to go from arrow to arrow, firing back at the peggies how are looking up behind poor cover, Rook felt that they were winning, the archers had the angle and height thanks to the hill, maybe outnumbering the peggies

but one by one, they fell, eventually there was nothing to create gunshots and howls.

Heaving, Rook looked over the concrete foundation in front of him and how it was littered with bodies, some with just one arrow while others had several, he couldn't believe they were all dead, so much for that rigorous military training when it could be stopped by waves of arrows, it almost felt like this wasn't real, but yet here he was, standing by twenty something dead men and woman.

He looked down at his feet for a few moments to catch his breathe before he set his gaze up towards where Jess had taken up her post to see Jess slowly came down the side of the large hill, and behind her, to Rook's surprise was a large group of people, maybe twenty or possible thirty.

The group of people were a variety of people, of various walks of life, from barely adults to almost elderly, both men and woman, their clothes were stained and dirt casualwear, something you would see a random person on the street would wear, not at all prepared for life in the county, they were all armed with bows and quivers, some wore highly stuffed bags.

Rook nearly ran through the place's entrance, hoping to meet up with Jess and find out where these people came from, he patiently waited at the bottom of the hill for Jess to meet him. But as she slowly worked her way down the hill, Rook could quickly tell how she was feeling, he could tell she was pissed.

"Holy shit, I can't believe your timing, you really saved my life" Rook gasped as she got close enough for a conversation.

Jess merely made a hum of annoyed agreement, she wasn't happy about everything going on as she and her pack made it to the bottom of the hill.

"So uh, who are your friends?" Rook asked, really eyeing the group.

"You're not going to fucking believe it" Jess sighed as she stepped to the side, allowing the group to take center stage.

Then a lone man pushed his way through the crowd and stepped up to Rook, he was an African American man, somewhere in his early twenties and had a look in his eye that Rook had seen over and over again, it was the look of loss and pain.

"Hello Sir, I'm not sure you remember us, but my name is Clark and you helped us a little while ago, ever since Joseph begun his attack, me and everyone else here had been living in constant fear, hiding and trying to survive how ever we could, and a few weeks ago, all of us by different ways all ended up in the same place, Mister Drubman's house, where under his good graces, he was able to shelter us for a time, but still we lived in fear, terrified that the cultists would just show up and kill all of us, but then you showed up, you came and you gave us bows and arrows and books to show us how to survive without, fridges or ovens, or anything like that, and it gave us hope, we had a chance to fix our mistakes and fight instead of always hiding, we tried our hardest to learn from what you have given us, and I'm sure you saw how that went" Clark said before turning his head to look at the many arrows that littered the place be it on the ground or in a person.

"Like I said Mister Deputy, we are done sticking our heads in the sand in fear and now we are willing to fight, we want to avenge our loved once, the homes we lost, and want to do something about the cult, the Whitetail Militia never gave us a chance to help since we were civilians, they didn't give us a second look and acted like we didn't exist, it's probably why we are where we are now, but besides them, you are the only other thing that is actually making a difference out here, your actually killing these guys despite their training, I mean look what we've done here, without you this would have been impossible so, before we came out here to find you, we as a group have made a decision" Clark continued.

"If you'll have us, we wish to work with you, I'll admit we have a lot to learn, be we are willing to do whatever we have to, we know it wont be easy, but we believe in you, if we do this, we'll go wherever you ask us to go, do whatever you think needs to be done… kill whoever needs to go"

Rook stood there for a few seconds, processing what he had heard, he almost couldn't believe what he was being offered, he liked the idea of having people who he could count on a trust, what he and the Militia should have been, but he felt Jess might have other thoughts, he looked over to Jess to see if he could gleam how she felt about the matter and could easily tell that she was not enjoying any of this.

But Rook didn't let that get to him, she wasn't the one being told she was necessary in stopping the cult, he was, he held all the cards and made all the calls, after all, she was the one who said if they wanted to talk out this place, they would need a team, and lo and behold, here was the team, this site was merely a burning site and feeding grounds, actually outposts and places of interest would be truly heavily fortified, far more then what two people could handle.

His eyes drifted off of Jess and to the group behind Clark, who watched him with eager, waiting eyes, waiting to hear what the man they looked up to had to say to their proposal.

"Well I mean, if we are to do this, we're going to need a name, like the militia is called the Whitetail Militia, we need our own name so we will be distinguished from those guys, I really don't want us to be associated with them" Rook said, making a point to steer away from the militia as possible.

Rook's words had earned him a few mumbles and contemplative looks from the group as they tried to come up with a name or anything that would unite them all, and after a few moments, one man stepped forward.

"Well, what about Rookists?" Clark suggested.

"No way" Rook replied quickly, shaking his head.

"That feels to weird to me, I may be the leader, but this is a group effort, there is no need to idolize me" Rook insisted.

"Then I don't know what to say, I mean, does it really matter if we have a name or whatever, we just need to hit these piece of shit peggies right?" Clarke offered.

"Well you're not wrong, tell you what, why don't we figure it out later" Rook shrugged.

"Ok fair enough, it's not like the peggies are going anywhere" Clark shrugged.

"But I think we should get out of here, who knows if back up is on the way, I think we should get somewhere safer" Rook stated.

"I agree, I'll get everyone to do a quick sweep of the place for anything useful then we head out" Clark suggested.

"Sounds good, do that" Rook ordered, before turning back to the compound.

Before the group moved in to loot, Rook took in one last look at the construction site, the freshly dead cultists, and everything he had done, the death and destruction that Rook himself had wrought, it showed it was possible, it was possible to push back the cult despite the military training, they could be fought, they can be beaten, and now with a troupe who was just as driven as he was, there would be nothing able to stop them, given they tried hard enough, these people were the key to killing Jacob, to getting to Joseph.

The whole thing put a smile on Rook's face.


	48. Chapter 48

It had been three weeks since Rook had joined the group that had saved him.

And in those three weeks, they have been working together in a singular unit to fight the peggies that strangled the Whitetail Mountains, but all wasn't as easy as it sounded, in the beginning, Jess had no intentions in working with such a large group much less anyone that wasn't exclusively rook himself, but Rook quickly filled her in on what she could have, what she did have; the power of being second in command, she could order everyone else around as if she was in charge, she decided what they did and how they did it. she could tell Rook was desperate to sell her on this idea, she wanted to tell him to fuck himself, but something wanted to investigate his claims, were these people really so stupid or blinded by hope?

Curious to the validity of the Junior Deputy's words, she tried out her supposed power, and began issuing commands to the people around her, a few small things at first like needless equipment perimeter checks, coming down on them like a drill sergeant, and those asked did as they were told without a word of back talk, leaving her surprised they would actually take her seriously, she backed off for very small time to see if they would talk behind her back and spread and divide her from the team, but again, to her surprise, nothing came from it, still she felt that she needed to test the waters again, life had taught her as much, this time as a final test, she really stepped up her game and began demanding their possessions, personal or otherwise, and again they did as they were asked without a complaint or question but of course, the Boy Scout would catch on to what she was doing and was forced to return what she had taken.

Jess gave it back without a fight, she did not want any of it anyways, she was more interested in the symbolism of it all, it showed they would bend over backwards for her as if she was Rook himself, to her, it was high school all over again, she could order people around and take what she wanted when she wanted, and no one would do anything about it, and with that, Jess fell in line, now having some modicum of enjoyment of their situation, so long as the Boy Scout didn't do anything stupid, she had no problem following him and taking orders here and there.

As Jess resigned to be Rook's right hand woman in this little group, Clark; the determined young man that spoke on the group's behalf became Rook's left hand, making sure everyone did what was asked of them, everyone pulling their weight and keeping their defenses high while they camped out for rest.

At first coordination and efficiency was quite rocky, the group's accuracy was just as showcased when they gave Rook cover at the construction site, it meant before they could begin fighting, Rook had to set a side a few days exclusively for practicing with archery, basic self defense and general survival skills, of course Rook struggled imparting such skills to the group, feeling time slip away for him, thankfully Jess begrudgingly stepped forward and helped him teach everyone how to survive, after they show competency in what they were given, Rook switched gears and taught something else at an increased speed to make up for the few days they had lost. He began teaching everyone strategies and battlefield tactics, he wanted to prepare them for direct and indirect fights without him giving them constant commands.

And once they finally showed they could function in units and teams without constant supervision, Rook finally took them out on raids, small detached groups headed by Jess, Clark, and himself, and after a few trial runs, they worked their way up to bigger and bigger jobs; raiding, looting, and redistributing goods to the people still trapped within the mountain region, but of course not everything came easy, Rook had forgotten the people he led had hid themselves away for the entirety of Joseph's holy war, they were civilians, they were not fully aware of what was going on outside, but now that they were marching into Jacob's authority, they saw the horrors of Jacob's flock, from time to time, the mutilated bodies used as warning signs, the flagrant disregard for life, what happened to those Jacob deemed weak. That coupled with the fighting and the fervent desire to hide at night proved that things were quickly ramping up, so bad that some of the weaker members of the group just could not handle what they saw and how to do. It killed them to walk up to Rook and tell him how they felt, but Rook was more then understanding and let them walk away from what they were doing. Rook allowed them to leave with no repercussions, he would rather have them walk away the crack under pressure of war and get people killed. Watching them leave it made Rook believe he needed to be even more be firm but fair with his group, he had to push them to greatness, not cowardice. He needed to set the bar for them, not even he was immune to the horrors hey saw, with every painful death and twisted corpse they came across, it made Rook's stomach churn even more then the hate boil hotter, he desperately wanted to get to Jacob, but that would take more then they had. And it tore him up inside, all he could do was stuff it down and take it out on the peggies. These days it felt like every little thing the peggies did infuriated him, he felt he had to deal with every cultist he came across, regardless of what they were doing, they were just so much worse than John's flock. And of course, not every attack on the peggies, regardless of the objective, was flawless, occasionally one or two people would be killed, shot dead or worse. If the bodies could be retrieved, they would and they would be buried and mourned, Rook gave his group time to grieve before moving out again, Rook hoped that the losses would push the living to fighting harder so their deaths wouldn't be in vain.

From time to time, Rook and his group had bumped into a few members of the Whitetail Militia from time to time, and of course every confrontation was not a friendly one, they were not happy that the items they intended to steal was being taken from them and it was clear the militia had not forgotten what Rook supposedly did, and by proxy, it reflected onto all those who followed him. But those who followed Rook didn't take it lightly, they to bit back at their aggressors, Rook wanted to play the peacekeeper in these moments, but he also wanted to let the militia know that he wasn't going to be pushed around, things were different now and they needed to adapt as well. The stand offs would never escalate to violence, though it was clear some wanted it to, before it could get bad, Rook would pulls his guys out and returned to the task at hand, if they were to fight, Rook wanted it to be in self defense.

As time passed, Rook and his team eventually started to get big, so big that they were being recognize by friend and foe, not as the Militia that predominantly fought the cult, but as a separate group, as something else. Some people even came out of the woodwork whenever Rook and Co. came into town with a brave face and ask to join, to which Rook would gladly accept, hoping his numbers would swell, and in a way it did, his original twenty, became thirty one, and in that time, Rook was still unable to come up with a solid name for themselves to unite under, as much as Rook tried to snuff it out, the group still called themselves Rookists behind his back when they thought he was not listening.

And now, three weeks after their formation, with the rising of the morning sun, Rook was preparing for the day.

* * *

Rook sat by himself, on a small camping chair, a long, thick stick in one hand, and a large knife in the other, sharping the stick to a fine point, he intended for it to used it as a spear, hoping to replace a few of the broken spears that were lost in the last skirmish. While he worked, life buzzed all around him, his group, his… Rookists worked to fulfill their assigned duties; catching and preparing breakfast, morning training exercises, keeping watch over the perimeter, taking down the tents everyone slept in, and a few other things, Rook was silently proud of them, everyone moved like a well-oiled machine, they knew what they were doing.

Then the tent behind him shifted and rattled, a few feet behind him, was his personal sleeping tent, everyone else bunked together in tents so long as they were mature about it, but Rook had one all to himself. The zipper of his tent came down from the inside and a few seconds later, Jess emerged, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she also slept in Rook's tent as he was the only person she trusted enough. She walked up to Rook and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Mornin' Boy Scout, you been up long?" She asked.

Rook stopped what he was doing and tilted his head back to look at the woman above him.

"Yeah kinda, I really wanted to get our spear count back up and the fishing traps broke again last night" Rook said.

"I'm telling you Dude, we should just throw those things away, it's not like were catching anything worth while these days" Jess sighed.

"Yeah, your probably right, but I still want to try, fish is a good switch up from meat" Rook offered.

"Well I have no problem eating whatever meat you have to offer" Jess said as she removed herself from Rook and walked around him, grabbing a folded camping off the ground, and set it up at Rook's side, facing him.

She sat down and propped her feet on Rook knees, Rook did not care and left her feet where they were.

"Yeah I bet you would like to eat my meat" Rook smirked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Oh ha, ha, your so funny" Jess grinned, crossing her arms and leaning back into her seat.

"But seriously, fuck the fish traps, there's a lot of herbivores on the area, we will be fine" Jess said.

"Yeah, but I'm worried about carrying all of it when we have to move, when we're done here, we got to go two miles north, that's going to be a really long two miles if we try to carry more then we can" Rook replied.

"Then we'll have a big dinner before we go, say it's your birthday or something" Jess offered.

"It's a waste of what we have, we need to be conservative with our resources, every now and again, we take on more mouths to feed" Rook said.

Jess offered her ideas to compromise with Rook, but as she did, he could see Clark, his left-hand man; his third in command quickly approaching him, Rook could tell Clark had something important to say, something had happened.

Rook moved the feet off his knees and stood up to greet his ally.

"Anything to report?" Rook asked, as Clark approached him.

"The scouting team has returned, Sir" Clark said.

"What are we looking at?" Rook replied.

"From what they saw, it also looks like their expecting us, their guard count and defenses has been doubled since we last checked in on their outpost" Clark explained.

"Do you think they were tipped off?" Rook asked.

"No, not at all, I believe they are afraid, we've been repeatedly hitting them for weeks all over the region, they're just trying to protect what they have left, and there is also Eli's Militia doing whatever it is they do, regardless of how we stand with the Militia, to the Jacob's flock its two to one" Clark supposed.

Rook thought on what Clark said for a few seconds, twirling the blade in his hand.

"And what do you think we should do about the outpost?" Rook asked.

"I think we should hit it as soon as possible, the longer the wait, the more fortified the place will be" Clark offered.

"I think we should hold off and wait for them to get comfy with their higher defense so they'll get lazy, we should hit when they finally lower their guard" Rook returned.

"But what if we don't these are Jacob's men we're talking about, when we're not keeping them on their toes, he is" Clark suggested.

"But that's a good thing though, they may be the bad guys, but their still human, they feel things, like fear and worry… I think, what I'm trying to say is right now those piggies are in a nice fortified pen, waiting for wolves to come, be us or the Militia, we should swoop in a go for the kill sooner then later" Jess cut in.

"I agree with Jess, even though their expecting us, the calm before the storm is probably getting to them, we should make should wheel up a truck to their front door when their not looking and like, cover it in animal blood, so it spooks them, and besides, they can't counterattack what they don't know is attacking if we do this right" Rook reasoned.

"Yes, but we need to be smart about this, mistakes could cost lives" Clark replied.

"And I feel confident in my allies, they have come a long way, and so have you" Rook said, placing a hand on Clark's shoulder.

Clark clearly had a small reaction to Rook's words and touch as his jaw moved soundlessly for a few seconds before Clark got a hold of himself and thanked Rook for his confidence in him.

"Tell you what Clark, why don't we figure this out after breakfast, huh?" Rook offered.

Then a commotion could be heard, a few errant warnings could be heard, interrupting the two men's conversation, making them turn to see on the eastern perimeter, ten meters away, a small crowd was forming as something had caught their attention and Jess was the first one to pick up on it.

"Oh boy, something is happening" she smirked as she tightened her grip on her bow before taking off to find out what was going on.

Rook watched Jess bound after the small crowd, intent on figuring out what had transpired. So too did Rook wish to know, something had traipsed into his territory and needed to be dealt with. Whatever he was going to have to say, he was going to have to put a pin in it and return to it at a later date, something more important was going on now.

"Come on, let's see what's the deal" Rook motioned to Clark before following Jess's path.

"Yes Sir" Clark responded before quickly following behind Rook, his hand drifted to the machete on his hip, ready to fight.

As Rook drew closer and closer, he realized that whatever was going on could not be that bad as no one seemed hurt or running for weapons, then he reached the back of the crowd.

"Alright, alright, move aside, let me take a look!" Rook loudly ordered as he pushed through the crowd.

Once Rook made it to the front he saw just what got everyone so riled up, a single man stood before him, His hands were raised over his head to show he had not intentions of starting anything. Rook did not recognize him, but a bow and quiver rested on his shoulder and he wore a familiar green camo button up, Rook knew exactly what he was looking at.

The stranger was one of Eli's boys.

"The hell do you want?" Rook spat, not letting the man think he was completely safe.

"I'm here on a peaceful mission to speak to you, Deputy" The replied, his voice trying to stay steady as his arms remained raised.

"I'm not interested, you should go home before your life is in any more danger, there are a lot of threats out here" Rook warned, leaving the threat open ended.

"Please just hear me out, we've been looking all over for you, your harder to find then you think" The Man asked.

"If you don't leave, you will be forced to leave, and I don't care how my men do it" Rook threatened before turning away and march right back to his chair.

By now, the Rookists took that as the green light to slowly get aggressive with the man, he was an unknown element from an unknown party after all, he jeopardized their safety, and with that their minds drifted to the location of their weapons, ready to remove him with their leader's blessing.

"So that's it, your letting the whole region die over your pride!?" the man called out.

"He say's he's not interested, fuck off" Jess barked.

"Jess come on, not you too" The Stranger begged.

"Sir I suggest you leave while you still can" Clark voiced, making a show of the machete still on his hip.

"Please, Eli needs your help!" The man cried to Rook.

Hearing that made Rook stop, out of all the people in the militia, Eli was the only person who wasn't a piece of shit, directly or indirectly to him, and he did owe him for saving him from Jacob's conditioning center.

With a disappointed sigh, Rook turned around approached the man again, signalling he could put his arms down. With his arms down, the crowd seemed to relax a little bit, but not enough to let the stranger think he was in the clear.

"Alright, out with it, I don't have all day" Rook sighed.

"Eli needs your help, with everything your and our group has been doing, Jacob hasn't been taking it lightly, I'm sure you've noticed that the peggies here have been bulking up in every way around here, Jacob is gearing down to deal with both of us, we are both under equipped and under manned to deal with what we're up against, so Eli believes we can all get through this if we were to untie the two group, a partnership if you will and push back the peggies before things get to harsh for either party" the man offered.

Rook could tell everyone gathered around the Militiaman shared his disinterest in the man's proposal, he couldn't blame them, he himself sowed these seeds of hate with multiple nighttime campfire stories, warning his comrades of what would befall you if you were to join up with the militia and they don't like you, the things they blame on you, just thinking about it made Rook grit his teeth in anger, but Eli was not responsible for this, he just did his best to keep the peace.

"And what, I'm just expected to forget about what you guys did to me, to those helpless civilians?" Rook growled.

"Listen man, I'm not here to argue what happened, I'm hear to help make sure nothing like that ever happens again, and to do that, we need your help" The Man offered.

"You know this isn't the first time I've been told that, hearing that won't make me dance's to Eli's tune" Rook argued.

"It's not supposed too, we want you to work with us, not for us, for the good of the county" The Stranger offered.

Rook was silent as he examined the Militiaman before him, his words were honest, but he was just the messenger, he had no reason to doubt Eli, but it was everyone he worried about, he didn't believe that everyone would just fall in line and respect Eli's order to not be a dick to Rook or his men, there was going to be small verbal back and forths, and then their was Redd, he was adamant in spreading lies about Rook, who was to say he won't try again, more subtly this time.

"Come on, the enemy of my enemy is my friend" The Man promised, hoping to draw an answer out of the Junior Deputy.

"So what? does Eli just expect all of us to just stuff ourselves in his tiny little bunker?" Rook asked, he wanted to hear more before he gave a solid answer.

"We haven't been sitting around since you left, we've been fighting, and we've taken some hits then and there, there isn't as many of us then you think, there will be more then enough room for everyone" The Stranger said.

"So that's it? you take a few losses and you come crawling to me for help?" Rook asked, not amused.

"No, we've been needing help for a long time now, it's very hard to leave the region, and if we somehow mange it, it's even harder to actually get help, the Henbane is also hell and the Valley is to busy taking care of what's left in the shadows, Benjamin, your our only hope in this" The Stranger begged.

Rook shut his eyes and sighed deeply, he really didn't want to do this, but the man had a point, if the price of freedom of the Whitetail Mountains was putting aside his differences with Eli's men and working together for a time then so be it, at worst they could just disband again and go back to doing their own thing.

"Fine, what would you have us do?" Rook sighed.

As the man informed Rook that Eli hoped they all would join him back at the wolves Den, Rook could hear all the people who disagreed with his decision, he could hear then sigh and groan about that idea of working with the people who had framed their leader, he somewhat expected this to happen, Jess's influence had also spread through them, the losses they endured at the hands of the peggies were high and recently they had had found their desire to fight and kill, and that made them easy prey for Jess to infect them with her obsession for peggie killing. They had both imbibed them with a strong desire for the murder of peggies and for justice, he wasn't sure how that was going to clash with the Militia mindset, but it had to do just for a little while.

With his explanation done, Rook turned away and sighed deeply, he dragged his feet back to the center of his small campsite, back to the rest of the group who eagerly awaited to hear what was happening, he knew the next few hours were going to be rough and was not looking forward to it, he could already feel the headaches coming in, and as the confused and disagreeing faces of the men and woman before him proved they felt the same way, but after a speech about how it was for the good of fall, the majority fell back into line, making any thoughts of the outpost they planned to hit was lost as packing up and moving out took precedence. The Stranger stood off on the edge of the site and awkwardly watched the pack up, he chose not to help as it was not his place to intermingle with the group, not yet anyways. And once everyone had gathered what they needed and prepared for the journey ahead of them, Rook gave the order to The Stranger to lead the way to the Wolves Den.

* * *

The trek sucked.

Rook knew the Den was far away, but he didn't think it was _that_ far away, and with the large and equally heavy hiking bag that contained a plethora of tools and resources weighing him down made it all the longer, it made him non talkative as Jess poked him with conversation, he chose to keep quiet as he monitored his men walked in tight formation behind him, he didn't want any surprises during the trip, from Peggie of Militia. The only joy he could derive from all this was any time they came across any peggies, be it vehicular or foot patrols, or even small looting or scouting parties, Rook ordered a full stop, even if the Stranger was wholly against it, wanting to sneak around them, but Rook didn't care, he wanted them dead. With a raise of his hand, a few of his Rookists raised their bows and fired their arrows at the unsuspecting targets, and sure enough the all dropped without a struggle or fear, and of course Rook wouldn't let their resources go to waste, quickly and quietly, a few more Rookists crept up to the bodies and patted them down, taking whatever was deem useful before scuttling back to the group so the journey continued once more. Outside of that, Rook's mood continued to drop as the hike went on, just as he was about to demand for the Stranger to halt so everyone could have a small break, the Militiaman announced that they had arrived, electing a sigh from Rook.

The Militiaman ran up to the obscured door in the dirt and grass and tapped a series of knocks along the bulkhead door before it depressurized before its hinges jostled open slightly, then the man grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it open with a grunt, before ushering the large group in, no one moved for the entrance, they all wanted to see their leader go first, but Rook had other reservations, he stepped up to the edge and could feel the cold air leak from the darkened passageways and press against his skin. His mind told him not to go down, as he could only imagine what waited for him, but his legs said otherwise and forced himself down the concrete steps, into the darkness, making everyone behind him follow, the lot dragging their feet down the steps before the Stranger sealing the door behind them.

At the bottom of the stairs, Rook did not need to be told where to go, he knew Eli would be waiting for him in the large room with the table model of the region,

A few Militia men and woman dotted the walls, doing whatever, but when they saw that Rook was stalking their halls once more, they stopped and stared, so much that, he could feel all the eyes on him. He did not need to look at them, he could tell they look at him just as he did when he was last here, they looked at him with scorn and resentment.

But as the Rookists came down the halls behind him, their glares turned into a mixture of shock and anxiety, they knew Rook had amassed a little resistance, but they didn't think it would be this big, it made them worried to see just what Eli had invited into their home,

And they were right to feel so, they should be afraid, a hero was in their presence.

But soon enough Rook and his men entered the large room, it was just as remembered it, the room was just as cold and dim, and in the center of the room was the land development table, on the other side stood Eli, a handful of Whitetail stood behind him, glaring at the Junior Deputy and his company, they didn't think this was a good idea. The room was silent for a few seconds, as if Eli still had yet to prepare what he would say, but regardless, he still spoke.

"Long time no see" Eli offered, trying to dispel the tension in the room.

But he failed.

"So why don't we get down to brass tasks yeah?" Rook asked bluntly.

"Your guy made it sound like if we don't act soon, there would be another catastrophe" He said.

"Well" Eli winced.

"he's not one hundred present right… but he's not one hundred present wrong either" he admitted.

"What, are the peggies still trying to blow up that dam, or is it something even worse" Rook sighed, rolling his eyes.

"No, that's not the issue at hand, it's something new, all together" Eli said, limply rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

As Rook replied, Eli listened carefully, but as he did, his eyes wandered off Rook and over his Rookists that lined the wall behind Rook and bled onto the sides, they all clearly didn't want to be here but Rook had willed it, he didn't expect so many of them to join the Deputy, perhaps he should have welcomed them in when they wished to join the Militia. Then his eyes drifted over to his own men that lined his end of the room, and they looked that same as Rook's men, he could feel the silent hostility in the room, he knew it had to be dismissed before anything could be done.

"Tell you what, before we start playing ball, I think we should make some rules to play by, yeah?" Eli offered.

"We're all ears" Rook stated bluntly.

Eli stared at Rook silently, something was different about him, something had happened since they had parted ways.

"I have a right-hand man so to speak, he's my go to guy out on the field, I believe you met him before you unfortunately parted with us, his name his Redd" Eli explained.

Rook's skin crawled at the man's name, Rook knew his name all to well, Redd was the one who led the charge against him, and now he was one of the most important people in this buried tomb, he had no idea how he had climbed Eli's ranks so quickly, something was different, something had happened since they parted ways.

"You're seriously letting someone like him call the shots? He's not exactly what I call a team player" Rook

"He gets the job done and knows what it takes to do it, we need more of that around here" Eli stated.

"But I feel that we are getting sidetracked, I would like to offer you the same status as Redd, but you wouldn't be under me, we'd be two partners in this, making calculated decisions for the good of the county" he said.

"And can you actually guarantee that your men would follow my orders if I gave any?" Rook asked, he was not feeling what he was being offered, he wanted to see how far Eli would bend over backwards for him.

"I can't but I'm sure they'll follow through anyways as we've been in a do or die state for quite a while now, just be smart if you are to ever give orders" Eli said.

"I don't know, you already fucked Rook once, so why wouldn't you do it again?" Jess interrupted, demanding an answer.

"As I said before, things are different now, we need all the help we need, we cant go making enemies out of friends, and right now Benjamin is one of the strongest frenemy that we can contact, so I'm willing to make amends, all I can ask if you let me try" Eli explained.

The people behind Rook was silent, they didn't voice any concerns or thoughts as it wasn't their place, it was Rook who called the shots here, instead they listened intently to his words, if he believed the best way to remove the peggie threat was to work with Eli, then so be it.

"And what do you expect us to do, like really?" Rook asked.

"We work in groups and take apart Jacob at the seems, we watch out for you and you watch out for us, as one big team" Eli explained.

"I don't want to spend weeks dicking around in between jobs, I want to hit Jacob hard and fast, we need to keep him guessing" Rook stated bluntly.

"That's the only way I know how to do things, within reasonably safe means of course" Eli nodded.

Rook remained silent for a few seconds, digesting what he had heard, he had a mixed bag of feelings, Eli seemed on the level with his words and intentions, but everything else seemed to betray his words, his reception was cold and ominous, by no means did it suggest the willingness to work together but one of harm if someone stepped out of line, and the line of glares and scowls behind Eli didn't help him.

He glanced over to Jess for any sign of what she thought, but as per usual she was unreadable, he really wanted to hear her or Clark's thoughts as they would essentially sealed underground in cramped quarters for the foreseeable future if he agreed to Eli's terms, if anything, it remined him of being trapped in John's bunker, it wasn't much different. He hoped Jess would have said more by now, but over the past few weeks, she tended to agree with him more often then not, she even stayed silent he thought she was going to bit his head off over something, perhaps she was coming around to his ideals, but over time others had suggested it was the other way around.

Clark was somewhere unseen, most likely blending into the group behind, leaving Rook to make a decision on his own, it was something he was used to doing these days, if he wanted to remain in control he had to act the part, and as much as he felt half and half on the situation, he knew what had to be done, he slowly walked up to the table.

"Alright fine, we are in" Rook said, extending his hand to Eli

"Thank you, Mister Rook, I cannot wait to get back to work with you" Eli said, taking Rook's hand in his and shook his hand, sealing their partnership.

"So again, what's going on, what happened to make you need us, what do you need us to do?" Rook asked again.

"Why don't we get everyone settled in first, the peggies aren't going anywhere, let's take some time and get everyone situated, your friends must feel like fish out of water down here" Eli offered.

Again, Rook could not help but agree, he knew his men felt like they were in enemy territory, it would not be long now until that tension physically manifest.

"You have the room for all of us?" Rook asked.

"Of course, we've been dealing with our own problems, and those problems were not solved easily" Eli replied, releasing his hand.

"But it's not worth going into right now, instead I have something I need to show you" he said.

Then heavy boots clanging off the metal ground could be heard, the footfalls getting closer and closer, the noise originated from the open doorway behind Eli and his men, a few Whitetails by the door then shifted to allow someone to enter, then Redd sauntered in, clearly ready to say his piece, talking loudly as usual.

"Alright, where is he? Is the Junior Deputy here?" He called out.

"Yes, he is right over there" Eli replied, gesturing over to Rook.

"Good, now get rid of him, I change my mind Eli, I'm not working with him" Redd slurred, strolling deeper into the room, staring daggers at Rook.

"That's not how this works" Eli said sternly.

"This isn't how everyday life is supposed work but yet here we are, crawling and scratching just to say alive! Throw these guys out so we can worry about ourselves!" Redd complained loudly, extending his arms from his sides.

Rook noticed by the looks of the Whitetails in the room, Redd was voicing what they were all thinking.

"I mean we can barely feed ourselves, can we really take on live thirty more people!?" Redd complained as he casually walked around the large table, eyes locked on Rook.

But whatever he was planning was quickly intercepted.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't Wallace Redd" Jess said aloud fainting some sort of joviality, but Rook knew her to well, it was just a way to lower his guard, to lure the fly into her spider's parlor.

"It's been a while, huh?" She said, as she stepped towards Redd, her hands in her pockets and a wicked look about here.

She walked right up to him and got in his personal space, leaning inwards on him, it made Redd nervous enough to lean away, but not move a single step back.

"Glad to see you've taken the time out of your busy schedule and took a break from almost living in the local jail's drunk tank" she smirked.

"What do you want, Black?" Redd demanded, trying to regain his stolen thunder.

"Nothing, I'm just glad to see your still with us, it's not everyday a fall down alcoholic get to where you are" Jess returned.

"Well knock it off! That shit is in the past just like our trust in you!" Redd cried, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Rook could see what Jess was doing, she was trying to bait Redd into saying and or doing something stupid in front of Eli and everyone, she knew him long before Rook and knew just what kind of person he was. Rook felt that he should stop her, but he did not, he wanted to see just what she could pull from the man.

"Hey, come on Dude, I thought we we're all friends here" Jess smirked, holding her hands up in mock vulnerability.

"Besides, if you don't like talking about the tank then you shouldn't've made racist remarks in public every time you got trashed" Jess nearly giggled.

"You're not so innocent yourself! Your just as bad as the Deputy, you're a pair of Goddamn psychopaths!" Redd yelled, talking a challenging step towards Jess, his hands balled into fists.

Then Rook heard the sounds of movement behind him, a series of body movement, the Rookists did not like how the man was treating Jess. As much as Jess claimed to be a lone wolf, she was still one of them.

"Redd get out of here, now!" Eli commanded loudly.

And it seemed Eli had picked up on it.

"But don't go to far, we're going to talk later" he added firmly.

And with that, Redd began angrily mumbling to himself as his body tensed up for two seconds before loosening up and slowly marching back from where he came, still grumbling all the way and promptly left the room.

"I apologize about that, I thought I had come to and understanding with him, but it appears he didn't have any intentions of following through, I will deal with that again, more thoroughly" Eli said before raising his hand to issue an order to the people behind them.

"Fellas, please make sure our friends settle in nicely and give them the lay of the land" Eli ordered.

The Militiamen and woman grumbled before animating, offering to the Rookists to follow, but no one really seem interested but Clark pushed through the group and followed, giving them reason to follow, and little by little, the room eventually emptied out, leaving just Rook and Eli alone in the room.

"Now as I was saying before we we're interrupted, Benjamin, there is something I wish to show" Eli said, nodding towards an open doorway, the same Redd had slithered through.

Rook wordlessly nodded, signaling Eli to lead on, then he guided Rook through the cold halls, moving around the Whitetails and Rookists that now populated the halls and rooms before descending deeper into the bunker via a set of stairs, at it's bottom was another bulkhead door, but this one was much older looking, like it had not seen use as much as the others, they descended the stairs and Eli opened the door, it creaked open and the two men stepped inside, allowing Rook to see just what awaited him.

The room was dimly lit, just like the rest of the bunker, it smelled of sweat and blood, it made Rook's hairs stand on end as his body told him he was not in a good place, and by what was in the center of the room carried that feeling home. In the center was a peggie, they were tide down to a chair that was placed within a inflatable swimming pool for children, a few inches of stagnant water shimmered in the rubber, the peggies head was restrained back so he was just about looking at the ceiling, if not for the thick rag covered his face, the rag and the peggie's torso was slick with water as if he attempted to swim in the water beneath him. A bucket of water sat a foot away from the pool.

The cultist was being waterboarded.

Off to the side, Tammy worked on something on a table, her back to both men. Rook regarded the peggie tied to the chair and noticed the stillness in them, he was not sure if the peggie was still alive or not.

"Oh boy, he took the deal, huh?" Tammy said disappointed, looking up and away from the table.

"Yes, Tammy just as I said he would, now let's get down to business, yes?" Eli said, almost sounding a little annoyed.

"Well then show him what we got, our friend here isn't going to tell us anything" Tammy complained, crossing her arms, and leaning back against the table she previously worked at.

"Come here Deputy, take a look at this" Eli said as he approached the peggie and lightly pulled down the collar of the peggie's shirt, revealing a small tattoo on the side of their neck.

Rook took a step closer to examine the tattoo and quickly found that it was unsurprisingly the Eden's Gate logo, but it was slightly different, the almost star shaped logo with a circle in the middle was clear, usually the logo was colored in, but the only real coloring was a solitary eight within the circle.

"Ok, buddy was given a tattoo by John right before I blasted him, how does this help us?" Rook asked, taking a step back from the captive.

"Do you see the eight in the center, only Jacob does that, and by reddened skin pigmentation, the number is very new" Eli explained.

"I don't understand" Rook shrugged.

"Jacob only ever tattoos numbers like these on his men when he deems them worthy enough, they had completed every task to join his holy army, and this guy was apart of the newest batch of goons… If we did not get to you when we did, you'd probably have a seven or eight on your neck too" Eli said.

"But regardless if what we… had you blow up, Jacob is still making his conditioned soldiers, meaning we still don't know where they're coming from" he said.

"So, we need to find the place?" Rook asked.

"Indeed, but we have we've made zero progress in finding it since you left" Eli sighed.

"Maybe you can get him to talk, Deputy?" Tammy suggested, nodding to the restrained peggie.

"What makes you think I can do it?" Rook asked.

"John had you in his bunker, right? I'm sure he must have done something to you for all the problems you gave him, I mean when we hauled you in here the very first time, we saw your chest tattoo while we were looking you over, so you must have picked up something as he did them to you" Tammy said.

"No, I can't say he had the time to smack me around" Rook said as a hand subconsciously different to his chest, where his Wrath tattoo rested.

His response made Tammy swear, it was slowly becoming clear to Rook that his return wasn't the sole source of their tension, they really were getting slowly taken apart by Jacob's men, without the Rookists the hall seems very empty, and Eli just kept confirming his thoughts.

"But Redd was right about something upstairs, we are low on food, sure there are animals all over, but we do not have freezers or the luxury to be constantly hunting, we can't take care of ourselves and fight for much longer, something needs to change" Eli said.

"Just tell me where to get started" Rook stated, crossing his arms, not wanting to throw himself headfirst into their problems, but at the same time would rather go back to working with just his men.

"For now, Deputy" Eli sighed.

"Just hang back and relax, I want you to settle in and get comfortable with your men, we cannot be a team if you do not feel like you can rest here,

"What, you make me walk across the Mountains all day so we can kill these sacks of shit, but now you just want me to chill?" Rook barked, uncrossing his arms in irritation.

"I know, I know, it's not ideal, but I want your men to see your comfortable here, they look up to you, you bring them hope, and if you can adjust to our home despite all that's happened to you, then they'll fall in line and follow your lead, the last thing we need in more in fighting" Eli explained.

Rook sighed angrily, he really wasn't feeling what was being offered, he had a point though, he really did want to sit down and rest after such a long walk, but still he wanted to get to work and learn all the info the Militia had on Jacob's place's of interest.

"Just chill out for now, Deputy, everyone but Eli didn't expect you to join us, we need to figure out what to do next then we'll run it by you" Tammy asserted.

Rook gritted his teeth, he had not been here for twenty minutes and he was feeling like another toy solider being ordered around like he was back in the Valley, but they were desperate, they wouldn't just command him like some grunt without some backlash from someone, they needed him just as much as he needed them, soon he'd have his say on what will happen in the coming days, and when he did, he'd take the reigns.

"Ok fine whatever" Rook sighed in annoyance as he vigorously and repeatedly ran his hands through his hair, turning away from Eli and Tammy, moving for the staircase up.

Eli and Tammy watched silently as Rook moved to leave the room, as he moved, Eli could tell the Deputy was still not fully on board, he needed to build some sort of trust between them, it was the only way everyone would survive the coming onslaught.

"Deputy" Eli called out, causing Rook to stop and slowly turn to him.

Rook stared at Eli expecting something, anything.

"Again, thank you for joining us, you may not see it now, but this will save so many lives" Eli said.

Rook stared at him for a few seconds, silently.

"Yeah, yeah" Rook nearly whispered as he turned back to the stairs, rolling his eyes.

Then Rook left the room and climbed the stairs.

As he nearly stomped up the stairs to find Jess, hoping that she could tame the growing irritation, he could not help but think this whole thing was just going to blow up in his face in the worst possible way.


	49. Chapter 49

Rook stalked the halls of the Wolves Den.

He had a feeling not all would be right in the first few days on their uneasy union, and sure enough he was right, aside from breaking up a few very small disputes between the Rookists and Militia, he wandered the halls trying to re-memorize the bunkers layout and find Jess. He had sorely missed her and had a feeling she was up to no good, if he was a betting man, he'd say Jess was using the disorder that was the two groups merging as an opportunity to take something that was not hers, but yet he couldn't find her in any of the common or sleeping rooms, it actually surprised him a little bit, Jess was actually a little predictable these days, but yet he still could not find her. He continued to move from room to room, he still could not find Jess, eventually, he circled around near the staircase that led to the surface, hoping to see Jess taunting anyone coming or going from the bunker but instead of finding his companion, he found that a small group of Militia men and woman had returned and was standing around in the first hallway, trying to find out what all the commotion was about, Rook could tell they were recently outside because under the smell of unwashed flesh was the smell the reasonably fresh blood, he could see a substance coating the tips of the arrows the protruded from their quivers. Rook could not be bothered with them as he did not care to much about them, they looked too new, they had not been doing this long enough to be considered tactically valuable, but as Rook was about to turn away from them and head back the way he came, he stopped in his tracks, frozen in awe and completely caught off guard. He actually recognized one of the men among the new returns.

It was Michael, He looked scruffier and worn down, he almost looked like he belonged in the Militia while he wore the green camouflage jacket. Michael was someone he had become acquainted with while he was briefly in the Henbane River, the last time they had spoken to each other, Michael was laid up in the prison's infirmary with a minor gunshot wound. But that was a lifetime ago and he had recovered in that time, but why was in the mountains, how did he get into Eli's bunker.

As his allies dispersed, Rook stomped towards Michael, intent on getting to the bottom of everything, and once he got close enough, Rook spoke as calmly as ever.

"Holy shit Michael, what the hell are you doing here?!" Rook exclaimed, emotion exploding from him.

Michael quickly turned his head to see just how was freaking out over his presence.

"Deputy!? What am I doing here, what the hell are you doing here, you just fucking disappeared?!" Michael cried just as loud, and just as surprised.

"I'm here helping the militia, what the hell are you doing?!" Rook demanded.

"I'm returning from archery practice, why are you not in the Henbane!?" Michael also demanded.

Rook stared at Michael, it was clear they were not going to get anywhere at this rate

"Ok, ok, we need to take it down a few notches" Michael said, patting the air, trying to calm down.

He had a point, Rook did feel riled up, everything was building up inside of him, he was just looking for a reason to pop. Rook took a deep breath as he took a big breath, trying to calm down.

"Ok, how did you get here in the bunker, Eli doesn't just grab random people who want to sign up, or even how did you get to the mountains, did you just hop the border or whatever?" Rook asked, much calmer then before.

"Oh, fuck no" Michael gasped.

"When I left the prison to head here, there was like six or seven other men and woman with me, and well… as of right now I think only one are two of them are still alive" he said grimly.

"We had to fight and scrape just to get to the border, but by the time we made it… I guess Jacob's men were waiting for us a started picking us off but thankfully, I guess Eli's guys were waiting for Jacob's and took them out, right before they took off we begged and pleaded for them to help us since we were wounded from the fighting and whatnot, they almost left us out to dry but thankfully they decided to take us back for some reason, the second we got back to their bunker they treated our wounds and gave us bows and made us hit the ground running, and well here we are now, a week or two later, I think" Michael explained.

"But why did you leave the prison, I mean, why did you take so much risks and losses to come all the way up here?" Rook asked again.

Upon hearing that, Michael seemed to regard Rook with a shocked look, like he was not expecting it.

"You haven't heard anything from the Henbane, have you?" Michael asked, his voice taking a somber tone.

"No, I barely hear anything from this region" Rook lied.

In the last three weeks, he had stolen away some quiet moments for himself to call and catch up with Faith, in a way it was some of the most calming moments since he came to the county, she was always eager to communicate with him, which was always welcome in Rook's book, it was nice to stop and talk about whatever that didn't involve the murder of peggies or a scheme for a easier day of survival. As much as he liked Jess, the two women were a far cry from each other, Faith was always outgoing and sweet, she wanted to hear about his problems, she made him forget the hell they were living in.

"Well I'm sure you remember when he last parted I was in the infirmary, but once I recovered from getting shot, I was finally released from the infirmary and I got back to work trying to help stop Faith but I quickly found out just how real things were getting, I guess when you killed John, Joseph and his family decided to bunker down and really try to get rid of us, and well, Faith seems to be doing her part, she hitting the prison and well, everywhere really hard, and we're barely keeping our heads above water, like it's turning into the Lord of The Flies in there, tensions are getting high and people are butting heads over everything, the Sheriff is losing his grip on the situation, food, medicine, ammo, and guns are getting very scarce, and some people just could not handle it… and well, I'm one of those people, I just could deal with what Faith was hitting us with, so, I decided to pack up and head out here to try to help with Jacob's shit, but holy fuck I'm not sure which reason has it worse" Michael explained.

"Jesus Christ dude, I didn't know it was that bad down there, I kind of feel bad for leaving like I did, I should probably call the Sheriff and see if I can help in some way" Rook said, caught off guard.

"I mean you can try, but the peggies got more radio jammers or whatever up and running again, making radios and stuff useless, but I mean you should still try, who knows" Michael shrugged.

"But what about you dude, you've been AWOL for a while now, I've uh, actually I have been hearing all kinds of rumors and things about you but I didn't really believe it since I've known you for such a long time and knew what your all about" Michael said carefully.

"Well thanks, the uh Militia tends to exaggerate and blow things out of proportion, so don't really believe any of it with out one hundred percent proof" Rook pointed out.

Michael nodded and agreed hesitantly, making Rook feel unsure if he fully believed him.

"Well regardless, I'm glad to see you well" Rook remarked.

"Yeah thanks man, things were getting dicey while I was down, I was getting really nervous" Michael said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hey uh, do you have a big day ahead of you?" Michael asked.

"No not really, Eli wants me to hang back for a bit and let the dust settle between his and my guys before they let me do anything around here" Rook replied, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah that sounds like Eli, everyone here is pretty strict, I don't blame them, most days I'm scared to get out of bed" Michael said meekly.

"But uh, anyways, I was told I would get a meal once I came back from practice, and well, I'm done so if you want, I'll split that with you, and we can catch up?" Michael offered.

Rook thought about what he was being offered, he didn't want to take the offer as he just wanted to find Jess and catch her up on everything that was going on, but at the same time, he really did wish to catch up with the man, despite knowing almost nothing about him, he genuinely seemed like a good guy and he was his only real source of news of the resistance within the Henbane River, Faith would only tell him so much, most likely to keep him from flying into a worried panic over his friends well being, but he could understand why Faith did as such, he'd just get gunned down in his made fervor to clear the county's distance. In reality, it was just as Eli said, he needed to sit back and let everything fall into place, so why not just hang back and see what he could learn from the man.

If Jess really were up to something nefarious, surely Clark or someone else would have stopped her or tracked him down to stop her.

"Sure, let's do it" Rook shrugged.

Michal almost perked up at the Junior Deputy's agreement.

"Alright sweet, let's go" he said before leading the way to wherever the food was, and Rook wordlessly followed.

* * *

As Michael and Rook at their meal, the two men traded stories of their pasts and what they had experienced since they last spoke. Michael continued to fill in Rook of the blights surrounding the Henbane River resistance, how overworked the Sheriff, Grace, Tracey, and Mister Minkler were, barely trying to keep relative peace as resources and patience was running very low. Their most recent venture against Faith was a scheme to destroy the hideous statue of Joseph's likeness in hopes of lowering enemy morale, but it ended with a many loses and a failed mission. Blissed soldiers and animals had become the norm for those who pushed on the prison's walls, acting as living mines and preventing easy entry and departure for the resistance, making it a trial just to begin any countermeasures. Right before he abandoned the prison, Michael explained that the resistance had entered a solely defensive strategy at this point as they had become cornered animals, and he was not sure if both sides were aware of the fact. And in return Rook shared his exploits of his ventures since he left the Henbane, and how he returned to the valley to finish off John Seed.

"And then before he could, a pulled the trigger and blasted a hole right threw his chest, then he stumbled backwards, releasing Kim and fell backwards right through the coffee table" Rook said, twirling the dull metal knife in his fingers.

With the story finished, Rook reflected upon on his words and actions he used while confronting the Seed, he couldn't help but change a few things in his story, it was now he was seeing his cowardice and refusal to act, it embarrassed him to think about just how much Jess was right about him early on in their time together. He brushed it off and looked up at his friend who sat next to him.

Michael's eyes wide and was slightly leaning towards him, he was completely enraptured in the Junior Deputy's story on how he had killed the dreaded John Seed.

"I can't believe how calm and collected you were, it's like you're an action star or something, your John fucking Rambo!" Michael laughed.

"It was do or die, I had to do something" Rook shrugged, he did not feel to comfortable selling an altered story, but regardless, no one in the militia would believe him either way.

"So now you're here to kill Jacob?" Michael asked.

"That's what I would like to happen but who knows, someone could very well bet me too it, not that it's a bad thing or anything" Rook shrugged, placing the knife on the plastic tray on his lap.

As Michael talked and talked, Rook could see that Eli had entered the room and headed straight for Rook, stopping a mere few feet from him.

"Come on Deputy, it's time to start scheming" Eli informed Rook.

"Well it looks likes I'll see you later, I got work to do" Rook said, removing the tray from his lap and placed it next to him before standing up.

Michael bid Rook his farewells as he watched the two men leave, as they did, Rook couldn't help but outpace Eli as he was eager to get to work and couldn't help but get annoyed at his slow pace.

"So, we're finally about to make our move?" Rook asked.

"Indeed, we have an idea and wish to here your input before coming to a consensus" Eli told.

"It's about damn time" Rook said gruffly.

"Patience Deputy, we can not rush into things so boldly" Eli replied.

"While we hang around with our hands up our asses, the peggies kill more people and we lose more advantages" Rook stated impatiently.

"I understand how you feel, I grieve for every lost soul just as you do, but we need to be smart about what we do" Eli remarked.

"If we wait to long, we won't have any options left" Rook complained.

"You know Deputy, you remind me a bit of Jess these days" Eli commented as he continued to lead Rook through the bunker until they made it to the closed door that led to the planning room door.

Eli cranked open the and the two men stepped inside, as Rook regarded the large development table that Eli used to make his plans, he noticed that standing around said table was Tammy, Redd, Jess and Clark. Redd was clearly not happy that Rook was joining him, but he held his tongue, probably due to Eli's insurance, while Tammy was much better at hiding her resentment and bitterness but was still unhappy with what was going on. Rook did not let it get to him as he and Eli took their places at the table.

"Thank you for joining us Benjamin, I have taken the liberty of also gathering your associates" Eli said, nodding to both Clark and Jess.

"I don't know why I'm here, I don't give a shit, I just want to kill" Jess sighed.

"Oh, don't you worry Dearie, you will" Tammy remarked.

"I believe we can kill a few birds with one stone" Clark added, crossing his arms, feeling confident.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Kid" Redd asserted grumpily.

"Anyways" Eli said loudly to cover up Redd.

"As you know, we are dangerously low on food, and desperate for more, hunting is not a long-term solution, so we're going to need to get more one way or another, so why not just take it from the peggies, it's not like their going to touch it until the end of the world" Eli explained.

"So, what, we're storming Jacob's bunker for crackers?" Rook asked, rolling his eyes.

"Your closer than you think" Eli groaned, earning a sigh from Jess and Clark.

"They have a tertiary underground bunker, very similar to the one we stand in now, and we have reason to believe that it is where they keep their food, be it, animal meats, fish, fruit and MRE's, and from what we've seen, it could very well be the only food left in the mountains, we need to hit it and bring the bulk of it home" Eli said.

"I don't understand, why would they have all of that just off to the side like that, why keep the post apocalypse food away from home base?" Rook asked, not liking how things were shaping out.

"We're not sure but we still have to try" Tammy sighed.

"This sounds like a trap" Jess spat.

"Regardless, we have no other choices" Eli spoke.

"And if there is as much food in there as you say, how are we going to carry all this out, it's going to be hard as hell just to get an arm full out" Clark asked.

"We believe there is a box truck nearby, they most likely used it to move all the food to said location, so we'll use it to take it all back" Eli said.

"How do you even know all this, for all we know this could all be speculation" Rook cut in.

"We have scouts out in the wild keeping an eye on anything that may be of interest to us" Eli explained.

"And where are these scouts now, shouldn't they be here since they saw what we're walking into?" Rook scoffed.

But upon saying that, Eli, Tammy, and Redd seemed to deflate slightly, something was wrong.

"We sent five men and woman out to scope out the place… only one returned" Eli said grimly.

Rook could not help but wince, despite his grievances, he felt bad over his words, he sounded like a dick. He adverted his eyes away from Eli and looked down at the development table before him and stared at the food bunker that was marked on the table by a lonely salt packet.

"And what would you want me to do exactly?" Rook said quietly, trying to stow his negativity.

"Redd and one of his top guys, along with a group of both our men will be team Beta, Jess and you will be team Alpha, you will also have a team of both our men" Eli explained.

"You'll move into the targeted zone and spread out, forming a curved line around the bunker, you'll all strike in unison and clear the zone" he said.

"You really think everyone can hit and kill _every _peggie there?" Jess asked, sounding unimpressed.

"Indeed, I trust in everyone's ability, so long as we can get within range, we're set to succeed" Eli believed.

"But do you really believe we can get there and get within striking range without entering any prior skirmishes?" Clark asked.

"If we stay off main roads and keep our heads down, then yes, Jacob is more interested keeping the roads secure then what goes on in the woods" Eli nodded.

"And if nothing seems to go kilter then we might really be fine" Tammy said.

But no one seemed to acknowledge what she said as its implications ran deep, it was something Rook pretended not to here, and as the awkward seconds ticked by, Eli spoke up again.

"If there is nothing left to say, then please, Redd, Jess, Rook, please get a move on head to the front gate and bring home a victory, Clark please round up some willing bodies while I do the same with my men" Eli asked.

"Yeah I can get it done in no time at all" Clark remarked.

"Excellent, let's move folks" Eli stated before breaking off from the table, making everyone move as well.

Rook, Jess and Redd moved for the door while Eli, Tammy and Clark moved to another, all breaking off to complete their goals. Rook dragged his feet to allow Redd to get ahead of him, the last thing he wanted was another altercation with him lest it turns physical, thankfully Redd didn't notice and just went to where he was told, and so to did Jess, he didn't mind being left alone for the walk, it wasn't like he had to say a lot anyways, nothing besides his distrust of every Whitetail that wasn't Eli, he still seemed genuine but Redd and Tammy were something else, it was clear a rift was forming between the Rookists and the Militia, they couldn't overthrow the cult much less Jacob if they were two groups and not one large unified one, none of the militia showed they'd be willing to try and much like everything he'd experienced in the unmarked amount of time, Rook would have to build the bridge to unite them, and to do that, he'd have to work his way into the militia's good books again, and to do that he would have to resign himself to integrate with the low-level grunts and build a foundation of trust, then at that point, the sky's the limit. But that was for another day, today was for putting food in their mouths.

By the time Rook made it to the bunker's front door, he found that both sides of the room were lined with Rookists and Whitetails, all preparing for the task at hand, managing their bows, quivers and whatever else they planned to take with them, thankfully Clark was fast with his work, gathering up able bodied Rookists to join them on the mission, and so to was Eli, it appeared that they had fifteen people, including Jess and Redd. Rook did not join them in preparing as he felt he was ready to go with his arrows and bow, he just stood there in the center and watched, as his eyes drifted along the Militiamen and Rookist's that had volunteered for the mission, Rook carefully examined the Whitetails to make sure they looked somewhat trustworthy, but as his eyes drifted down the line, there was one Militiaman that stood out to Rook, he was a few feet away from the other Militiamen, they were moving at a slower pace then the rest of his allies as he was not as familiar with what he was doing as them, it took Rook a second to realize that it was Michael.

"Michael, you volunteered for this?" Rook asked surprised, walking up to him.

"Of course, I'm coming along on this one, if you're on board then we got nothing to worry about" Michael shrugged as he looked up at his friend.

"Are you really sure you want to do this, it's going to get pretty raw out there" Rook spoke.

When he talked to him earlier, Michael made it clear it he was still quite new at the whole stealth and bow thing, his prolonged time to prepare accentuated the fact.

"Hell yeah man, with you on board, what can go wrong?" Michael asked.

"I've experience lose out here too, not everything is a win for me" Rook said nervously.

"Yeah but we're all teaming up, the militia and your guys, we're an unstoppable team now, we're going to really fuck the peggies up" Michael grinned.

Rook was not sure if he should flex his newly bestowed powers and bench Michael from coming along, but he was more willing to go out into the field then the rest of the Militia was, and everyone else did seem a little apprehensive to go out. Against his better judgment, he did not say anything more to Michael.

Instead Rook went back to patiently waited for everyone to get ready, then under the order of Redd, everyone finished what they needed to do, then they headed out into the cold and unforgiving county.

* * *

The trek was long and pensive, everyone kept their heads down more then usual as they traversed the land, hoping to stave off any confrontations, luckily nothing ever came for them, what was more was that Redd had memorized the path and lead them straight to the bunker, and it was just as they'd except as the bunker's location came into view in the distance, they could properly see just what they would be going up against, there was a large, metal rectangle that was the bunker door embedding into the grassy ground, three shipping containers littered the area around the area, so did a few concrete road dividers, somehow carried off into the middle of nowhere. Just as Eli had said, a box truck sat on the edge of the area like an animal nestling in the grass, but what caught him off guard was something that stood at the edges of each direction of the site, Eli said four out of five scouts did not make it back, Rook was never sure what the peggie did with the bodies of their enemies, but now he knew what Jacob would be willing to do. The four scouts hung in the air from seven-foot poles that had been stuck into the ground, they were stripped of all clothes and left naked, the tip of the spear piercing through the bottom of their jaws and was left just like that like sinister scarecrows, scarecrows that blatantly screamed _fuck off or die._

He could hear the people shifting behind him, everyone else could see the scarecrows, they were equally if not more horrified and disgusted at the sight, he couldn't blame them, but he believed that it gave them the motivation to hit the peggies harder. Rook carefully stood up again and watched the few peggies that wandered the area with nothing to do, they looked bored but tried to put out a strong front, trying to deter anyone who steeled themselves past the scarecrows, but now more then ever Rook wanted to hit them.

Since they were in the middle of nowhere, the place was surrounded by tall grass, tall enough for everyone to sneak on up on the peggies, like foxes prowling after rabbits.

As they slowly moved closer, they began dipping down into the grass, letting them get dangerously close to their foes, once they had gotten into shooting range, Rook's hands started trembling as he prepared his bow, he was itching to pull an arrow from his quiver and start killing, what had been done here was sickening and everyone felt the same way. The order to attack danced on the tip of Rook's tongue, desperate to leap out of his mouth and let the consequences of the order happen. But he knew he couldn't just let things fly as is, he needed to let everyone get the angle on the cultists, as he waited, Redd was slowly pulling a few of his and Rook's men to the side, creating a cresting line to move in on the site.

As much as he wanted Redd to move faster, he _needed _to wait, after a few impatient moments, he could hear a few ersatz bird calls coming from where Redd would be, before they had departed the Wolves Den, Eli had informed him that they used a series of bird calls to communicate in such close proximity to peggies. Redd's whistle signified they were ready to kill, all he needed was the conformation whistle to begin, and Rook couldn't agree more, he looked over to Jess who was crouched beside him, she met his gaze and looked at him as if she was trying to read his mind, then Rook nodded to her as he readied his bow, anxious to poke out and take a life.

Jess understood and readied her bow before whistling, as soon as she did, arrows flew into the air like a flock of birds, then came back down, striking down the few peggies before they understood what was being set upon them, then there was silence, everyone held their breath after all the arrows landed, they collectively waited for the smallest of noises to indicate something was amiss or a peggie was still alive, but the place was deathly silent, despite all that, it was not quiet to Rook, his heartbeat pumped in his ears, blocking out minute noises, he was afraid of hearing gunshots as no one had any cover or protection.

"All targets cleared!?" Redd's voice loudly came from the far end of the line.

Rook flinched silently at the voice, but other then that nobody said anything as they also scanned the area to reconfirm what was yelled, even Rook analyzed the field, but all he saw was corpses.

"All targets cleared!" Jess yelled back.

"Everyone, move in!" Redd yelled in response.

And with that, everyone rose from the grass and casually moved towards the bunker, the peggies dead and the threat neutralized, there was no threat to be found.

A few people cheered as everyone targeted was killed, the threat the cultists carried was immense, the slightest mistake could have spelt doom for them all, and Rook was still feeling it, he was silent as everyone moved up, still feeling anxious over the whole situation, as he went, he almost did not notice the light panting behind him as grass crunched, getting closer and closer, then Michael appeared next to him, chuckling.

"You see that man, and just like that, we won" he grinned.

"Tell you what, let's save the celebrating until we make it back home" Rook said, gripping his bow tightly.

His instincts told him to not let his guard down, he did not want Redd trying something sinister on him again.

"Yeah but see, I told you, having you on the team is great, you know what your doing out here" Michael said.

"I'm not doing it on my own, there's like, fifteen other people here or whatever, it's a team effort" Rook retorted.

"Yeah, yeah, just keep up the good job, Deputy" Michael smiled, placing a hand on Rook's shoulder.

As everyone waded through the tall grass, thirty feet from being within an impromptu bunker defenses, one of the shipping container's doors fell open with a loud thud, it's mouth pointed at the center on the encroaching line, before Rook could see what just was inside or even was happening, a voice ripped across the field.

"Everyone, get down!" A voice screamed before the world erupted in gunfire.

Rook did not hesitate to throw himself onto the ground, he recognized the gunfire that now rattled on and on endlessly, it was a heavy machine gun, probably mounted to a concrete divider and firing fifty calibers bullets.

When he hit the ground, he quickly discovered that the ground mostly consisted of half hardened mud and dirt, making it very uncomfortable, but it did not deter him, it was better then being dead. He carefully moved himself over so he could look over to Michael who had also made it to the ground, a few meters away, his stomach to the ground, and facing away from the Deputy he was completely unmoving, most likely to avoid the gunfire that perpetually flew above them.

Michael!" Rook roared, hoping his voice could be heard.

But he did not respond, how could he? the gunfire was deafening.

Cursing, Rook carefully maneuvered himself into a safe positioned and crawled through the mud, grass and dirt, towards Michael, who still refused to move while the gun fired, Rook assumed he was paralyzed by fear, who wouldn't when such a gun was going off, it could cut a man if half, but Rook wasn't afraid, he knew it was either him or the gunner that was going to bite it, and by God he was going to make sure it wasn't him.

Once he made it up to the man, Rook positioned himself to kneel over him, then he grabbed a hold of Michael and pulled, rolling him over, intent on bringing him to his senses, but when he rolled him over, he discovered a large chunk of Michael's head was blown off, he had been hit before he could take cover.

Rook did not say anything at the sit of Michael's half head, he didn't even do anything aside from continue stare at his fallen friend, his mind refused to comprehend what had happened as if to protect itself, leaving Rook to sit there, holding onto his dead friend. Everything that was not Michael seemed to fizzle out, it was like the volume of the machine gun's fire seemed muted, it was like a full thumping in the background, the world felt it turned gray.

Then hands that were suddenly on his shoulders pulled him away from what was his friend, the next thing he knew he was face to face with Jess, he could see her lips moving, she was saying something, but he could not hear what she was saying instead he was absorbed with her face, he could see every detail of her face in such a clarity never before seen, the emotion that warped her face, the fear and anger that took hold of her and clung to her like a mask, how her facial scars bent and twisted with the smallest flexes of her facial muscles, it was then he finally noticed just how teal her eyes were.

Then she slapped him.

The sudden pain shooting across his face seemed to restart the world around him, the world's volume returned to normal, the machine gun boomed like the world was ending, there was muffled yelling all around him, arrows occasionally flew towards the Peggie side of the field only to hit nothing, then his mind started moving again, processing everything that was going on, including the woman before him.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Jess screamed, her voice muffled by the perpetual gunfire

Rook flinched and recoiled at her words, everything was hitting him with such force.

"I, I, I, Michael" He stuttered, trying to mentally catch up.

"He's dead, now come on, move!" Jess yelled, pushing him towards the peggies.

Rook fell onto his hands and knees, panting heavily, he was not sure when it started but he realized he was sweating profusely, he felt nauseous, he knew he didn't get it by anything but almost he felt like he did, his head spun and heart pounded as he listened to the relentless pounding of gunfire, the angry and dying yelps from both sides of the skirmish. His skin crawled to think about what kind of situation he was in, underneath that, the fire that was his anger was slowly igniting, he had called that this was a trap, and lo and behold it was. He had told Eli, he _told_ Eli this would happen, but yet again no one listened to him. And now his teammates, the people he had bonded with over the last three weeks were dying, his friend was killed, he was going to make them all pay.

With gritted teeth, he lowered himself onto his stomach and began crawling towards the gunfire, towards the peggies, hoping to get the angle on the so he could start killing, or at the very least create a distraction, along the way he had to crawl over a few corpses, he tried not to look at them as he went over them, but out of the corner of his eye, he could tell the corpses were both his men and Eli's they were either torn up or lightly dotted by gunfire, his clothes being soaked with their blood and his sweat, as he drew ever closer to the peggie, a single thought hammered through his mind like a thunderous mantra, pushing him to action and do what needed to be done: Kill the bad guys, kill the bad guys, kill the bad guys, kill the bad guys, kill the bad guys, kill the bad guys.

With the gunfire growing louder with every inch, Rook got closer the bunker, the gunman had to be distracted with the Whitetails and Rookists, it was what Rook needed to get one clean shot off, once he felt he was in a good enough position, he loaded an arrow into his bow and rose from the grass just enough to fire, his anger stopped his fears enough to send it flying towards where he thought the gunfire was coming from, but only to miss his shot. Before the gunman could turn their attention on him once again, Rook dropped back down into the grass, while he was shooting, out of the corner of his eye he had seen what looked to be two dozen peggies, they had suddenly appeared from nowhere, not only that but the two other shipping containers also had their doors fallen open, it explained where the two dozen peggies had now polluted the area, firing into the fall grass with automatic weapons. Any frontal assaults would be difficult, meaning he'd have to get the angle on them if anything was to be accomplished, and he did just that, he begrudgingly tried his best to circle around and get the angle on them as the peggies focused on what was in front of them, but his desire for revenge outgrew his patience and before he could get to their side, he stopped fifty percent of the way and fired at the peggie closet to him, a peggie hung on the edge of the site ,taking shots when they could and unaware of Rook, this time the arrow found it's mark, taking down the peggie. Thankfully, the Rookists and Whitetails still fired arrows from within the grass, keeping all the attention on them.

Rook was happy with his accuracy, now that the cultist was gone, he could bee line right into the site and start killing once more, he crept forwards towards the peggies, he wasn't sure how he would do it but he was going to kill them all, but before he entered their line of sight, he stepped over the body of his latest kill, before he moved passed it, he looked down at the person he had killed and the blood that leaked from them, next to them was their rifle, fully automatic, slowly getting stained with said blood, Rook stared at it, he knew that arrows were no longer effective in this fight, he needed something more, he quickly holstered his bow and grabbed the fallen rifle and began returning fire, blasting a few rounds into every body he saw, killing in quick succession, one body, to bodies, three bodies, it was like clockwork for him, the peggies were to disjointed from the unseen archers in the grass they couldn't accumulate to the Deputy pushing on them in time.

As Rook walked forward firing at the many peggies, wanting nothing more then to kill them all, they slowly began to realize what was going on and began counterattack. One peggie was even bold enough to try to get the jump on Rook with a machete, charging him, but Rook ignored him as he wasn't a threat until he got really close and just focused on shooting those with guns. Once the machete wielder got within striking range, they brought the machete up, intent on swinging it, but before they could properly swing, Rook brought the gun around and smacked the peggie in the face with the butt of his rifle, breaking their noise and staggering back, Rook took those few seconds of dizziness to level his gun again and fired upon the cultist, killing them.

Perhaps the cultists could have taken down Rook if not for the constant downpour of arrows, dividing their attention to the point of uselessness, so much so they had refused themselves to sitting ducks trying to organize themselves, they were quickly cut down by Rook's gun, leaving no one standing.

With them all gone, all that was left was the heavy machine gun that still rattled on.

As Rook walked towards where the gunner was situated, he felt something kick against his boot, curious, he looked down to see a machete, the one he was attacked with earlier, his mind churning, Rook stared at it for a few seconds before he holstered his rifle and grabbed the machete off the ground then slowly moved towards the shipping container that housed the peggie machine gunner again, he crept right up to the metal box before quickly moving around the lip if the container, machete raised over his head.

The peggie barely had time to react before Rook came down on him, the peggie raising an arm to protect themselves, but it was only a deficit to them as the machete's blade sunk through the flesh right down to the bone, causing him to cry out in pain, falling backwards, the machine gun falling silent, and that's what Rook wanted, it let him take a step deeper into the container and brought the machete down to hack the peggie over and over again, blood splattering over Rook's person like a Jason Pollock painting.

After many, many slashes and swiping, Rook finally stepped out of the container, breathing deeply, the peggies were dead and the gunfire was no silent, he was satisfied as all felt right with the world.

Then he came back to reality, his emotions returned and he wanted to kill again, he dropped the machete and stomped back to where the bunker door was, drawing on his rifle and kept it at the ready to fire, but nothing appeared before him, he watched the environment around him with cold eyes nonetheless, ready to kill at a moments notice, then a engine revved and backfired then it sounded like it was coming right at Rook.

Rook quickly turned to see the forgotten box truck barreling towards him. Before it distance became dangerous, it skidded to a halt meters away, its rear facing him, Rook raised his gun at the door, ready to fire, expecting peggies to try something when the door slid open, but as the backdoor slid upwards, it revealed Redd inside.

"Throw as much food as you can in here, then we bug the fuck out!" he yelled.

Rook stared motionlessly at Redd, he wanted to yell at the man, while everyone was fighting and dying he had snuck around and stole the truck, he was essentially letting people die so he could secure cover, he could have started attacking the peggies rear, but no, he hid in the truck and waited for everything to die down, and so what if he secured the truck, this whole thing was a lost cause, the box truck was just a giant slow target, the peggies had to have called for backup, the backup could light it up with gunfire as it made its escape, the tires weren't bulletproof, or hell, Jacob had all the roads on lockdown, there was no way they could get it there in one piece, whoever thought the plan up was an idiot.

Everything was bullshit, the plan was, Redd was, the peggie were, this was all murder for the sake of murder, by now he couldn't give less of a fuck about the plan and was more interested in making the peggies pay, to make every single one of them pay. If his men had to suffer then he was going to make the peggies suffer right alongside them.

"What are you waiting for, go!" Redd yelled.

Rook gritted his teeth and turned to where the bunker door would be and saw the large door was flush with the ground, save for the way to open in, a simple rusted valve, he nearly stomped up towards the bulkhead before bending over and with all his strength, turned the squeaky valve, depressurizing the door and unlocking it, he then hoisted open the large metal door, struggling with it as it was bigger than him. But as the door pointed straight up, the way was clear, a dim blackness looked up and waited for Rook to enter, a concrete staircase snaked from the gloom, the Deputy, clutched his gun tightly to himself before descending downwards into the blackened depths.

* * *

As Rook reached the bottom of the staircase, he found that the bunker reeked of gasoline as a few plastic gas containers litter the place, most likely there, solely for the truck above. A dim light that hung from above illuminated said gas canisters and the far end of the room, there sat a large pile a small boxes, arranged in a circular pyramid, stacking five feet high, it was what they had fought and bled for, the mother load of MRE's.

A few hallways branched out from the main stretch he stood in, the halls dark as no lights were on, just the one over the food, it made him keep his gun close just in case. Rook quietly crossed the hall and approached the pile and stop a meager few feet away, he stood staring at the heap, thinking.

He wanted, he needed to send a message to Jacob and his men, something to let them know what they would be up against now, it needed to be strong, and Rook knew what it would be as he looked back at the pile of food. There was no way they could get all this food back home, some would be left behind, and if Rook could not secure it all then the peggies would not get a crumb. Not only that but he wanted Jacob to know that he was done stealing things back to survive, now when they hit a place, it was to kill peggies and that was it, no more Robin Hood bullshit, this was war. And by God, Rook was going to win.

With brash respiration's, he turned around and stormed over to one of the few plastic containers that held the gas and hastily screwed off the top, the smell of gasoline permeating the air even more, he looked at the item in his hand before turning back to the pile and quickly returned it, with anxious hands he held up the canister and began dousing the large pile by splashing it with the gasoline, covering as much as he could, as evenly as possible, and with what was left, he poured a trail away from the pile, ending in a small puddle, the ignition point.

He dropped the empty can to his side so he could grip his rifle better and aimed it at the small puddle before pulling the trigger, shooting a single bullet. the gunshot rang out and echoed in the empty bunker as the bullet bounced of the concrete floor and gas, sparking zapping from the projectile, the sparks were just enough to ignite the gas. The puddle went up in flames, and so too did the trail that lead to heap, creating a quickly growing line of fire before touching the food, which quickly went up in flames as well. The mountain of MRE's began melting quickly as the cheap plastic soaked in gas were an excellent fuel source, the smell of burning food and plastic polluted the area and slowly spread outward.

Rook stood there and silently watched the food be engulfed in flames, as the fire rose, he felt so to did his chances of killing Jacob, this was more then a tactical victory, it was a moral and emotional one.

Then Rook's peace was interrupted by the heavy foot falls down the stair behind him, then Redd came jogging up, huffing, and puffing, sweating profusely as he was still not used to living through such environments, he was drawn in by the gunshot and curious to what could have possibly been done, but as soon as he entered, he frozen as his legs felt weak, in utter disbelief over what Rook had done.

He limply stumbled forward a little bit, trying to say something, but nothing came, then he saw Rook out of the corner of his eye, his silhouette pushing against the bright light, once he did, he exploded.

"You killed us!" Redd shouted angrily stomping towards Rook.

"You did this, didn't you, you fucking killed us all!" he screamed, making Rook to turn towards him.

Then another series of loud footsteps came flooding down the stairs in response to all the yelling.

Redd angrily turned to see who was coming, hoping it was some of his men, so they would help him kick Rook's ass. But instead his face fell as three Rookists now staring in horrid awe at them and the fire.

"What the fuck happened to the food!?" One of them cried, in disbelief over what had happened to their hard-earned food.

"It was him!" Redd yelled, pointing a finger at Rook.

"He set it on fire, how else could this have happened!" He screamed.

The three Rookists stared at Redd, then to Rook, then to the fire, then finally back to Redd.

"The Deputy is here to save us!" one yelled.

"We believe in him, his judgment is just!" Another yelled defiantly.

"He would never do something like that, you're a liar!" The third yelled.

Redd was utterly silent as he stared at the three people who had come down the stairs, see their food burning and almost cried, then did a one eighty upon hearing it was Rook that did the deed

"I thought Joseph's cult was the fucking end all of problems, it turns out I was wrong, it's _you!" _Redd shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Rook.

"You took all these scared, broken people and you turned them into your own little fucking cult, your just as bad as Joseph!" He cried.

"I don't know what your talking about" Rook said, dropping his rifle onto the floor, he did not need it anymore, and so too did his voice, it dropped in emotion.

Redd stared at Rook, he could handle what was unfolding before him, it was like a bad dream.

"I bet you did it, you set the fire to frame Rook!" one Rookist cried.

"He just destroyed all the food in the mountains and your defending him for it!" Redd screamed in disbelief.

"Just shut up and keep your men in line and let me do all the hard work, I will overthrow Jacob" Rook said as he began walking away, towards the exit, but Redd would not have it.

"You fucking asshole!" Redd swore loudly as he then lurched at Rook swinging his fists at him.

But before his fist could connect with Rook face, the Rookists jumped forward, intercepting the man and strong-armed him onto the ground, forcing him on to his stomach and twisting his arm harshly behind his back, Redd tried to squirm and wriggle free, but the three people just kept applying more pressure to him.

"Let me fucking go, you fucking Neanderthals!" Redd yelled as he thrashed and howled.

But his efforts were met with a knife being poked into his back, a Rookist had pulled a knife on him, the blade threatened to slide through the fabric of his shirt and his back, forcing him to go stationary.

Heavily heaving, Redd contorted his neck so he could look up at Rook, wanting to hurl more curses and threats at him, but before he could, Rook took a step closer to the man his loyal troops held down, then looked down his nose at Redd, standing inches away from him.

"Stop getting in my way, I am the Deputy, I am the law, I am Justice, this is your first and last warning" Rook said, his voice as sharp as the knife against Redd's back, his face devoid on any emotion or care.

And then he turned away, slowly making his way towards the bunker's exit, he even dared to whistle a slow, drab tune as he ascended the staircase up to the surface, hands folded behind his back.

With him now gone, the three Rookists discussed when would be an appropriate time to let Redd go, and their words were inaudible to the Militiaman, ever since Rook spoke, again he was rendered speechless, left in dumb shock of the gull the Deputy had displayed, he was just as he believed; Jacob's puppet, how else could he have such a hold he had over the people that followed him, they were completely dancing to his tune.

But he knew one thing was for sure.

Rook and his men were an enemy, and Eli let them walk right on into their home.

* * *

The Junior Deputy emerged from the bunker and looked down at the field before him; Rookists and Whitetails alike drifted across the battlefield, they combed through the tall grass looking for their fallen allies, hoping to take the dead home to be properly buried and to redistribute any undamaged goods that were on their persons, some were off to the side tending to the wounded, a few even tried to bring down the scarecrows down without disturbing the corpses.

He wanted to address the masses, hoping to get ahead of Redd on the rumor mill, but before that he needed to relax, his veins still pumped fire and heart boomed like thunder. He took a few deep breathes to no avail, he tried to relax his facial features to appear calm, but found he could not, a stern, teeth grinding error was stuck to his face like a mask. He just could not shake the anger that clung to him like a cloak, his mind spun with all kinds of thoughts and beliefs, all fueling is anger, and Michael was at the center of it all, Rook believed it was his fault he died, he should have told him to stay behind, he should have put his foot down.

He then quickly turned towards the bunker's door so no one could see his scowling expression, he could feel his emotions spiraling out of control, impulses were running wild. His jaw tightened as his fist clenched at his sides, so hard that his fists shook, he had all this raw emotion and no place to put it.

Unable to cope anymore, his fist shot forward, punching the metal door with a lifeless thud, it hurt but he did not feel it. Then he punched the door again and again in quick succession with no intention of stopping.

"Hey! hey! hey! What the fuck are you doing!?" Jess's voice came, full of concern and surprise.

But Rook ignored her and continued to slam his fist against the large door, his hand going numb.

Then he felt something he did not expect, he felt Jess press herself against his back and wrapped her arms around him, locking her hands together to keep him from throwing anymore punches.

"Stop" she said again, this time her voice much softer and lighter, she was not speaking to the world, she was speaking to him and just him.

He could have easily broken out of her grip, but he chose not to,

If she had said anything else, Rook could not here it, his clamped jaw had relaxed and his breath was hoarse and shaky, he didn't no why but Jess was making his feelings bubble to the top, not wanting to push against her any more, he looked down at his trembling hand and beet red knuckles.

All kinds of words slid around his skull, all different phrases, and sentences, but none of them seemed to fit how they felt.

"Michael is dead" he finally said, his voice trembling, his throat tight.

Jess was near silent, he was not sure what she was doing, but he could hear her try to say something, but she kept stopping herself, she was unsure of what to say.

She was never in the comforting position, she never had been.

"I'm sorry" she finally said, quickly and quietly, as if she was afraid of being heard, before pressing her cheek on his back.

She did not care who saw them, nobody else really mattered.

"You were right" Rook said, a hitch in his voice.

Jess made a soft hum, unsure to what he was talking about.

"I'm too soft, I'm not tough like you" Rook said, his eyes felt wet, and his legs felt weak.

"It's not your fault" Jess replied.

"Tell the troops to load the fallen into the box truck, we're leaving" Rook ordered before coughing, trying to retain his composure as he pushed himself from Jess's grasp.

"What about the food and stuff?" Jess asked.

"Gone, peggies destroyed it all" Rook replied as he smoothed out the creases and wrinkles in his clothes as if it would smooth out his dishevelled state.

Jess swore softly at what she heard, she was hungry, and so was everyone else.

"So what are we going to do now?" Jess asked, looking up at Rook.

Rook was silent as he pondered the depths of her question, his back still to her.

"We do what we have been all this time, we kill" Rook stated, his voice now as calm as ever.

* * *

The lonely sound of boots clattering against metal echoed down the halls of Jacob's bunker, Gordon hobbled along as fast as he could, the wounds on his legs were quickly healing, any day now he would be allowed to go out on his own, and he wanted to track down the Deputy. He wanted revenge for being humiliated by Rook when the last met in John's ranch, it put him in a bad light with Jacob, and that put him on very thin ice.

But now he had a way off the ice and onto dry land, Jacob had summoned the only other peggies who had multiple encounters with the Deputy and lived, two low levels; Frank and Emily, or that's what he believed their names to be, and now he had been summoned, but the other two had been summoned half an hour ago, and had not been seen since, which made him nervous, but nonetheless Gordon still hurried on, rushing to Jacob's door and slowly cranked it open before stepping inside.

As soon as Gordon entered he saw two peggies stood in the room, their backs to him and feet of space between all three of them, he wasn't sure how to feel when he recognized it was Frank and Emily.

Gordon quickly stepped through the two and lightly approached the man in front of them.

Jacob sat before all three of them.

He sat in a simple chair, facing away from Gordon and the two behind him, they couldn't see what they Seed was doing, but the cultists knew what he was doing, in Jacob's hand was a knife, and in the other was a large wooden pole, perfectly smooth and five feet long, he used the knife the whittle down on end into a sharpened point, a sizeable pile of sawdust and shaving building up at his feet.

They stood patiently, waiting for their superior to begin dialogue.

But Jacob was more focused on the wooden spear he was slowly making, he knew one more of his flock had entered, but he would start with him at his leisure.

"Speak" Jacob finally ordered.

"Sir, your desired outcomes have not come to pass, Sir" Gordon responded.

"Explain" Jacob directed.

"The resources at social experiment site two was not stolen, instead the Junior Deputy destroyed it all, Sir"

"Hm, interesting" Jacob said, but his tone suggested otherwise.

"Are there any survivors?" he asked.

"Sir no Sir, all troops are confirmed dead, Sir" Gordon said.

"That's fine, they were all useless anyways, they needed to be dispensed somehow" Jacob stated, disinterested.

"Sir, is there anything you would like me to tell what is left of John's flock, Sir?" Gordon asked.

"No, they will either die or will become useful in some way or another, it's just a matter of time until we find out which" Jacob sighed.

"Sir, any orders you wish for me too fulfill, Sir?" Jacob asked.

"In oh six hundred hours, begin social experiment Jay, zero, zero, three" Jacob spoke.

"Sir yes Sir" Gordon nodded.

"Dismissed" Jacob muttered.

Gordon did not say anything more, instead he hurried out the door he came from, but as turned to leave he saw Frank and Emily's face's, they wore stony expressions, but it was clearly a thin mask that covered the fear beneath, not only that but their faces and necks were marred with bruises and cuts, the two had been beaten very recently.

But what happened to them was none of his business, it lay elsewhere, Gordon did not offer them a second look and hurried out the door, leaving the three alone together.

Jacob was silent again, focusing on the pike he was sharpening, leaving the silence to fill minutes of time, forcing the two to stand their like terracotta warriors.

"And Privates" Jacob finally said in a sharper tone.

"Sir yes Sir" they both responded, fearing what Jacob had in mind for them.

After weeks of being absorbed into Jacob's flock, they still had yet to learn all the very strict rules and laws of Jacob's bunker, they feared they were going to be harshly punished for something they accidentally did.

Jacob slowly stood up and turned to glare at the man and woman, watching them closely for the slightest change in their disposition. It was clear he did not like Frank and Emily, and it was true, he despised them, John took them in as weaklings and didn't do anything to ready them for was to come, if anything they grew softer as John once controlled them with fear and strong arming, and now he was dead, and these two fleas still drew breath, if God was as real as Joseph proclaimed, he was an unfair God.

"Until your Captain's legs heal completely, continue to bring me updates on any outgoing transmissions from Faith's Gate, bring me every word she says to the Deputy and me alone, this gets out to no one" Jacob ordered.

"Sir yes Sir" They both said.

Jacob regarded them once more, he found their obedience disgusting, it was not born from loyalty or training, it was just all an act to stay out of trouble, like leeches.

"But before you go" Jacob said, looking down at his knuckles, still red from what he did to the man and woman before him.

"I think another round is necessary" He said with a single, hollow chuckle, dropping the knife and pike onto the floor and stepping towards them.

Neither Frank nor Emily did nothing, but their minds screamed.


	50. Chapter 50

"Tell me again what happened when you went down into the bunker" Eli asked sternly, crossing his arms, and leaning back against the table behind him.

He, Rook and Tammy had spent the last half hour in a lonely corner of the Wolves Den, making a concentrated effort to try to understand how days of planning had all gone to waste, trying to gleam as much information as they could, Redd was dying to go first, and when they heard what he had to say, they moved quickly moved to Rook, scrutinizing his every word. His eyes looked over to Tammy who leaned against the wall, arms crossed, stern decision on her face, he knew she did not believe what she was hearing but she wasn't letting Rook know, verbally anyways.

Eli's tired eyes drifted back over to Rook who stood as patiently as he could, it was clear he wasn't to impressed with the interrogation that he was going through, he was trying to but on a relaxed front, but he was subtly irritated by it all, his body gave it away, he was shifting his weight every now and again, his leg bounced endlessly.

"I went down there, and the food was on fire, the fire was to strong for me to do anything worthwhile so I just watched in disbelief or whatever, then Redd came down, it's as simple as that" Rook said as nonchalant as ever.

Something did not sound right to him, but he had no reason to believe why Rook would tell such lies.

"But how did it start, you didn't see anyone else down there?" Tammy asked more sternly then Eli.

"I don't know, I guess when the peggies realized they were losing they decided if they couldn't have it, then neither could we" Rook supposed, not liking the woman's tone.

"Maybe they knew what we were after and wanted to use it as a trap and lure us in, it is really weird why all that food is just in the middle of nowhere" he said, his voice now taking a air of seriousness.

"But that would set Jacob back indefinitely, why would one frightened person feel it necessary to do that kind of damage to their _holy_ cause?" Eli asked.

"Why does Redd insist you were the one who started it?" Tammy cut in aggressively, her question sounding more accusatory then a question.

"You tell me" Rook groaned, flailing his arms lightly.

"Friggin' Redd has been on my ass since day one, he came down a few minutes after me and just started assuming shit" Rook groaned in frustration.

"_And_ he has been against us teaming up since we got here, he's trying to kick us out at every chance" he said, rolling his eyes.

Eli hesitated to respond, the Deputy raised an excellent point, Redd had been painfully clear he did not trust Rook anyone who walked under his banner, he wouldn't put it past him to actually try something to get Rook to reveal his _true colors, _but there was no way Redd would _ever_ intentionally start the fire and blame Rook. Sure, Redd was rough around the edges and may have had a few run ins with the local police for a few misdemeanors, but he was a good guy deep down.

"Tell you what Benjamin, why don't we leave this be for now and come back to it at a later time, what's done is done and we have more pressing matters to attend to" Eli offered.

"What?!" Tammy guffawed, looking back at the survivalist.

But Eli only raised a single palm to her, silently asking her for silence, and she complied.

"Sounds good to me, I have dead to bury" Rook said indignantly before turning and left the room.

Eli and Tammy silently watched Rook leave, once he was properly gone, Tammy reanimated again.

"Something doesn't feel right, he's fucking lying" Tammy spat.

"What could he possibly gain from destroying what little food that's still up for grabs?" Eli asked, letting his arms fall to his sides.

Exhaustion and stress was catching up to him, all of the Whitetails looked up to him as a pillar of support and leadership, but he was running out of answers, inside the bunker and out, it wouldn't be long until people started trying to figure out their own means of survival.

"We get weaker, that's probably what he wants, he's another one of Jacob's puppets after all, this is all Jacob's doing!" Tammy loudly declared, taking a large step towards him, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"But he, Jess and the rest of his men starve as well, as we weaken, so does he" Eli countered, running a hand through his beard.

"So what, all the more for him not to fight back hen the peggies storm their way in here and kill us all!" Tammy cried.

"But again, his treachery remains to be seen, if we wished to betray us, he would have made a deal with Jacob when we cast him out the first time" Eli supposed.

"I mean it Eli, Redd is right, we should just get rid of all of them, you heard what Redd said, he's got all his guys doing whatever he says, that's dangerous!" Tammy cried.

"And we need that loyalty, we have enough thinkers down here, but we will always need more fighters, if not we will die"

"So that's it then! We're struggle to protect ourselves and we look the other way for people killing us from the inside out just for the increased numbers?!" Tammy demanded, slamming a fist into her hand.

"No, not yet, we have absolutely no proof Rook did anything wrong, everything we've heard is a he said, she said situation, it might as well be hearsay" Eli sighed, feeling his troubles mounting.

"So, what we just wait until something unforgivable happens!?" Tammy asked, disgusted.

Eli regarded Tammy as his old bones ached, he didn't want to defend Rook, but he didn't want to not defend him, he was still unsure if Rook intentionally killed all those civilians all those weeks ago, but regardless, he needed him.

"Yeah" Eli said with an unusual lack of conviction.

* * *

Rook wiped the sweat from his brow after putting the shovel back where he had found it, had had spent the last few hours doing just what he had told Eli, he was burying his dead. Rook and his Rookists dug graves a few meters away from the Wolves Den's entrance, Rook's only regret was that he had to leaves the graves unmarked, especially with Michael, but the bunker beneath needed to be as hidden as possible. While they took care of the dead, Jess elected to go and hunt, to at the very least get food for Rook and her, Rook let her go as he trusted her so much, if anyone was fine on their own, it was her.

Once the bodies were taken care of, Rook decided a eulogy was in order, those who had left them needed to be remembered more then what was just placed in a hole in the ground. He called everyone attention and gave a speech about how brave they were to the very end, they acted like the hero's they needed to stop Jacob's regime, as he talked, some cried, some got angry, it was all understandable, they had known each other for so long, at least since Joseph attacked.

By the time Rook finished his speech, he found his eyes were also moist, there was a tightness and a weight in his chest, his emotions were climbing their way out again, once again he found himself blaming Redd, but he steeled himself and continued.

He explained to all of them what happened to the food, of course there was discourse running through the group, but once he explained that everything would still be ok, everything sounded ok to them when it came from the man who gave them the tools to survive, and then the training to take revenge for everything they lost, he delivered them the hope that they could see the end of this nightmare, and could very well bring that victory themselves. It all made sense to them, even if it didn't, why question it, Rook was the shining hero that slew countless peggies in the name of justice, savior of the innocent and stopped the sadistic John Seed and now set his sight on Jacob, it wouldn't be long until Joseph himself was dead.

How could Rook ever do or say anything wrong?

Keeping the ball rolling, after wrapping up his speech he moved his speech about Redd and how he plotted their downfall, he was someone who could not be trusted, nor was anyone under his control, but he made it very clear not to be hostile or aggressive to Redd or the Whitetails, they did not know what they did was wrong, it was not their fault they were influenced by a weak man who didn't have what it took to see through this war, if they were hostile to the Whitetails then they'd never see the light of day, they needed to understand they were wrong under their own thought.

And the Rookists understood what they were being told, all believing wholeheartedly with Rook's logic and prepared to treat the Whitetails like the babies they were. A small grin stretched across Rook's face as he saw his words stuck in his follower's minds, with his goal completed, Rook returned inside and put back the shovel. With nothing else to do for the time being, he wandered the bunker for something to do.

As he moved from one common area to another, he noticed that Redd was in one such room, watching him attentively with a look that suggested nothing good. Redd had kept his distance, physically and verbally, whenever they were in the same room since they returned from the battlefield, Redd would be by himself in the corner and fume silently, watching him intently. Rook of course did not like it but never said anything about it as he did not want to start anything, he did not want to, he did not need to.

He had already made it clear where they stood down in the food bunker.

Then Rook carried on as if Redd were not there, aimlessly wandering the bunker, getting lost in the maze of tight hallways.

After a few minutes of making sure everything was ok within the bunker, a voice reached out to him.

"Um, excuse me" A hesitant voice came from behind Rook.

Surprised to hear a voice so young, Rook turned to face the voice behind him to see a kid stood before him, standing halfway in the door frame to another room, he could not be more then nineteen and was slightly overweight, and most obviously of all, he was very nervous.

"Uh hey there Deputy" he said, trying to keep a cool composure but did not know how too.

"I'm sure you don't really remember me, but my name is Wheaty, there's uh something I've been meaning to ask you" Wheaty said nervously.

Rook was not sure if he should listen to the kid, for all he knew this was something Redd set up.

"What's up?" Rook asked, carefully watching the kid, just in case.

"In here, I want to show you something" Wheaty said, before disappearing from the door frame and retreated deeper into the other room.

Rook did not follow, he didn't like how things were shaping out, the situation and the kid's attitude seem suspicious, but if there was something amiss, Rook was going to take care of it before it could get any worse. He tightly gripped the bow on his shoulder and followed the kid in, but quickly found he was just jumping to conclusions as the room was small and filled with various everyday possessions and items and one Wheaty, none of which seemed suspicious or interesting to Rook, except for the very thing Wheaty was trying to show him, on a small bench in the corner of the room was a milk crate stuffed to burst with vinyl sleeves, all with their discs inside.

"Check it out, Dude" Wheaty said, ushering Rook towards the vinyls.

And Rook did just that, taking a step closer and began flipping through the collection and felt a wave of nostalgia with every vinyl he flipped through; Billy Idol, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen, Clash, it was all here, it was the soundtrack of his life, all before him.

"Holy shit" Rook muttered in awe over the treasure trove before him.

"I know right" Wheaty said, an air of confidence returning to him.

"This is pretty friggin' sick kid, but why are you showing me this?" Rook asked, looking back over at Wheaty.

"Well uh, Jes- Miss Black said your like really into music so I thought maybe we could strike a deal, I know there's tons of vinyl's out in the county, so if you happen to find any, maybe you could bring it back here, and in return I'll give you access to my record player" Wheaty offered nervously.

"I mean so long as it doesn't get it the way of the task at hand, I don't see why not" Rook said, flipping through more vinyls.

"I got Darkside Of the Moon and a little baggie of weed so maybe we could kick it old school?" Wheaty shrugged.

"Hey, I'm still a cop y'know" Rook asserted, looking back at the kid.

Wheaty's response was a series of stammers and stutters as he had forgotten Rook's law enforcement status and tried to backpedal.

"Uh, uh, uh, tell you what" Wheaty said nervously, taking a step back and raising his hands up.

"I've taken up enough of your time Sir, I'm sorry, I'll let you be on your way!" He said quickly, holding an arm out towards the door.

Rook gave the kid a strange look as this kid was clearly not cut out for any of this, he was a bundle of anxiety and had no use for him other then the record player. Not wanting to waste any more time, Rook decided it was best to leave and marched towards the door, but as he began to leave, Wheaty called out to him again.

"But hey" Wheaty squeaked, his voice cracking.

Rook turned back and saw that Wheaty had suddenly grown increasingly anxious.

"Do you think we can keep this between us, Tammy doesn't really want me talking to you, all will kill me if she finds out what we're doing, that and the weed thing" Wheaty said, taking his eyes of Rook halfway through, unable to keep his eyes on Rook's steely gaze.

"Yea sure kid" Rook shrugged before finally leaving the room.

Wheaty said nothing more as Rook left, leaving Rook to his own devices, roaming the halls for something to do, as he felt awkward without an objective, he was so used to just working that the lack of motion was like he was doing something wrong, it made him anxious, but it was not long until his prayers were answered as a job fell into his lap. A static version of Tammy's voice polluted the hallways.

"Redd and Rook get your asses to the planning room now" She ordered dryly.

There must have been some sort of intercom installed into the ceiling somewhere, but Rook never saw it, it was just another surprise the militia had hidden.

Rook dragged his feet towards the planning room door, not looking forward to what was going to happen, they must have put it together that something was not on the level, but still he pushed on, eventually getting to where the planning room was, once he was within meters of the door, but before he could get any closer, Redd suddenly came around a corner and approached the door, he placed a hand on the door, but before he moved to open the door, he stopped and looked back to glare dangerously at Rook.

"The fuck you lookin' at?" he spat.

"Someone who has a few problems, your goin to have one more if you don't get a move on" Rook growled.

"What are you going to do? Give me a parking ticket?" Redd challenged.

And then the door opened, revealing Tammy.

"The hell are you two doing standing around, get in here!" she scolded, then nearly pulled Redd inside.

Both men grumbled to themselves as they shambled in, not wanting to incur Tammy's wrath.

Once they entered the room, they were met with Eli, who eyed them uneasily from the planning table.

"So, Gentlemen" Eli said uncomfortably, using both hands to lean on the table.

"There has been a bit of a development while you both were busy" he said.

"Oh goodie, what catastrophe is about to happen now?" Redd griped, taking his place at the planning table.

"It's not quite that, we might have the opposite actually" Tammy said.

"What? y'all found a way to call in a national guard?" Rook asked annoyedly, also gathering around the table.

Eli gave no response as his flicked from Rook to Redd a few times before speaking.

"We uh, received a tip from a trusted outside source a little while ago" he said, just as uncomfortably.

"Since when did we have that?" Redd spat, not believing what he heard.

"For a long while now, I have to keep some things to myself, for obvious reasons"

"I don't know about this, how well do you know them, what if the transmissions were compromised?" Rook asked.

"If Eli says their trusted, then their trusted" Redd spat, glaring at Rook.

Rook narrowed his gaze at the man, it was clear he was just picking fights just for the hell of it. and Eli let it slide for the sake of continuing his spiel, by the way he looked, he did not feel to good about whatever was on his mind.

"They believe they know where another one of Jacob's mental conditioning centers is" he said.

"Oh, fuck no!" Redd exclaimed, taking a step away from the table.

"I ain't gonna sit here and let history repeat itself, I'm not going to let the Deputy blow the place up!" Redd swore, slamming his fist onto the table before him.

"I just did as I was told, Asshat" Rook seethed, now returning Redd's icy glare.

"You didn't get visual confirmation! You went purely off sound!" Redd shouted, pointing a finger at Rook.

Rook narrowed his eyes at Redd once more, it was clear his one and only warning was not sticking in the Hillbilly's head, something would have to be done to correct this.

But before Rook could even throw around threats or anything confrontive, Eli jumped in, harshly ordering them to be silent so he could continue with his report.

"I can understand that both of you are a bit reluctant with the task at hand, so, I have elected that I will be joining you two out there to make sure everything goes smoothly" Eli nodded, crossing his armed.

"What!? you can't be serious?" Tammy gasped.

"What if something happens to you out there, then who will lead us, I can't do this by myself!" she cried.

"Risks need to be taken if we want to win this" Eli said, sternly, his exhaustion slowly manifesting into frustration, he was getting sick of Rook and Redd constantly going back and forth with each other.

"I am going to assist on this one, but if anyone can propose a way to neutralize the location's effectiveness, I'm all ears" Eli sighed.

The room was then plunged into a pregnant silence as Rook and Redd desperately tried to out do each other in terms of strategy while Eli and Tammy only watched in unamused disinterest, the two fools before them were losing focus in the task at hand and just wanted to spite one another.

But eventually, the silence was broken.

"I mean what if we don't have to get in there to destroy the place?" Rook offered, looking at his allies.

"What do you have in mind, Deputy?" Eli asked, showing actual interest.

"Well, I got this friend back in the Valley; Nick, he's the best damn pilot I know, he's got a plan too, what if he were to fly on over and just carpet bomb the place?" Rook supposed.

"It's not a bad plan, but there are a few snags in it" Eli pondered, rubbing his chin.

"I really don't know if Jacob has any or not but there could be anti air weaponry, and planes aren't the most subtle crafts in the world" Eli said.

"But is it viable?" Rook asked.

"As much as anything else we cooked up" Eli shrugged, considering the idea.

"Nawh, fuck that, I have a better idea" Redd said loudly, trying to pull attention onto himself.

"Do you have something better, Redd?" Tammy asked.

"Of course, I do!" Redd huffed, crossing his arms indignantly.

"The floor is your, let's hear it" Tammy said.

"Ok so I was thinking we move in with two teams from both sides of the place, and just move in, quick and hard, arrows at the ready, pick off anyone we see before they notice what's up, then like shadows, we swoop in, take the place apart then leave, we're in, we're out, just like that" Redd grinned proudly, happy with his plan.

"I disagree" Rook said bluntly.

"Yeah, I bet you would, Pig!" Redd spat.

Rook gritted his teeth and prepared his insult to hurl at the redneck, but before he could, Eli stepped in again.

"Redd that's enough, we have more important matters at hand!" He scolded the man.

Eli let out an exasperated sigh before running a hand through his messy hair, Redd was making it painfully clear that he was going to let his emotions cloud his judgment, Rook was not innocent either.

"We're going with Rook's plan, I like it" he said gruffly.

"Come on!" Redd groaned unhappily.

"We drastically minimize casualties this way, and we can get in and out a hell of a lot faster" Eli stated.

"Seriously Palmer, this shit is fucked, what if buddy gets blown out of the sky, we don't know about Jacob's air support" Redd cried, desperate to change is leader's mind.

He had no faith in Rook, and even more so for the strangers he associated with.

"Redd just hold on for five seconds, please" El sighed.

"I don't think your idea is entirely useless" he admitted.

"Do I even dare ask what your planning?" Tammy griped.

"I don't think we should leave the mission's success entirely up to Rook's friend, as I said before, I will be accompanying the both of you while we are out on this particular mission, that being said, the three of us and a few more of our guys will go down there and wait for the payload to be dropped, then we will go in and confirm that the mission was a success" Eli explained.

"But what if he's off and it's friendlies? I don't trust this!" Redd shouted, stomping his feet, and slamming a fist into the table in front of him, Rook could not help but stifle a grin as he watched Redd throw his little hissy fit, it served hm right.

"Shut the hell up already, Eli already made up his mind" Tammy swore, making it clear she did not have as much patience as he did.

Redd was all but silent besides from a few growls and groans as he felt he was being ganged up on.

"Benjamin, can you please get your friend on the horn and see if you can get your friend out here?" Eli asked, pointing a crooked finger at Jess's old walkie talkie that still hung from Rook's belt.

"Yeah sure, of course" Rook nodded, grabbing the walkie from his belt, and turned to leave the room so he could have some privacy.

As he walked towards the door, he could hear Redd mutter something under his breathe as he glanced angrily in his direction. But it did not bother Rook, he would take care of him soon enough.

Once he was out of the room and the door sealed behind him, Rook finally called Nick after a long silence between the two men.

"Hey, Nick are you there, Man?" Nick asked reluctantly since he had not spoken to Nick in quite a while.

Rook was not expecting much as he left the Valley without so much of a notice about a month ago, he was not aware of what was going on in the valley or what his friends were up too. But soon enough the walkie crackled to life.

"Holy shit Partner, is that you man, holy shit where'd you run off to?!" Nick's shocked voice came,

"Yeah sorry about that" Rook winced, feeling a little guilty over his actions.

"I'm uh, in the Whitetail mountains at the moment, I've been up here for a while now, sorry for not calling for so long, but the reason why I was calling was I hoping I get a favor" he asked.

"Wait what? what the fuck man? Why would you disappear and not say anything, a few people thought something happened to you at the party, like why'd you leave?!" Nick cried.

"Hey man, that was my bad, I get it, I screwed up, I just wanted to get the jump on dealing with the Seed's, I got a little over eager ok, I apologize for making all of you worry so much" Rook said, hoping his friend would just take the apology and roll with it.

"Yeah well… what you up too now?" Nick asked, but by his tone, Rook could not tell how he took the news.

"I'm going up against Jacob, he has these places where he brainwashes innocent people and makes them into like these angry versions of Faith's bliss angels or whatever and I was wondering if you want to help on account your so good at dropping bombs with your plane" Rook summarized.

"Alright, I'm listening… where's the place you need me to be?" Nick asked, sound more mysterious then before.

"I'm not one hundred percent yet, but I'll let you know as soon as everything becomes concrete" Rook responded.

"Now _that_ I can do" Nick said confidently, he said it in such a way that Rook could feel him smiling through the walkie.

"Alright now that's what I want to here" Rook smirked.

"Tell you what, get ready to take off and all that and just hang out until I give the green light to take off" he said.

"Sounds good Partner, I'll go gas up now" Nick said before the radio fizzled out, most likely Nick going to do what he said.

And with that, Rook turned back and entered the room to tell his friends the good news.

"Yeah, he's in and waiting for the signal to move in" Rook nodded.

"Good, then let's get a move on" Eli said, bringing his hands together.

"Wait we're doing this now?" Rook questioned.

"What? you got something better to do?" Eli asked, raising an eyebrow to him.

"Cuz if not, I'd like to move out as soon as possible" he said.

"Then let's get a move on then" Rook shrugged, ready to get to work.

* * *

Just as Eli said, they moved out as soon as possible, gearing up with twelve Rookists and Whitetails, the plan was to go down there in two groups and clear the perimeter of the supposed sight and to neutralize anything on site that could bring down a plane, then verify for mission success, just like what Rook did a month before.

As they ventured through the once lively county, Rook and Eli lead the group towards site, but all the while he could feel eyes on his back, he just knew it was Redd, still glaring daggers at him from the back of the group. For some reason a part of Rook couldn't blame him, he did have him restrained on the floor them vaguely threatened his life, with the way Redd was acting, it was only a matter of time until he actually did something. But that would have to be dealt with later, right now a building needed to burn, Nick was probably waiting in his plane for the signal to take off, it had taken a while to give him a general idea of where to go. And as they made it about halfway there, working their way through a small forest, everyone could start to hear a noise, it was an eerie, dull hum, like a large neon sign was humming somewhere nearby, but nothing could be seen through the trees, and by its sound it made everyone apprehensive when Eli still pushed forward.

"The hell is that?" Rook asked, looking over at Eli, who looked equally confused.

"I'm not sure, let's stay on our toes regardless" he muttered before raising a hand to make a few hand signs to the people behind him before moving forward.

Rook still followed Eli, but still he looked behind him to see how everyone else was faring and saw just what he expected, everyone looked nervous, even Redd seem a little shook at the unknown they were walking into, so he put on a brave face and made forward, intent on showing everyone, he was fit to lead with Eli. As they ventured even further, the noise got louder and louder as they were getting closer to the source.

Once they finally cleared the woods, they could finally see the source of the noise, a few hundred feet ahead of them, standing in the middle of nowhere was a metal structure stretching multiple meters into the sky with several bullhorn speakers affixed to its top.

"It's one of Jacob's radio towers that he uses to control his conditioned wolves" Eli said grimly as he was uncomfortable.

"What's it doing?" Rook asked, looking at Eli.

"Who knows, maybe the microphone on the other end is on and a breeze or something is stimulating it" Eli shrugged.

"Well we should do something about it, while we're right?" Rook asked, looking up at the metal tower, rust slowly overtaking it.

"There's nothing we can do, now come on, let's keep going" Eli said, readjusting the quiver on his back and started walking away, ready to continue the journey.

"What seriously? That's it? we're just going to leave this be?" Rook scoffed disappointingly, unhappy with Eli's inaction.

"What do you want us to do?" Eli asked, stopping to look over his shoulder to look at Rook and the tower.

"We don't have the explosives, nor do we have the tools to cut through the bars, we're just a bunch of people hiding in a hole in the ground trying to survive, that's it" he said glumly before turning back to continue walking once more.

Rook did not offer a response, instead he just watched Eli walk away, boring a hole in the back of his head with how hard he stared at the man. For some reason it infuriated Rook that Eli was just willing to let something like this be, sure they had a mission, but that does not mean the tower should be dismissed and forgotten, Rook made it a point to remember where the tower was so Nick could hit it on the way home.

"Come on, let's go, if that shit start's going off we're all fucked" Redd voice suddenly came as he nearly pushed through Rook, smacking his shoulder into his as we walked by, a subtle reminder he wasn't going to stop hounding the Junior Deputy.

It made Rook bite his tongue to keep him from verbally lashing out at the man as he walked away, now wasn't the time to start a fight, it would come later, in quieter times, when he least expected it. And then the group that was with them slowly moved passed Rook, no longer interested in the tower and followed Redd and Eli, Rook lightly shook his head to pull himself back to his senses and began to follow the group again, and they ventured even further, crossing plains, hills, and trails, trying their damnedest to keep their heads down from predators, human and animal, thankfully they were skilled enough that they never came across anything dangerous, and as time ticked by, eventually, as they came up over the hill, Rook finally saw what they were looking for, it was a simple log cabin, a few paned windows, a stone chimney, a small mailbox out front, nothing out of the ordinary, the perfect place for something as malicious as brain washing.

"Alright y'all, here's the skinny" Eli said, clapping his hands a few times to bring attention to himself.

Everyone the crowded around him to hear what he had to stay, but Eli started looking directly at Rook.

"Benjamin, call your friend and then you, Redd and I will circle around the back and get into position, it's going to take us a bit with the angle I want to move at, while we do that" Eli explained before pointing at a random Whitetail.

"You take everyone else and spread around the front of the building, keep any eye out for literally anything and I mean _anything, _if you see anyone pick your moment and take them out with no witnesses, make sure everything is right before the pilot gets here" he said.

"You got it, Boss" the Whitetail nodded.

"Then Benjamin, please get your friend up in the air" Eli asked looking back to the Deputy.

"Sure thing" Rook nodded, bringing his walkie to his mouth.

"Alright Nick, take off and do your thing" Rook ordered.

"You got it, Partner!" Nick's voice quickly came before the sounds of a plane starting up could be heard, then the walkie cut out.

"And there we go" Rook shrugged, placing the walkie back on his hip.

"Good, Redd, Rook, let's move, _now_" Eli order sternly.

And without a single further word, the three men disembarked, leaving the group with each other, the newly appointed leader wasted no time and quickly organized everyone and descended down to the house, the group moved in, their postures low and arrows nocked, they could see no movement from the inside as all the windows were blocked with curtains, but it did not deter them from getting closer, from what they could tell, all the lights inside were off and all was silent, it was almost as if no one was there, but the were convinced otherwise as Eli was made confident by their supposed outside source told him as such.

A few errant whistles went off between the Whitetails in an attempt to communicate, leaving the Rookists in the dark about what was being transmitted back and forth, but they weren't missing much, the whistle talk mainly consisted of nervousness and apprehension to go near the building, there was absolutely no visible defenses, so what has protected this place for so long? How do they protect themselves if something goes awry, they had no where to hide as even though they were in the middle of nowhere, the front lawn's grass was suspiciously short, millimeters high.

The freedom fighters stood twenty meters from the cabin as the front door suddenly creaked open, revealing the darkness inside. None of the freedom fighters moved, they were frozen in shock and awe as the peered into the ebony veil that was the interior, no one dared make a sound as they watched. Then a man slammed into the door frame with lost balance, breathing ragged breaths, the impact on the door frame caused everyone to flinch in fear, not expecting the suddenness of the man, he was clearly not a peggie, as the way he was dressed, he looked like a normal guy, save for the dried blood, and sweat that clung to the front of his shirt, the blood did not belong to him. He stood in the doorway as if he had spent all day getting drunker and drunker, his center of balance constantly changed, he groaned and hissed at the light of day, his body was loose and swaying.

Then he fell off the door, and fell forward, onto his hands and knees, or as well as one in his state could, he just about lay on the ground with everyone watching him intently, they watching could hear him say something under his breath, but he had not the strength to vocalize it any further than a few inches from his person.

The silence was finally broken as a few Rookists began muttering among themselves, unsure of what they should do and quickly came to the consensus that they should get to the man to safety as that is what Rook would do, then one brave Rookist broke formation, crawling up to the man as quietly as possible and got right up to him, not bothering to check for anything that lurked passed the still open door, the Rookist could hear the fallen muttering more clearly then before but still could not properly make it out, whatever it was, it had something to do with flashing light, but his ramblings did not deter the freedom fighter.

"Hey, come on Pal, we're here to get you out here" the Rookist whispered, lightly shaking the fallen man's shoulder, trying to rouse him from stupor.

But the possible drunkard offered no response, as he laid collapsed on the doorstep, muttering incoherent nonsense, drool falling from his lips and glassy, unfocused eyes stared blankly at nothing.

The freedom fighter tried to shake the man awake again, trying to get his attention but still the man was unresponsive, it was becoming clear there was more at work the alcohol abuse and physical trauma. Everyone watching from the rear was deathly silent as they watched attentively.

The thought of turning around and asking for assistance crossed the Rookist's mind, he was about to turn back, but then there was a creak, one of wooden lightly straining under newfound weight, and the smell of ash permeated the Rookist's nose.

Unsure of what had just happened, he looked up at the still open door frame to discover that now a single peggie towered above him, looking down at him with bored, uninterested eyes, a cigar tucked tightly in his lips, revolver in his hand, it made the Rookist lock up in fear and surprise, like a deer in the headlights, unsure of what to do. Before there was anything to do, the peggie raised the gun to the rebel and fired.

The gunshot range out, causing everyone hanging back to scatter as the peggie ignored the languid man at his feet, still not budging, surprise sparked in the peggie's eyes as he was unaware of who was present, the two men on his doorstep took precedence, he quickly moved back into the house as a few arrows implanted themselves inches from his person and disappeared into the darkness of the cabin.

He looked over at the several peggies that were waiting in the darkness, automatic weapons in and a ready to go, behind them were several people, all in large wooden chairs, in similar conditions as the man on the doorstep, their wrists were chaffed and raw as recently undone leather straps had cut into their flesh.

"Proceed with the experiment" the peggie said casually to his compatriots.

Then everyone sprang to life, taking cover by the windows and doors before sending cascades of bullets, trying to push back their attackers while the freedom fighters on the outside found it near impossible as they could not see their targets. But as they fought, unbeknownst to them, the bullhorn tower they had passed so time ago crackled to life, white noise faintly whispering as the speaker was active. Then a sharp whine rang out as the microphone on the other end was over stimulated.

Then a noise that sent fear through the entire Whitetail Militia began to play in its entirety over the speaker and cascading through the surrounding area for all to hear.

_Only Yooooooooooooooooou._

* * *

Meanwhile Redd, Rook and Eli traversed through the fields, working their way around the house in such a wide arc so that anyone in the cabin would not see them, Rook walked directly behind Redd and Eli, who walked side by side, he watched Redd all the while, the whole time his posture and stride screamed of casualness and openness, a stark contrast to Eli's tight, rigid movements, he was trying not to be seen.

It was like a Sunday god damn stroll for him.

Rook needed to take his mind off of the redneck lest he'd just get himself all worked up again, and at the point he'd get sloppy if anything were to happen, instead he shifted his gaze to the other man, he was curious to why it was just the three of them.

"So uh, why is it just the three of us on the rear team or whatever?" Rook asked, breaking the silence.

"Well to be honest" Eli said before falling silent for a few seconds, thinking about what he would say next.

"It's the three of us because I'm going to try my damnedest to make sure I can prove to both of you that you can work together without biting each others heads off" He sighed.

"Fat chance" Redd scoffed under his breath.

But his comment earned him a smack on the forearm as Eli began to scold him.

"I mean it, we have enough problems as is, the last thing we need is the two of you going at it like your Tom and god damn Jerry, I'm sick of it, either work together or I'm going to do something neither will like, your both supposed to be better then this" Eli admonished, his voice was stern, and his words carried a weight, he was being serious.

"I'll try my best, Man" Rook offered, but he had a feeling Redd would make it easier said then done.

Then a single gunshot rang out in the distance, from the cabin's direction, causing all men to freeze and quickly turned to face the noise, fearing for the worst.

"Looks like shit hit the fan" Rook muttered, clenching his jaw.

"Seems like it, we _need_ to hurry up now" Eli hurried before picking up his pace and hurried to where he was leading them.

But Eli barely got a few meters before he froze again, this time because a downpour of gunfire could be heard from the same direction as the previous shot.

"Son of a bitch! Shit's getting real!" Rook cried as he prepared to move faster then Eli, wanting to get the job done asap and get back to his men.

He looked like he was about to start running, but instead he froze in place, his legs refused to move, and stomach felt like it was full of cement. Underneath the noises from the plane, gunfire and the ambient noises of the environment, he could hear music play very faintly in the distance, it cut in and out, as it was repeatedly drowned out by other noise, was a slow, eerie song that he had come to be all to familiar with.

_Only Yoooooooooooou_

As Rook stood there, catching a few faint seconds of the song here and there, he felt like his world felt like it was slowly rotating onto its side, colors inverted and blended together as the feeling of being in perpetual free fall, the whole experience made his legs feel like gum, making him fall to the ground landing on his hands and knees, staring straight down at the ground, the bow falling from his hand and skittering across the ground, drawing Eli's and Redd's attention as numerous sweat droplets fell from Rook's face and dotting the soil under him. It was like his blood was freezing over as his skin was being set ablaze.

All the while Rook was unaware of what was going on around him.

"Jesus fuck, he's going psycho!" Redd cried as he pulled his bowstring back, an arrow nocked at pointed at Rook.

"Don't you dare fire that arrow!" Eli shouted, an arm outstretched in Redd's direction.

"Why not? he's a threat!" Redd yelled.

"If you kill him, you'll cause a riot within our bunker, all his men won't just let this fly and want blood for blood, if anything happens, we'll have to restrain him!" Eli exclaimed.

"Fuck that, he's been on thin ice for weeks, he needs to go!" Redd yelled, aiming his arrow at Rook's head.

"Redd, I am _ordering _you to stand down! You are _not _helping the situation!" Eli yelled, shelving his bow, and prepared to tackle Redd if the situation called for it.

"He's turning into a rage monster!" Redd screamed back.

"And then what?! will we if we just execute everyone who is the slightest bit of a threat to us, we need to be better then the peggies!" Eli shouted.

Then as the volume of the gunfire in the distance increase Rook began coughing and sputtering as life came back to him, he spat up some bile before breathing heavy, ragged breathes.

"You ok, Son?" Eli asked nervously, watching what was happening to him.

"I'm ok" Rook muttered, his voice shaky as a fault line.

"You all there?" Eli muttered, watching Rook like a hawk for any signs of abnormal aggression.

"Yeah, I think so" Rook gasped, forcing himself back onto his feet, his legs still threatening to give out from underneath him.

"What happened?" he asked, bringing a clammy hand against his sweat drenched brow.

"Jacob is playing your trigger song over the wolf tower we passed a while ago, you caught a little bit of it for a few seconds, you went under for a minute" Eli stated, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Redd still had not taken his readied arrow of Rook, and Rook had yet to notice.

Rook stood up straight, or as well as he could and faced Redd, his head suddenly jerked to the side as he shuttered for a few seconds before returning back to normal.

"Were you really going to shoot me?" Rook asked, offended.

"Yeah if you tried to kill us but Eli says otherwise for some reason" Redd replied, still not moving the arrow aimed at Rook.

"So, do what I say and put that arrow away!" Eli ordered loudly.

Redd was unmoving for a few seconds before he sighed angrily as he disarmed his bow and put the arrow back in his quiver.

"If anyone is going to get away with going psycho, it would be only you" Redd scoffed.

Then before anyone could realize what was going on, Redd found a force crash around his throat and wrapped around it, squeezing the life out of him and stop all airflow.

He gargled and choked as he tried to look down at what had grabbed him, his hands shot up instinctively to try to pull off what was on him.

The sudden commotion was more then enough for Eli to turn and see what was happening and saw it was Rook, it was Benjamin Rook had lunged forward and was strangling Redd with a single hand.

"Jesus Christ Ben, what the hell are you doing!?" he cried as he ran up to Rook and tried to shake Redd free, but to no avail.

Seeing as he couldn't free Redd, Eli turned to Rook and saw his eyes were completely glazed and was staring into the distance as if he were looking into the distance, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth could shatter at any moment.

"SHIT! SHIT! Fucking shoot him goddamn it!" Redd shouted, or as best one could as their throat was being crushed.

Eli stared at the Deputy wordlessly, he still kept his beliefs that he could not kill or even maim the man, but if he did not act Redd would most certainly die. If he was going to do something, it was going to hurt, it had to in order to break him of the half trance he was trapped in.

"Forgive me, Deputy" Eli muttered before springing into action.

In once practiced movement, Eli upper cutting Rook, causing his head to snap upwards in silent pain, making him release Redd as he was no longer the threat, but before he could retaliate, Eli opened his fist and grabbed his throat just as he did Redd, then in one swift moment, used his leg to kick out Rook's leg out from under him and used his hand to push forward, in turn slamming the Junior Deputy into the ground.

Redd fell back as he was freed, coughing and sputtering as air returned to him, he almost fell backwards as he moved away while a large shadow passed over them in an instant, no one needed to look up to know it was Nick's plane, flying towards the objective.

Eli didn't even bother to check if he was alright as he was solely watch Rook as he groaned and swore under his breath while he slowly rose back up, he was unsure who was in control; Rook or Jacob.

But he looked up at the plane in the sky and its very loud engines.

Then Rook sat up in the dirt.

"Shit… what happened?" He groaned painfully as he rubbed his reddened jaw.

"You don't want to know" Eli muttered, relived that Rook was no longer trying to kill them.

As Rook rose to his feet, a cacophony of gunfire rang out, much louder them before.

"Fucking Christ!" Redd coughed as he looked over in the gunfire direction.

"You ok?" Eli asked, looking over at the man.

Redd was silent as he staggered a few steps towards the cabin, rubbing his throat.

"Redd, you all there?" Eli asked, this time more assertively

For some reason Redd seemed to be in some kind of trance just like Rook, but he was focused on the cabin the distance.

"Fuck this, I gotta help my guys!" Redd cried as he looked to Eli before running towards the gunfire.

"Redd, you get back here right now!" Eli bellowed, taking a few steps towards Redd.

But Redd did not, he did not stop and debate his actions, he just kept running.

It was clear he was not coming back, Eli's head swivelled from Rook to the fleeing Redd a few times before he stopped on Rook, a pensive, scared look on his face.

"I'm sorry Rook, I can't let him do something stupid" Eli declared before chasing after the man.

Rook could not say anything as he was shocked the Eli would actually abandon the mission to chase after one red neck yokel.

"Well then I guess I'll forget about the mission too I guess!" Rook shouted angrily, watching the two men abscond.

But no one hear Rook's outcry.

* * *

Redd climbed over the small hill that finally that blocked him from sighting the cabin, he slowed as he ascended the hill, heaving and wheezing as he was not used to such cardiovascular exercise. Cursing everything that put him in such an unhealthy state, he finally made it to the top and looked down at what had happened, and what he saw shook him. Rookists and Whitetails alike had been ripped apart, as the littered the field, beaten and bloodied, they are by gunfire or the twitching, staggering, bestial men, and woman that stalked the area like they were not used to their forms, on or two arrows protruded from a few, but it didn't slow them down significantly nor did they address the wounds.

"What the fuck?" Redd muttered to himself in disbelief, he had been blinded by Rook's turning to remember that he was not the only one wired they way he was.

This whole mission was just another slaughter, and it stung Redd's heart to admit it, he knew some of the people down their, a few were the Whitetails, and some were the conditioned monsters roaming around, all he had known for a long time, he laughed and shared drinks with them, and now they were gone forever, life extinguished over for a simple log cabin. He bit his bottom lip trying to keep his emotions inward, he wanted to blame Rook for not agreeing with his plan in the beginning, but he didn't feel like picking a fight with a man was just under a rage spell.

Then Eli came over the hill panting lightly as he was in much better shape then him, he was ready to admonish him for abandoning his post. But before he could lash the man, he looked down the hill.

"Jesus Christ" Eli muttered as well, taking the carnage in, bringing a hand to his mouth.

Redd could not bring himself to say anything, not even an apology for abandoning his post like he did, he just cared for his friends and allies so much, he had to try to save them, even if it brought him harm. As the two men watched the armed peggies lackadaisically go about the area weaving in between the snarling monsters that was once people, making sure everyone was properly dead, Eli could see that the plane Rook had called was arcing through the sky and lining up on the cabin, it must have circled around since it had yet to bomb the place, they didn't have to wait long for the plane to dip low and begin the bombing run.

The peggies below did not acknowledge the plane over head as they must have assumed it was on their side or whatever else Eli could reason, but as the plane got lower and lower, they were slowly mistaken, before they could come to grips with what was truly happening, the plane's bomb door opened and deposited the pay load.

The cabin did not stand a chance, it was a wood log cabin against a bomb of fire and metal, it blew of the cabin's roof and incinerated everything beneath, fiery splinters and metal flew outwards as a wave of heat blew outwards as pilot might as well have started a campfire with a Molotov, what remained of the cabin's front, to Eli, it looked like the ruined gates of hell.

And by the looks of things, it killed, or at least bowled over everyone on the outside, everyone inside was unquestionably dead. And at this point Eli found it pointless to go down and verify like he wanted to before, this whole venture turned into a shitshow before he knew, he couldn't watch Redd and Rook and maintain a clean op, this was war, not a chore.

As he internally berated himself he could see something poke up from the corner of his view, curious, he adjusted his eyes to see a series of trucks drove towards what was left of the cabin, clouds of dust and dirt particles kicking up in their wake, backup had been summoned at some point. Eli cast his eyes down at the bodies of his friends and foes and deduced that the harsh flames of the burning cabin were now quickly spread across the grassy plains, soon it would stretch and expand enough to swallow up all the bodies, there was no way the could now there to either retrieve the bodies or fight the second wave, it was time to leave.

"Time to go" Eli demanded, grabbing a handful or Redd's ratty green jacket, and pulled with all his might, trying to get him to move.

Redd's legs were slow to switch on, he stumbled and faltered for a few seconds, before he could push himself into action and began running with Eli again, not caring if he was still winded or not from the other run a few minutes ago, through wheezes and labored breaths, he said something about the corpses being left behind but Eli did not perceive it fully, he did not care, he had to get them out, if they died, Jacob might as well have won, he could only hope that Rook had the good sense to get the hell out of there, lest Jess come down on him like a sack of bricks.

As the two men ran, Eli did not feel like the leader of the militia that everyone believed him to be.

* * *

Rook trudged through the fields, as frustrated as ever.

Eli stated he was going to make sure he and Redd worked together but the second Redd feels like he can just jump ship and run off to do his own thing, Eli joins him in it, leaving him behind, if he had done it, Redd would have bitch and moaned about it for weeks, trying to use it to incite more people to see that they were better off without him.

And now he was headed home, he heard the loud boom, he knew exactly what it meant, Nick did his job, and Rook did not need to know what had happened, Nick did his job, all by himself, meaning these past few hours of Rook time had been wasted, if things were going to go like this, Nick could have done all this by himself, But Eli just _had_ to incorporate Redd's plan just to make him shut the hell up and feel like he was actually contributing.

So much for Eli wanting to keep the group together.

But despite all that, Rook tried to not let it dominate his mind, but as his jaw was continuously clenched and hands balled into tight fists, he was not going to just forget this. He WILL have words with Eli about this.

His only solace was that he had put enough distance from the tower playing _Only You_ and if he was not, Nick's plane drowned it out.

As he stomped through the field, as small groups of trees stood ahead of him, nowhere near enough to be a forest, it was more like a little congregation, or whatever one would call a cluster of thirty to forty trees. He considered hiding in them for a while as he saw a line of trucks in the distance headed towards where the cabin was, if peggies were coming to investigate, then he needed to make himself scarce before he got grabbed by them again, but before he could think anymore about it, his walkie crackled to life.

"Hey man, I think I see you on the ground, I'll set the plane down and come pick you up, things are looking dangerous down there" Nick's voice came from his walkie.

"Yeah sounds good, thanks" Rook returned, it beat walking home by a long shot, and at this point he cared not for his fear of heights.

"Whatever gets you out of there the fastest, things I don't know what happened, but it was really red down there before I dropped in" Nick spoke.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked.

"Well when I flew over the place, things looked pretty grim, I don't really know what happened, but it looked like your guys or whoever got torn apart down there, looks like a cougar or something got at 'em, well either that or the peggies shot 'em, it looked real bad, sure glad you weren't down there like holy shit man, I didn't know there were cougars up here" Nick described.

"What- ho- are you sure!" Rook guffawed, he refused to believe what he heard, there was no way his Rookists could be taken out just like that, they were better then that.

"Yeah man, one hundred percent, everyone that is not Jacob's toy soldiers got got, I'm sorry man but everyone is gone, its really raw, it's best you don't go and look, trust me but I think we need to get out of here sooner then later, those trucks are getting close, they can totally see me" Nick replied.

Again, Rook was guffawed, in utter disbelief that his men fell so easily, there was no way, he had trained them so diligently, they had even picked up a few things from Jess, what could have possibly happened to them?

So much for Redd helping his guys.

But that made a dark thought cross Rook's mind, one he did not like at all, on that made him even angrier, what if Redd did help his men but left the Rookists to die.

As Rook was still guffawed, the shadow of Nick's plane passed over Rook as it descended to land, the air force generated from the aircraft wafting over him, ruffling his clothes, his anger finally bubbled over, he just couldn't handle the idea of Redd leaving his men to die solely because they weren't Whitetails or that they followed him, Redd did try to kill him a little while ago, so why would he have a problem leaving no name strangers to die, after all, he burned down the food and threatened Redd, all evidence pointed to Redd essentially killing his men.

Unable to handle what he perceived to be the truth, Rook began lashing out, kicking the dirt and pebbles at his feet, swinging his fists at nonexistence foes, grunting, and swearing all the while, cursing Redd's name.

This whole thing was a fucking joke.

Eli was not the only person he would have a one on one with.

As Rook thrashed and kicked, he barely noticed that Nick landed his plane on the other side of the cluster of trees, once the engine finally cut out, meaning Nick had landed, one of the trucks that had arrived to investigate the cabin had broken off from the convoy and bee lined to where Nick had landed. Rook was so engrossed with his hate filled over Redd and what he would do to him, he failed to notice the truck pass him in the distance, and only noticed once the truck disappeared behind the cluster of trees.

He swore over his own ineptitude before finally holstering his walkie and broke out into a sprint, he hoped Nick had a gun in the plane's cabin.

As he sprinted through the field and entered the trees, panting heavily as his already sweat soaked clothes got even more sweaty, he tried his best to hear through the pounding heartbeat in his ears for anything that sounded like gunshots, thankfully he didn't hear anything close to it yet, he could handle having to be a Godfather prematurely. And when he thought he could not fear for his life any more, he did.

"Shit! Shit! Help! Help! I need help right now!" Nick's scared voice crackled from Rook's walkie.

Rook desperately wanted to grab the walkie and figure out what was happening with him, but he trusted the pilot's ability enough that he could protect himself until he got there. As he ran, a sore arm reached for the back of his waistband where a handgun was tucked away, the gun was fairly knew, it was given to him by a Rookist in secret while they removed the bodies from Jacob's food bunker, the militia had a strict no gun policy, but with the divide Redd tried to create, Rook couldn't be to careful, even if security had to be smuggled in, but now that security had to be dispensed for the sake of his friend.

After continuous running he finally broke through the trees and saw the scene before him, the Carmina was stationary on the field with the cockpit door hung open, the offending truck meters away also had all their doors open as those inside had come barreling out, Nick stood before his plane with a group of five peggies surrounding him, he was clearly scared as shit, but it did not deter him from raise his fists, ready to box out anyone who dared try to accost him, but mere fists would not help him in this situation as the five peggies had their guns trained on him like a firing squad.

But Rook refused to let this go on a second longer and ran into the scene.

"Drop it, drop the guns!" Rook roared, firing several times into the air, his throat horse and sore.

Fortunately, the screaming and gunfire was enough to make the men and woman drop their firearms, ad turned around slowly, arms raised, they all looked serious yet caught off guard to what was happening.

"Ground, get on the ground now!" Rook roared, waving his gun from peggie to peggie, making it clear he would start killing, even if it were to make all of them fall in line.

Understanding, the peggies dropped onto their knees and hands behind their heads, all in a line, side by side, watching.

"You ok?!" Rook cried breathlessly to Nick, not talking his eyes or gun off the five cultists between them.

"Yeah man, you got here in the nick of time, shit you can't time shit like that" Nick sighed in breathless relief as he removed his cap and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, trying to clam down from the near-death experience.

The walkie talkie on one of the peggie's hips crackled on.

"What's your report on the aircraft, shots were heard, what's your twenty!?" the voice came, barking the order.

"Don't' you touch it, I swear to God!" Rook barked, focusing on the peggie with the reacting walkie.

The peggie did not so much as twitch when Rook barked his order and stuck his gun in their face, the rest seemed the same.

"Soldier respond!" the voice came again, sounding more aggressive.

"Shit dude, this isn't sounding good, this is getting to hot" Nick muttered, eyeing the crackling walkie talkie.

"Backup is on the way! Stand by!" the voice came one final time, before the walkie clicked off.

Rook swore under his breath, hearing the news, time was running short.

"Alright Partner, you heard 'em, let's vamoose" Nick said quickly, turning to climb into his plane.

Rook was ready to follow his friend, but as he panned over the peggies that keeled before him, the resonating anger within him crept out of the shadows and whispered ideas into his ear, like a boa constrictor quietly hissing around it's prey as it tightened around it's prey. It made him refuse his friend's request to leave, his Rookists died for nothing today and there was no way he was going to go home with their deaths in vain, he needed something, anything to show that their deaths had meaning, something to say they didn't fail.

"Alright, we're going to play a little game" Rook swallowed, reclaiming his breath from the running and yelling.

"One of you is going to tell me where the source of those wolf, music towers are before your buddies show up, if you don't… I'm going to start shooting" Rook said, staring at all five cultists.

"Dude, forget this, let's just get out of here" Nick cried, clearly shook by Rook's noncompliance, and froze in the plane's cockpit.

But Rook ignored him, he was to busy trying to think of a way to get them to talk, he already had very little time as he could hear approaching engines in the distance, they were getting close already, it made Rook very short on patience. His eyes anxiously flicked from peggie to peggie in rapid repetitions, though they didn't say anything, they spoke volumes with their eyes, and Rook could understand, they were smug that he was unable to get anything from them, their friends were on the way and was going to kill both men the second they got there, then they go home and laugh about it before going out to kill more innocent people, they didn't see the Junior Deputy as a threat, just an inconvenience, he wasn't what Joseph said he was, they were prisoners were mocking their capture.

"God damnit, we need answers now!" Rook screamed angrily as he would not tolerate what he believed to be their silent ridiculing.

"Partner this is fucked, we gotta get out of here!" Nick implored his friend desperately.

"Not yet, I need to know, I can't be constantly be worrying about those towers!" Rook yelled.

"Who cares about some towers, man, fuck I'll help you make better towers or something!" Nick cried, trying to convince his friend.

"No! you don't understand, I ne-" Rook started before biting his tongue, he didn't have time to explained everything to Nick, he probably wouldn't understand, he had been living the good life since he killed John.

Growing increasingly frustrated again, Rook cast his gaze down to the closest peggie, the one on the end of the line, the one with the walkie, feeling the pressure that was set upon him, he marched right up to the man.

"Alright, I'll cut you a deal, it's simple, you tell me where the wolf towers are transmitting from or I'll kill you!" Rook snarled, pressing the barrel of the gun against the peggie's forehead.

But still the peggie was silent, staring dead ahead like Rook was not there, but emotion subtly dotted the cultist's face, unsure if the normally passive man was serious.

"Where is the radio tower control center?!" Rook yelled but was met with more silence.

And after a few stressful seconds ticked by, and the truck's engine growing closer and closer, it was clear the peggie was not going to talk.

"Screw this" Rook hissed before pulling the trigger.

Everyone flinched as no one expected him to actually pull the trigger as it was just a threat and the Deputy preferred non lethality, but the body fell forward, it let everyone see what was awaiting them if they did not talk.

"Fucking shit dude, what the Christ are you doing?!" Nick exclaimed, shocked by Rook's actions.

Rook offered no response as he stepped over the corpse and moved to the next peggie down the line and placing the gun's barrel to their head.

"Where is the control center!?" he yelled again.

But again, the peggie was silent, but looked shocked as did not expect what was happening.

Then Rook pulled the trigger again, and another cultist died.

"Come on, third times the charm, help me help you and just tell me!" Rook yelled angrily.

But the peggie was still silent albeit breathing heavily, fearing what was to come.

"Dude, come on, let's leave!" Nick cried, freaking out over the closeness of the truck and what Rook was doing.

His complaints were starting to get under Rook's nerves, he expected Nick to be brave, considering everything he had been through, he should know what must be done to survive, to win.

Seeing as the third would remain silent, he found no use for him and pulled the trigger, killing the third peggie.

"Fucking stop man, this is to much, this isn't right!" Nick yelled, hands pressing against the sides of his head, horrified from what he was watching.

But Rook ignored Nick once again as he moved to the fourth peggie, a middle-aged woman.

"I swear to God, just talk God dammit!" Rook yelled, his missing patience somehow dropping even lower.

Again, the woman was silent, but this time the woman just stared up at him with angry, hate filled eyes, tears dotting her eyes, it wasn't his fault she felt that way, he gave them all a chance, he was giving her a chance, but neither was taking it, it was their fault, their fault what was happening now.

Then Rook pulled the trigger again, earning another harsh remark from Nick, but whatever it was, it fell on deaf ears as he moved to the last guy. Rook looked down at the cultist before him, he really looked down at him and took his face in, he was a young man, perhaps around his age, the fear in his eyes was as clear as headlights in the night.

"Where is the control center?" Rook asked, his voice slow and sinister.

The peggie stared up at Rook for a half second before his mouth fell open.

"Ok, ok, just stop please, I'll tell you, just, just stop!" he begged.

Rook pulled the barrel of the gun away from the kid's head a few inches, allowing the kid to speak, Rook only hoped he talked fast, the truck would be hear any minute.

"There's this place in the west, it's the old news station, they had a thing that they used to play tornado warnings, but now it plays whatever we want, it may not look it, but there's tons of guys guarding the place twenty-four seven" the kid spewed at a rapid pace.

If Rook was honest with himself, he was surprised the kid actually talked, Jacob's training was against such things, he had to have been from John's flock, they were all a bunch of weak cowards. But hearing the information made the edges of his mouth perked up slightly as a grin crept onto his face, it just goes to show the tactic he employed actually paid off.

He was winning.

"Thanks pal" Rook sneered, happy with himself.

Then he pulled the trigger.

As the kid fell forward, Rook stepped out of the way so the body wouldn't touch him, he was about to holster his firearm when he was met with a had shove against his left shoulder, causing him to stumble back a few steps, he instinctively brought his gun up to shoot his attacker but quickly saw that it was Nick who had pushed him.

"What the hell's your problem? I just saved your life!" Rook shouted.

"Jesus Christ Ben, what the fuck with that?! that was totally unnecessary, that wasn't like you dude!" Nick exclaimed, shocked and angry at his friend's actions.

Rook's eyes lingered on the most recent peggie corpse before he slowly looked up at his friend and saw the disgust and disbelief on his face, it annoyed Rook as it showed Nick didn't have what it took to stop the cult, he didn't understand that tough calls must be made if one wished to survive, the sacrifices of war, the loss of comrades.

And without missing a beat, he responded to his friend's remarks, his voice as smooth as glass and just as sharp.

"Just another day in Hope County"

* * *

**Hey y'all I just wanted to say thank you to all of you, we have recently broken the Thirty-two THOUSAND views mark and that means a lot to me, I know this story has been going on for a while, but I grew up on long ass stories so that's how this manifested, sorry this is a real slow burn, but again, thank you all for still reading this far in.**


	51. Chapter 51

"Just another day in Hope County" Rook said, his voice as smooth as glass and just as sharp.

"I don't give a shit what you think this is, we need to go, NOW!" Nick hollered back in disgust, grabbing a handful of Rook's shirt and forcefully pulled Rook towards the plane, not giving him a chance to backtalk anymore.

He did not have time to spend arguing with his friend, he wasn't sure what had gotten under Ben's skin, but he had been squirrely all day, but that was going to be dealt with later, right now, the engine of the truck that was quickly converging on them sounded like it was about to be on top of them in seconds, scared out of his mind, Nick forced Rook into the plane, bitching and moaning about getting shoved around and how he was in the right and had everything under control, but Nick did not pay him any mind. Once Ben was properly secured, Nick scrambled into the pilot's seat and powered up for an emergency takeoff. As the wheels of the plane rolled through grass and slowly picked up speed, bullets began to bounce off the plane's hull, a quick glance into the small side mirrors revealed that the truck had indeed plowed through the trees and the people inside had climbed out to begin firing upon the plane as it left. Rook threatened to open the plane's door and return fire, but Nick howled at him to stay put, with the momentum building up, they would be airborne within a minute, but the hard bangs of bullets hitting the hull made him think otherwise, it put a fear in him just thinking of what would happen if they were caught, but those thoughts wouldn't get them home.

As the plane slowly let the ground and ascended into the skies, Rook spat some curses and threats to the peggies on the ground as a few tried to get up to the plane and throw open the doors, but the plane had already built up to much speed and soared higher and higher into the air, the higher they went, the less and less bullets hit the underside of the plane until there was nothing hitting them anymore, Nick counted to three in his head, and in that time, nothing happened, no bullets, no missiles, and no signs Jacob was bringing out the big guns.

They were home free.

Nick leaned back in his seat, breathing a breath of relief, the tension from the take off melting off of him.

"You could have helped me, you know" Rook said, clearly unhappy with how things went.

"And what is that supposed to me?" Nick asked, looking at his friend behind him via an interior mirror that hung above him, he was not sure if he wanted to open this can of worms.

"You could have helped me get info out of those assholes and we could have gotten out of there faster" Rook sighed angrily, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not going to fuckin' execute dudes because they're not playing ball man, that's fucked" Nick scoffed in disgust.

"And what do you think I should have done? I didn't see you do anything, you just wanted to bail, the second things got a little hot for you" Rook gripped, sitting forward in his seat, and glaring at Nick's reflection in the interior mirror.

"Should I have given them a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the back before sending them home for working so hard from trying to kill us for not agreeing with their religious beliefs?" he said condescendingly, balancing the bow between his legs, lightly bouncing it up and down, a soft tapping permeated the cabin but was inaudible over the engine.

"I'm saying that I am not going to sink down to their level and start executing defenseless people, I don't care if their trying to kill me or not, I'm a pilot, not a solider" Nick returned, almost in awe of Rook's gull.

"They would have tried to kill us the second I took my gun off them!" Rook cried, almost as if he was offended.

"Listen man, I don't know what you got yourself into, but I'm just saying that we should have just gotten out of there, that was a road that shouldn't've be traveled down" Nick explained, trying to keep a level of coolness.

"And what do you think would happen if we did? the peggies would just sit there and not grab their guns and start shooting us the second I take my gun off them?" Rook scoffed.

"I don't fuckin' know man! Something that wasn't _that_!" Nick said, putting extra emphasis on the last word, he felt gross being specific with what Rook had done, and how he was indirectly involved with it.

"We're in a war zone, Nicholas" Rook snarled with an unsettling calmness.

"We have to do things we don't like if we want to win, we have to roll up our sleeve and do things that we should forget about if we want to win a fight against people who drug and brainwash people" Rook growled.

"Well to bad Partner, I am not down for this, I'm not interested in committing, fuckin' war crimes dude, you a cop for Christ sakes, you gotta cut this crap out or I won't be siked for doing these weird ass favors for you" Nick warned.

Rook remained silent for a few seconds as if he were mulling it over.

"Then I guess you should land and let me be on my way" Rook said with that same unsettling calmness, but this time it sounded almost threatening.

"If your going to be like that then fine, maybe I'll just stay home and just let you do whatever you feel you need to do, but like hell am I just going to drop you off in the middle of nowhere, I don't do people like that, I have standards" Nick scoffed, he really wasn't liking Rook's attitude and mentality.

"If that's what you want to do then fine, not everyone can sit around with the family and just wait for all this to blow over, some of us have a lot of hard work ahead of us" Rook growled, the plane cabin now full of condescension.

"Hey, Hey, Hey!" Nick suddenly snapped, wagging a finger reflexively.

"You leave my wife and kid out of your little temper tantrum, they didn't do nothin'!" Nick said sternly, Rook could say whatever he wanted, but there was no way he was going to sit by silently while Rook say what he did, something about it did not seem right.

"And that's my point, they didn't do anything, they did nothing and yet people like them are getting slaughtered, and everyone who didn't is breaking off into their little Goddamn groups and bury their heads in the sand, only surviving for themselves, and damning anyone else, no wonder Jacob had gotten away with what he has, no one is willing to band together in one big push, all we have is my guys and a bunch of rednecks buried in a bunker, and now the only way we can win is we have to get just as dirty, we _have _to fight fire with fire" Rook cried passionately.

Nick was silent, he did not like what he was hearing, the things Rook was saying was making it hard for Nick to recognize who was sitting in the seat behind him, he wasn't sure what Rook had gotten himself into but whatever it was, it was not as bad as what they endured in the valley, he had heard rumors of Jacob being worse then John, just thinking of John made that patch of missing skin of Nick's chest ache slightly, and that was from one encounter, Rook encounter John three times at the very least and he didn't break, he never gave into cruel tactics, who knows how many times Rook went face to face with Jacob to make him do what he did down below. A part of him almost agreed with Rook, he shouldn't've stood there and just watched, he should have intervened, he should have grabbed a dropped gun and ordered the cultists to run or else, his inaction made him feel culpable.

He wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Listen man, I love you an' all, but what you did was fucked up, really fucked up, and I don't want to be associated with that shit, so until you get your shit straight, I don't want to be doing this shit with you, like hell, you didn't even tell me why we blew that place up, who knows what was in there, so let's both just chill out until we et our heads straight" Nick said, trying to keep an air of maturity about him.

Rook offered nothing more then an upset grunt as he rested his head against the window at his side, it was obvious Nick was not going to see the light of reason anytime soon, so why try? At this point he might as well just sit back and try to relax, he earned it with the hard work that Redd and Eli did not do, as he leaned back in his seat and touched the slowly developing bruise on the bottom of his jaw, he wondered whatever happened to Eli and Redd, he hoped the latter was caught in the blast radius of Nick's bomb. It made him let out a small chuckle thinking about all the things that could have happened to Redd. Even with his mind distracted, he tried to ignore the pissed yet concerned glances Nick threw him occasionally along the trip.

* * *

The environment surrounding the Wolves Den was not suitable for Nick to land on, meaning he had to fly a ways away from home before he could land, and when he finally did, Rook hopped out without so much as a thank you to his oldest of friends, he simply slung his gear over his shoulder and trudged his way back home. Nick tried to offer some words of advice, but Rook actively tried not to listen, his pride and anger forbade him. Instead he merely wandered the empty expanse that was the Whitetail Mountains. Every now and again, he came across a few peggies, and every now and again, peggies came across him, in all cases he killed them all in various ways, showing no mercy or hesitation and left before reinforcements could arrive, he hoped the confrontations would be a good way to let the stress off, but regrettably it did not, if anything it made him worse, probably something to do with adrenaline and testosterone. He eventually made it back home with a few light scrapes and wounds, but it was nothing he was concerned with. He yanked open the still old metals doors and quickly slammed them close behind him before lurking down the stairs, it bothered Rook that it was so easy for him to just enter the Wolves Den, there were no defense or guards, it was another thing he had to speak to Eli about, if he didn't yield to his idea, he would just make a few Rookists do it instead. As he was lost in thought over his displeasure for the lack of security, he failed to notice the figure waiting for him at the bottom, the second Rook touched down on the bunker's main floor, he was assaulted.

Someone clad in dark green collided into him, wrapping their arms around Rook and pulling him close with intense force. the sudden impact made Rook swear loudly, fearing he was being attacked by a less scrupulous member of the Militia, feeling the gnawing fear of survival kick in again, Rook's hands shot to the person's shoulders and tried to peel them off, but when he did, the assailant pulled back not just because he pushed them back, but because they wanted too.

With the person off his person, he looked down at them, ready to punch them in the face, but before he could bring his fist up, he saw that it was Jess that was "attacking" him.

"Jess?! What the hell?! you scared the shit out of me!" Rook cried, breathing a shaky breath.

"Fuck dude why are you so jumpy" Jess asked, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean, why am I so jumpy? Have you not seen the hellscape we live in, like hell I get shot at daily, the last thing I need is someone waiting in the shadows for me to do… what ever the hell you just did" Rook ranted defensively.

It was not until the middle of his sentence that he realized the it was that Jess wasn't trying to harm or prank him, but in fact, it seemed like it was just a rough bear hug, he chose not to pursue the subject as he knew Jess wouldn't take it lightly.

"But what the hell as been going on down here, why are you just hanging around the entrance in the dark like this?" he asked.

"I was waiting here because I wanted to wait for your return, I heard you got into some real shit after I got back from hunting" she said, crossing her arms, not liking Rook's tone.

"Wait, you heard, what do you mean?" Rook replied, he could not imagine what she could have possibly heard from the people down here.

"Eli and that fuckin' Redd guy came back and started filling everyone in on what happened out… like you and your episode" Jess said in a softer tone.

"Shit really? They beat me here?" Rook said in disappointment, rubbing the back of his head in confusion.

"Yeah… but speakin' of your little adventure…" Jess said, even softer than before, taking a step closer to him, her eyes falling to the floor.

She did not need to look at Rook to know his guard had been lowered, curious to her odd nature, then she snapped to life, punching Rook in the arm.

"Ow, what the hell?" Rook groaned in annoyance, rubbing his bruised arm.

"That's or just disappearing on me, don't fucking go do dangerous shit without me, what if something happened to you, I mean fuck something _did_ happen to you" Jess scolded, internally, she fought herself to keep from wagging a finger at him like a disapproving mother.

"Shit ok, Christ" Rook sighed in annoyance, still rubbing the sore arm, he was unsure how she could pack such a punch.

"Well it's whatever" Jess said in a softer tone again.

"Come on, I think you should come in and see what's going on" she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"I swear to Christ if Redd is shit talking or whatever, I'm going to be more then a little mad" Rook growled,

"Then brace yourself Boy Scout, there's gong to be some problems" Jess sighed.

"Great, let's get it over with" Rook groused as he pushed passed Jess and entered the bunker proper, and saw what Redd had done.

Redd stood before a crowd of Whitetails and Rookists alike, he was slightly elevated above everyone else as if he were standing on a small box, he was passionately talked about what Jess had said he was, waving his arms around as if it helped him speak. He spoke of the mission he had endured and how the towers that controlled the wolves were used to control Rook and turned him against them twice, how everyone was dead by them time Redd returned to the cabin. Eli was off to the side of the room, arms cross and looked deeply concerned, it was like he did not like what was happening, but if he didn't then why didn't he put a stop to it. Tammy was nowhere to be seen. As Rook examined the room, Clark pushed through the crowd, somehow knowing Rook had arrived and ran up to him, he was out of breath and looked very anxious.

"Rook, Sir, I'm sorry, I tried to put a stop to this but no one is budging, some of our guys are ready to fight well others are…" Clark said in a panicked character, trying to remain calm but found it hard to do as the sardine can they were in was slowly becoming a powder keg.

"It's fine, let me hand it from here" Rook said sternly, raising a hand to stop Clark from working himself up any further.

As Rook pried a few more details from Clark, Redd who still gave his spiel looked up at the two new people in the room, once he saw it was Rook, he stopped his little speech and glared dangerously at him, making everyone turned to look as well, all the Whitetails glared just as Redd did, the Rookists looked unsure.

"Well, well, well, look who it is, the man of the hour" Redd said dangerously.

"The hell is going on in here, isn't there more important things that need to be done then… some little party?" Rook asked, eyeing the large crowd and their mixed emotions.

"Oh but this is important, probably the most important thing in a while, while you were gone doing God knows what, Eli and myself got back here and told everyone what happened and what you did!" Redd cried.

"So come on, let's hear it, don't stop on my accord" Rook replied, glaring at the redneck, crossing his arms.

"You're a threat, you almost killed me due to Jacob's conditioning and who knows what would have happened to Eli if you got rid of me!" He yelled over the crowd's heads.

Rook gritted his teeth, if that's how Redd was spearheading his little speech then who knows what else he must have said to fear monger everyone into believing whatever else he saw fit, if he wanted to swing at least his men back around to him, he had to play Redd's game.

"Yeah, I had an accident out there, I'll admit it!" Rook said just as loudly.

"But I didn't do anything, I was stopped before I could" he proclaimed.

"I don't give a shit, if you turn, you turn, you are a fucking liability, a time bomb waiting to go off, if you didn't go off like you did, maybe lives could have been saved!" Redd announced heatedly.

Rook gritted his teeth once again, grinding them together, the redneck was full of bullshit, none of that was true, taking a deep breath in, he took a step forward.

"If anyone is at fault for those lives, it's you!" Rook cried, pointing a finger accusingly at Redd, a small wave of whispers and murmurs went through the crowd.

"I didn't do shit!" Redd retorted, hating that Rook was calling him out in front of everyone, he should just shut up and leave the bunker, he was a walking beartrap.

"Everyone that died is because of you, mt men died because of you, no one needed to be out there, my friend could have done the job himself and that was it, initial plan could have solved everything, Eli just used your portion of the idea to keep you happy and quiet for more then five minutes!" Rook retorted.

"Not only that, but you _ran away!" _he decreed even louder.

"The second you heard a bunch of gunfire, you abandoned the mission, running off claiming how you needed to save our allies, as if you could stop every bullet like some superhero, out of everyone here I thought you would understand that the man never comes before the mission!" he finished furiously.

A much larger and longer wave of whispers and buzzes went through the crowd, in awe of the possible truth the Junior deputy brought to the table, everyone curious slowly turned to Eli who still stood idly by at the side of the room, he was statuesque as his head hung low, not wanting to look at the people staring at him, and seeing that he wasn't going to speak, Rook kept talking.

"Don't even turn to him for a second opinion, he _also_ ran away!" Rook yelled, pointing another accusatory finger at the Whitetail leader.

"Don't bring him into this, he has nothing to do with you going nuts!" Redd spat indignantly, feeling like the ground was going to break from under him.

"Why not? Every one should know that after you ran away, he chased after you thinking you were to stupid to look after yourself and abandoned the mission, leaving me, the_ Sleeper Solider_ to do the so-called mission!" Rook shouted.

The Rookists and Whitetails between the two arguing men who were still whispering to each other trying to figure out who spoke the truth, they watched the back and forth turning their heads to look at whoever was speaking, their heads swiveling back and forth like a fast tennis match. And Rook took notice of it, it irritated him, it reminded him of the Falls End Resistance, how they just hung back and talked among themselves as he did all the heavy lifting, it was infuriating.

"Y'all are all mouthing and muttering to each other like this is some school yard drama, we need to be more mature then that, this is a life or death world we live in right now! We need to work together!" Rook swore, turning on the crowd.

"We can't win unless we work as one, our forefathers didn't found America bitching and fighting among each other, we can't dick around, we can't resent each other, and we can't keep secrets… No, you know what, screw it, y'all should know, Eli's been keeping secrets from all y'all!" Rook angrily ranted, fighting the urge not to pump his fist in the air as he fumed through his little speech.

"The fuck you talking about, Sleeper Solider!?" Redd spat angrily, being quick on the draw, not liking where he was going with this.

Before he spoke, Rook's eyes drifted over to Eli and found he watched him back intently, curious, and nervous to what he was going to say, Rook had a lightning in his words, and the secret he was about to drop was the thunder. And Eli's aged eyes did not stop him from speaking his mind, looking back at everyone who was kept waiting on the edge of their seats, even Redd.

"The only reason why we hit that conditioning place out in the middle of nowhere was because someone told him to do it! he has some informant or outside force giving him info and he does it without looking into it!" Rook yelled as his eyes drifted off the collective and onto Eli who still watched him, he did not look angry or upset, he just looked disappointed. But that did not stop Rook from throwing him under the bus, despite his status, he still abandoned the mission for one redneck running through a field in fear.

"While Eli and Redd ran off to do whatever, I stayed behind and I did my God damn job, I caught myself a handful of peggies and I interrogated them, I made them talk, I know where the source of the broadcasting towers is!" he declared to crowd.

This time the murmurings and mouthings turned to ones of hope, they all looked at him with the belief he could turn the tides in their fight just like he did in the Valley, it was like the Whitetails were finally seeing the hero he was, except for Redd, who stared at him with hate.

"Well I, I, I, that shouldn't stop us from ousting you, the threat!" Redd stumbled through his words, he said trying to take back his thunder and turn the crowd against Rook, but in the lull of his stammering and contemplating, Eli finally spoke up from the side of the room.

"Everything he has said is true" Eli stated blankly, not happy about backing up Rook on this subject matter, he did not want too, but Rook's words reached him, he made sense, it made him realize he had let fear control him and let it spread to his Whitetails, something needed to change. Not only that but Eli could see something in Rook, Rook himself might not know it, but he could very well be a very powerful speaker, just like Joseph.

"I say we strike as soon as possible, we march down to the old news station, they do weather reports or whatever and have access to all the broadcasting towers for tornado warnings, I say we take it and we blast our own shit, we let the whole Goddamn county know we won't stand for Jacob's hold on the region!" Rook proclaimed.

The Rookists within the crowd cheered in agreement over the idea, even a handful or Whitetails raised their voices in agreement, Redd tried to order their silence, but his voice was lost among the noise. Once the initial wave dived down, all the Rookist's pushed through the crowd and joined Rook on his end of the room, seemingly forgetting his unwillingly turning on Redd and Eli, they reaffirmed how they would follow him anywhere. Redd continued on his tantrum on how he was the villain among them, but only half of the Whitetail's listened, the other watched the Rookists.

While Clark gave Rook an update on what had happened in his absence, a handful of Whitetails walked up to Rook, he expected a fight or some thinly veiled threats, but instead, they offered something unexpected.

"Your right, what we've been doing so far isn't really working in our favor, the Rookists seem more on the ball fighting Joseph… Can we join up with you?" he asked.

"Just follow orders and be ready to take it up a notch" Rook said confidently, holding his hand out to the man.

"That's fine with me, let's just kill Jacob already" the man said, taking Rook's hand in his own and shaking it.

And by the reactions of the small group behind them, they were also more then alright with the terms. With a clearing of his throat, Rook then addressed all who listened to him.

"Alright everyone who actually wants to make a difference in the county, here the skinny! I have a general idea to as to where this weather station is located, I say we go up there and smoke out any peggies inside, we shoot flaming arrows from any and all windows, if we set things on fire then great, if not, that would send one hell of a warning, when they come out to deal with us, they will find me and me alone, as per usual, that would make them giddy with murdering and or capturing me and be noticed by Jacob, and while they move in to do either, they'll be to distracted to notice the many flanking their sides, we will kill all transgressors and storm the building, killing all we come across, and with them gone we will take the station for ourselves!" Rook cried triumphantly, somewhat proud he could concoct such a plan on the spot, normally he had trouble speaking to crowds like this, but this time he found no problems.

Once Rook was finished with his fervent plan, the crowd was silence for a moment before the ones who sided with him erupted into a chorus of fierce cheers and approval, the Rookists seemingly adored his idea more then the joining Whitetails, but they were excited nonetheless. Redd tried to aggressively demand a silence from his little box so he could order everyone to stand down, but no one obeyed much less heard him. Rook raised a defiant fist into the air as he stared at Redd from across the room with an intense gaze, there was no way he was going to now, this was his show for the time being, Eli's apathy made that fact evident.

Giving the order to ready themselves, Rook turned to lead his newfound troops to the task at hand, but before he could leave the room, he found Jess was still behind him, she was cackling wickedly and vigorously rubbing her hands together, it was never a good sign.

"The hell you giggling at?" Rook snarked, not liking what he was seeing.

"I was just watching you do your thing, ooh boy you make me all tingly inside watching you actually take charge like that for once like that" Jess laughed, eyeing him excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah, stick around and who knows what you'll see" Rook said, rolling his eyes uninterested in her bizarre quirks.

"So, you in or what?" he asked.

"Oh, fuck yeah, let's roll" Jess giggled as she followed closely behind Rook, excited for what is to come.

"Good, I have no time for people slowing me down" Rook said coldly as he walked past her, raising a hand to signal everyone to follow.

And with that he and everyone who agreed with him solemnly marched out of the room and towards the entrance so they could prepare to take back their homes, all the while, everyone behind him idly chattered and boasted, they're spirits had never been this high in a long time. They were ready to kill, and Rook was going to let them, as they left the room proper, Redd was still dispelling the rabble rousers by booing and disavowing at everyone who was deporting, like a petulant child. What was left of the Whitetail numbers dispersed back into the bunker's depths, the heat dying down.

"Fine! Go! You fucking traitors!" Redd yelled indigently as he shooed them away, not wanting to be near them.

All the while, Eli, still at the room's side, growled to himself in discontent, perhaps if he handled things differently this would not have happened.

"Redd shut up and listen for a second" Eli barked tiredly, Redd's yelling not helping his mood.

Confused, Redd turned to his leader to hear, dropping his arms to his sides, hopefully it was something that would expel the traitors and enemies from their home.

"Get some guys ready, your going with him, he's in charge of this one" Eli sighed.

"What!? you can't be fucking serious?! This sounds like a huge trap!" Redd exclaimed, his mouth gaping like a beached fish.

"He's right, we spend to much time fighting each other, if we keep this up, he'll take his men and leave, making us all weak enough for Jacob to kill us all, we need him and he needs us, and by the looks of things, the scales are slowly tipping in one way" Eli explained.

"I don't care, we gotta stick to our principals! In the early days you would not have put up with Rook's shit, you would have killed him or kicked him out a long time ago, and now if you won't I will!" Redd exclaimed passionately as he stepped down from his little wooden crate and took a few steps towards Eli, hands balled into fists and breathing heavily.

"Redd, things aren't that simple anymore, nothing about what we're doing is, people are stressed, the peggies are stressed, hell I'm stressed, and when that stress builds and builds, you come to see that not everything can be done they way you want it, corners must be cut and compromises must be made, I thought you of all people should know that by now, Rook knows it and that's why I lean towards him, he has that real world experience I had hoped you would learn, we have more then enough thinkers down here, we need more fighters like him" Eli exhaled, if Redd wasn't so angry, he would have noticed a emptiness, a hollowness in his voice that was never there before, perhaps if it was noticed, things could have gone his way.

But instead, Redd tightened his jaw and fists clenched even more, his fingernail digging into his palms painfully deep. There was absolutely nothing he liked in Eli's response, in a way Eli was pissing him off as much as Rook did, and with all the rage compiling and there was no Tammy to stop him, unfiltered Redd flowed from his mouth and lashed out at his long time friend.

"No Palmer! Fuck that and fuck him, I ain't working with that fucker anymore, the only reason why he is still alive is because you stopped me out there, he's a sick fucking dog that needs to be put down, I don't care what you think or feel about Rook or any other conditioned dickheads, Rook's goons are just as messed up as the cult, their fucking creepy how they worship him, I didn't sign up for this!"

"Then get out" Eli said firmly, not skipping a beat.

"Get out and don't come back" he said.

Redd fell unusually silent, he stared just stared at Eli, he inhaled deeply before letting it out, unfurling his fist, he steeled himself to approach Eli, standing very close to him.

"Eli, I feel like I have patiently worked for you long enough for you to owe me something, I have tried to be quiet for as long as I could but enough is enough, I can't take this anymore, our guys can't take this any more, what happened to Tammy's husband wasn't your fault and you need to stop acting like it every time we come across someone who's conditioned, we need to start making cuts around here, to Rook and his men" Redd said quietly yet sternly, he was trying his best to get his emotions across, bringing his hands close to his own collar bone.

Eli merely sighed, shaking his head slightly, it was clear Redd was not going to change his stance on the matter, and neither was he.

Then Eli suddenly pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and grabbed Redd's shirt scruff and quickly spun both of them around, pinning Redd to the wall and leaning in close to the man, he was so close to Redd he could smell the very faint yet ever present odor of alcohol on him, alcohol was forbidden down here, everyone needed to be all there, all the time.

"Redd I'm only going to say this once so don't you dare make me repeat myself when you act out again, Rook isn't going anywhere, yes he made mistakes but haven't we all? how many of our neighbors have we killed, how many groups have we forsaken for the sake of own, we have as much blood on our hands as him, so I don't want to hear another God damn peep about Rook out of you again, he needs us and we sure as hell need him" Eli sternly and quietly but he was anything but gentle, his words were fierce and full of discontent, he spoke to him as if Redd was an enemy. He wanted to keep his voice down so no one could hear him, there was already enough heat flying around the bunker.

Once he finished, he didn't let go of Redd right away, he stood there for a few seconds to see if his words sunk in, so he just stood there, listening to Redd's rapid but subtle panting, he was afraid, if his face was matched his breathing, Eli didn't know, his eyes were downcast, he could not bring himself to look at Redd, he didn't like how he had to accost his friend, but it was necessary, he was getting out of control. He thought about releasing him, but then something burned it's way to the front of Eli's mind, driving him to tighten his grip on the man, almost pushing him against the wall a second time, forcing a small gasp from Redd.

"And don't you ever bring up Tammy's husband again God dammit" Eli hissed, pouring his emotions into each syllable.

He did not even bother waiting for a response from Redd, instead he just released him and staggered backwards a few seconds, he cast his eyes down at his callous, rough palms for a brief moment before his hands fell to his sides, and begun shuffling his feet away from the scene and skulked down a nearby hall, dragging his feet along the way, his head hanging low. Leaving Redd almost paralyzed against the wall, all of it was so sudden it freaked him out, but as he eventually peeled himself off the wall, he knew one thing was for sure, this was all Rook's fault.

* * *

Just as Eli commanded, Redd had scrounged up some guys and followed Rook right after he regained his composure from the beratement he had just received. Redd quickly grabbed the first handful of guys he found before forcing them all to catch up to the already departed Deputy and his team of easily manipulated grunts, Redd tried to bring as few as possible as he didn't want any more of his guys associating with Rook's ilk. When they finally caught up to Rook and company the air was thick with tension, it was clear the Rookists were not comfortable with Redd, and him them. But they pushed through it, silently marching onwards, on the lookout for possible threats, and when they finally made it to the weather station, Rook walked right up to the station, hands in the air and yelling about surrendering, and sure enough, a few peggies came scrambling out to retrieve the prize that had walked up to their front door, and when they did, they were swiftly struck down, but their deaths did not go unnoticed, in response to the sudden deaths, more and more peggies swarmed outwards, firing their guns, executing strategies, but it didn't matter as they all had to come out the front doors to do so, they ran right into the waiting arms of archer after archer after archer, even Rook who had walked up to the lions den, had pulled his handgun and fired at the cultists as he fell back to safety so he could use his bow as well, and after minutes, the final cultist fell dead. Once the dust had settled, Rook was able to see the damages, very light loses were sustained from both halves of the attacking faction, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed, these days Whitetails seemed interested in joining his cause, his numbers could easily be replenished.

As everyone worked to secure the station, making in their own Redd and Rook worked their way back into the building's depth's and scoured the area for anything that would broadcast various soundwaves across the region, Redd trailed behind Rook as he didn't trust him, Rook seemed to be letting on less then he let on, sure he wanted to stop any of all use of the broadcasting towers, but there was something else beneath that, but regardless, Redd wanted the Deputy alone so he could talk to him.

The two traversed from room to room, looking for anything that could be used to broadcast over the whole region, they found nothing until they came upon a room that was clearly used as the news room as a huge high tech camera was pointed at a big desk that was in front of an old weather chart pinned to a wall, to the immediate right of the two men and the room were all these different device and machines were plugged into all these different consoles, and in the corner was a HAM radio, in pristine condition, Rook wasted no time and walked right up to it. He moved some dials, pushed some buttons, and flicked some switched, then picked up the radio receiver, he intended to ping the Wolves Den to let them know he had one yet again.

"Test, test, one two, y'all there?" Rook asked, he felt like he was speaking into the void.

Silence seconds ticked by before the radio cracked to life.

"We hear you, how you talking to us, Hun?" Tammy's voice came.

"They got more then music playing equipment up here, but everything went smoothly more or less, we have this place in our pocket" Rook said pridefully.

"Very light loses were taken, but it was not in vain, we have achieved a lot today and things will go even further with the land we will take back" Rook said more happily then he probably should be.

"Well that actually great to hear Deputy, good job out there" Tammy replied, sounding actually happy for once.

"Yeah no kidding, no more wolf towers, no more Only You, this is a big day for us" Rook said, holding his head high, Redd rolling his eyes behind him.

"You really did make a huge difference here today, thank you Rook, I'll let as many people know as possible, you really save us" Tammy praised, a stark contrast to her usual attitude.

"All in a day's work" Rook said proudly, puffing up his chest.

"I'm going to make sure everything is moving smoothly around here, see you around" Rook added before putting down the receiver and deactivated the device, his gaze turned to the rest of the equipment in the room.

"Alright, let's fucking destroy all this shit" Redd finally spoke up with eager eyes, looking at the equipment.

"Nu-uh, we ain't touching anything" Rook said sternly, shaking his head.

"What?! why the fuck not?!" Redd barked angrily, looking over at the Junior Deputy.

"We're going to use this place and all it's stuff for ourselves, we need to start taking land back, we can't live in the bunker forever, my ranks can't grow if we have no room to grow, this will be where we start" Rook explained firmly.

"No fuck that, the last thing you fucking need is more land and more people under your thumb, I still remember what you did in the food bunker, those people are just as brainwashed as you are!" Redd disagreed wholeheartedly.

Rook sighed heavily in irritation, rolling his eyes, yet again, even with no one to back him up or have any power in the scenario, he was there to bitch and moan about his blatant hatred for him, it was ceaseless as it was infuriating, but he did have a point in a way, if he remembered what happened the bunker, then he should remember his warning, but clearly he was still going to test his luck and continued to push and push Rook, but soon Redd would learn his lesson.

With his patience finally at its end, Rook silently and slowly stalked up to Redd, glowering at him and left inches between them, a deadly quiet dropped over them.

"Then what? What are you going to do about it?" Rook said challengingly, puffing up his chest and looking down his nose at the redneck.

Redd's head seemed to jerk back slightly in surprise, almost not suspecting Rook's aggressive callout, he almost gave him a bit of respect for it, no one dared talk to him like that since Eli started backing him up.

"I'll kill you, how about that" Redd replied, his voice, cool and composed, he meant what he said.

"Well I'm right here, do something or walk away" Rook countered, just as organized, his eyes narrowed and seemed to lean just a little closer.

The two men were silent as they stared each other down

Redd could not help but chuckle at his remark, it was almost cute in a way, the way he puffed himself up when he felt threatened, he rolled his eyes comically at it.

Then he lunged forward, punching Rook right in the jaw, right where Eli had hit him earlier, it made him stagger back as it caught him off guard.

"You're an evil sack of shit! I should have killed you when you blew up that conditioning center!" Redd roared, cracking his knuckles and advanced on Rook, ready to hit him again.

"That's fine, I've been sick of you for a long time now anyways, it's about time someone put you in your place, permanently" Rook growled as he regained his balance and rose to full height, rubbing his sore jaw, glaring furiously at Redd as he drew closer.

"The feelings mutual" Redd said coldly as he swung again, aiming for the head once more.

Before the hit could land, Rook dodged out of the way and uppercutted Redd in his large stomach, making him let out and audible _oof_ as he felt the air leave his body. With Redd off his balance, Rook shot forward, driving his shoulder into his opponent's chest, pushing him back. But the shove was short lived as Redd grabbed a hold of Rook and harshly pushed him back, off of him, creating a few feet of room between them. But as quickly as the gap was created, it closed again as the two men collided with one another, throwing their fists and curses at each other, trying to break the opponent's guard just enough to beat them down, but unfortunately for Rook, Redd was stronger, and he used that strength to pick up Rook by grabbing his collar and lifting him up, feet off the air. But Rook was more accustom to hand to hand fighting then Redd, this wasn't the first time he had entered this exact scenario before and knew exactly what to do. He tucked up both feet and kicked Redd square in the stomach as hard as he could, the sudden double impact causing Redd to drop Rook as he fell backwards onto the floor, coughing horribly, the second he hit the floor, Rook, who had recovered, wasted no time and climbed onto Redd, straddling his chest so he had ample opportunity to not only pin his arms down, but to repeatedly punch him in the face.

And Rook did just that, he began hitting Redd's face over and over again, even as the repeated blows warped his face, his eyes blackened and swelled, his nose bent and bleed, his skin bruised, the man was being thoroughly beaten, yet Rook did not relent, he continued to hit him until he ran out of breath. And when he was done, he examined his foe and how he struggled to breathe even with him on his chest, coughing and sputtering, expelling blood and spital from his airways, breathing raggedly, he looked up at Rook as well as his injuries allowed him.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you and your whore Jess too!" Redd croaked as loud as he could, writhing under Rook's weight.

Something about it got to Rook, something about his words really dug under Rook's skin and squirmed their way into his bones, it almost made him twitch and spasm uncomfortably, but not only that, it somehow pissed him off more then he already was, a growl escaped Rook as he looked down at the yokel that had been undermining him for weeks, at every turn, berating and conspiring against him, it was like he was a peggie, constantly working against him.

He absolutely hated the man.

"Fuck you!" Rook roared, gnashing his teeth together, wrapping his hands around Redd's throat and squeezed.

It made Redd choke and writhe from the lack of air, after a few seconds, with gagged, gasping breaths, Redd desperately tapped Rook's side, signalling he was giving up, even though Rook felt it, he did not relent, instead he stared down at him and stared into his eyes and saw fear, he saw the same animal panic that he had felt ever since he entered this God damned county, even though Redd could not speak, his eyes screamed for him to stop, tears dotting his eyes as spittle was slowly being kicked up from his esophagus, Rook knew he could have let him go, he could have let air return to his lungs, he could have let him live and Redd could have scuttled into the shadows once more, but for how long? How long until he makes another attempt on his life?

So, Rook did not let him go.

With each passing second, he could feel Redd's resistance grow weaker and weaker, his indication of submission collapsing, the horrible gurgling sound that emitted from Redd got quieter and quieter, and Rook just sat there, and watched the life drain from his supposed comrade's eyes.

And then he was gone.

His arm slowly dropped to the floor and his head drooped back, the now lifeless body fought to realise the tension that was stored within itself, a final pained exhale as what little air left his body.

Rook released his grip on the man, and pulled his hands back, his hands not shaking whatsoever. He did not feel bad for what he did, Redd was an asshole, he needed to go.

As he rose off of Redd with firm, steady legs, he cleared his throat a few times as he tried to get his breathing under control, as pathetic as Redd was, he could take and dole out punches more then he expected. He looked down at his knuckles and how they were bruised and marred from the fight, but it was nothing he could not explain away.

He stepped towards the radio again, he now wanted to call Tammy back again, he wanted to get ahead of the Redd being dead curve, he could only imagine listening hearing Tammy who was crying out for information, but it was fine for Rook, he knew he'd have to say something eventually, he ran a hand through his damp hair a few times before he walked up and picked up the handheld receiver, he cleared his throat and pressed the speak button.

"Hey, Tammy you still there? I have some bad news" Rook asked, his voice carried a fake grimness, he had ample experience using this voice.

"You ok? What's up?" Tammy returned near instantly, the concern that came from her voice assured Rook that he had sold his lie.

"We uh… me and Redd were were attacked by more of Jacob's men, there were a few more in here" Rook replied, a fake tremble in his voice.

"Sweet Jesus boy, who isn't these days? are you boys ok?" Tammy asked, her voice relaxing, but soon enough that would change.

"No… Redd… they got him" Rook said somberly, trying his best to sell the belief that he was negatively affected over his death.

"What!? I… Jesus…." Tammy despaired, she could not believe what she was hearing.

While Tammy proceeded her what she heard, Rook wore a tight grin, delighted that his untruth had clearly been bought by someone who did not trust him completely.

"I'm sorry… I don't know what happened, I was too distracted with the peggie I was fighting that I couldn't see what he was doing… this is my fault" Rook lied,

"No… I'm sure you did your best, just… Fuck Rook… Fuck" Tammy was barely able to say before breaking down, a long-time friend had down been lost to her.

While she wept, Rook offered his apologies once more before informing her that he would be headed back to the bunker now. After that he scanned the room once more and began powering down every electronic in the room so there was nothing railroading the airwaves, once the whole Redd thing died down, he hoped to return and use the machines at a later date. As Rook left, he stepped over Redd, not bothering to look down at him one final time before leaving the room and returned outside where everyone still worked diligently, oblivious to what had happened inside, he didn't bother to tell anyone, instead he walked right up to Clark who was giving advice to some of the newer members, once rook's intentions were made known, Clark dismissed the recruit and turned to speak to his leader.

"What's up Boss?" Clark asked, noticing the stony expression Rook wore.

"I want you to stay here, keep an eye on Jess while she's here and keep as many of our guys on site as you think you'll need to keep this place under our control, got it?" Rook ordered.

"Yes Sir, of course" Clark said quickly, giving his superior a salute before turning to fulfill his new goals, but before he could, Rook called out to him once more.

"Redd's body is in the broadcasting room, please have it disposed of as soon as possible, bury him somewhere" Rook ordered, his voice sounding colder then before, his brow furrowing.

Again, Clark saluted and agreed before departing to accomplish his goals with not a care in the world, leaving Rook alone.

With Redd's corpse just about taken care of, he felt no reason to hang around, he trusted Clark enough to keep this place out of peggie hands for the short term at least, now more then anything he wanted to get back to the Wolves Den and deal with Eli, if he could pull the wool over his eyes then he was in the clear, and if he couldn't… he deal with it if something were to arise.

But before he left, Rook didn't want to just bail on Jess yet again, so before he left, he tracked down Jess to let her know, he eventually found her crouching over a few peggies, giggling while poking the dead peggies with a stick as they had arrows protruding from, he at bizarre yet interesting angles, not caring about her flagrant disrespect for the dead, he walked right up to her and asked for her attention, complying, Jess stood up to face him, but as soon as she reached full height, Rook casually wrapping an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, not enough for her to press hand against his chest, put close enough.

"I'm headed back to the Wolves Den, if your leaving anytime soon then let Clark know, I asked him to help keep things on track around here, making this place ours" Rook explained, looking down at his friend.

But Jess did not reply, her mouth was slightly agape as she was caught off guard by his bold moves, she looked up at him silently with wide eyes.

"U-uh yeah, sure you got it" Jess slightly stuttered before clearing her throat and reiterating what she just said.

"Alright sweet, see you later then" Rook nodded before disengaging and began walking away.

For some reason Jess gave her nervous goodbyes before quickly dropping back down to the peggie, poking them again but without giggling, but Rook didn't question it, he had a long road ahead of him, it was a long walk back to the Den, but as he walked home, he walked with his head held high, he feared nothing on his way home. And nothing was going to stop him.

He was in control now.

* * *

By the time he made it home, the sun was slowly setting, another unmarked day passed by, leaving Rook in a perpetual state of not knowing what day it is, everything just blended together at this point. As he stalked the halls of the Wolves Den, everyone he passed by was just as normal as ever, no one was anywhere as upset Tammy was, it was clear news of Redd's death had yet to spread among the masses, which made Rook happy, so much so that a dry sneer stretched across his face, even as he ascertained that Eli was in the comms room, his smile never faded, everything was working out in his favor, it was only until he was about the comms room did he stuff his smirk deep down before entering, when he did, he found that Eli, Wheaty and Tammy were hanging around the comms room, Tammy was clearly still upset to a degree while, Eli was still stone faced aside from looking a little dower then he last saw the man, but it was unsurprising, his left-hand man and long-time friend was just killed hours ago. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and head tilted downwards, eyes looked more sunken in then usual, just like hours ago. Wheaty hung around trying to fit in in the room but felt out of place and looked very anxious about everything.

"Hey all" Rook said softly, re-assuming his saddened facade.

Hearing his voice, all three Whitetails quickly looked up at him and sighed.

"Hey there, Deputy" Eli said quietly as he approached Rook.

"So uh, I guess you know, huh?" Rook shrugged, trying to play off the same level of awkwardness as Wheaty.

"Yeah… so what happened?" Eli asked quietly, his eyes dropping to the floor again.

"Right after I called Tammy, like two guys came out of nowhere, yelling all this and that, one went for me and the other, Redd, I had to knock him out with my fists, and I assumed Redd did too, but by the time I won and went to help Redd, it was to late" Rook said delicately, his voice cracking towards the end.

Eli was silent for a few seconds, taking in what he heard, Rook was not sure if he believed him or not.

"And then what happened?" he finally asked, his voice not giving away his suspicions.

"I had him buried at the station, he was such an old friend of yours, you shouldn't have seen him like that" Rook said, trying to give Eli some assurance.

Again, Eli fell silent, so to were Tammy and Wheaty.

"Thank you" Eli nearly whispered, giving a small bow before returning to his wall.

"So, what did you find out there aside from the broadcasting stuff?" Tammy asked.

"Well, just that, I turned off all the stuff there, it looked pretty high tech, so I assume you can like jump in on the air waves like they were" Rook shrugged.

Tammy seemed to flinch at Rook words like she didn't believe him, then she quickly hurried to the many consoles and screens behind her and began furiously working on the keyboards, knobs and buttons, her fingers moving at lightning speed, a heavy tension seemed to envelope the room as she worked silently, Wheaty's leg bouncing up and down in great anxiety.

And after a few minutes, Tammy staggered back a few steps, looking at the computer screen in awe.

"Holy shit, we're in, we have control over the air waves" Tammy said in wonderment.

"This is monumental, all the conditioned wolves are useless now" Eli breathed.

"Holy shit, the Deputy is badass!" Wheaty squeaked.

"Of course, I know what I'm doing" Rook said confidently as he crossed his arms and stared at the many screens, he had no idea what he was looking at, but he did not care.

There was a comfortable silence for a few moments as everyone watched the screens, looking at the new info that covered them all.

"What should we do now?" Wheaty asked, breaking the silence.

No said anything as no one was sure, but Rook's mind spun furiously, he wanted to flex his new found power over the air waves, but nothing came to him, but as his eyes wandered onto Wheaty, a powerful idea came to him.

"Hey Wheaty" Rook called, looking in the kid's direction, making him jump Rook's eyes now fell on him.

"Uh, w-what's up Deputy?" Wheaty said anxiously, his voice cracking.

"Go get our vinyl's and record player" Rook ordered confidently.

"My vinyl's and record player?" Wheaty echoed back, unsure to why he would possibly make such a request.

"Just get on it, kiddo" Rook nodded sternly.

Wheaty said nothing more, he looked like a deer in the headlights for a few seconds before taking off, disappearing down the halls to do what he was told. With him gone, Rook marched up the large communications consoles and began disconnecting a few wires and cables from a few microphones and other nearby pieces of equipment, taking everything connected, apart.

"What the hell are you doing, Deputy?" Tammy asked suspiciously.

But Rook said nothing, he just continued unplugging cords and wires, until Wheaty returned, huffing, and puffing as he placed down the record player and records on the table with a loud thud.

"Alright dude, here you go I guess" he said, rubbing the sweat from his brow as he eyed the disconnected wires.

Before Wheaty could ask what was happening, Rook scooped up he record player and placed it on the communications machine before spending a few moments reattaching the wires and cables to the record player. A few more curious questions went out but Rook ignored it again as he went back to the milk crate of vinyl's, he flicked through the several covers, Whitesnake, Guns and Roses, Metallica, he was looking for something very specific, he knew Wheaty had it as he saw it the first time he went through this collection.

As Wheaty began asking if there was anything he could do to speed things up, Rook found what he was looking for and lifted it out of the crate, it was a quiet rare AC/DC LP, it was as important as it was rare to him, he carefully removed it from the sleeve and inserted it into the player before turning the device on.

Unbeknownst to anyone that was not in the telecommunication room, all across the Whitetail Mountains, the ten broadcasting towers lightly buzzed to life as white noise emitted from the bullhorns, then a gentle reverb rang out as Rook placed the record on the played and pushed the needle onto the disc, causing the music to play across the region .The peggies who worked so diligently to uphold Jacob's work and just about anyone else still alive in the mountains came to a stand still as they were assaulted by the thunderous rifts of an electric guitar began to play from all directions at various distances, it was like the same concert was playing in every direction at the same time, they were bewildered and scared of what was happening, there was no discerning evidence where or why the music was playing. Some of the most devout peggies even believed this was the start of the coming apocalypse.

As quick as the guitar started, the thundering of hard drums beating out a rhythm joined in, it was not long until the music was completed by the powerful voice of Bon Scott, the hard rock now cascaded across the region.

_**I**__**t's criminal, there ought to be a law!**__**  
**_

_**Criminal, there ought to be a whole lot more!**__**  
**_

Peggies swarmed, orders were hastily made to any who would follow, calls were made as they were trying to figure out what was happening, had something happened to Jacob, or the weather station? Or something else all together, this event was not discussed ever before.

_**You get nothin' for nothin'**__** t**__**ell me who can you trust!**_

_**We got what you want,**__** a**__**nd you got the lust!**__**  
**_

Whitetails and Rookist's crowded around telecommunications room, trying to find out what had happened, the sudden blasting of hard rock of the intercom was anything but jarring, those who were previously asleep were rudely awoken, some of them thought it was invading peggies if not for it originating from down the hall, some tried to enter the room to turn the annoying music off but, Eli tried to hold the bulk of the crowd back as they tried to enter, but the declined authority barely held them back, even with Tammy helping. A few called out to Rook, asking what the hell he could possibly be doing, but he offered no insight, not even the slightest bit of movement, he just stood there with his back to them, monitoring the broadcasting signal, Eli tried to calm the masses, giving as much info as he could, but it did not quell the masses. Rook wanted to watch and listen to where the song was currently, it was at the part where the point of his message was about to be delivered.

_**If you want blood, you got it!**__**If you want blood, you got it!**__**  
**_

_**Blood on the streets!**__**Blood on the rocks!**__**  
**_

_**Blood in the gutter!**__**Every last drop!**__**  
**_

_**You want blood**__**! **__**You got it!**__**  
**_

_**Yes, you have!**_

The music that blanketed the Mountains reached out so far it touched the edges thanks to the lack of noise pollution. It reached just far enough to make it to the Saint Francis Veterans Center, it was loud enough for the best of the best of the best of the peggie to hear, and so to did Jacob Seed, curious he halted any and all operations that were happening on site. For the first time, the classical conditioning that happened there had to be halted as the loud music was interrupting the process, trying to figure out what was happening Jacob turned to his communications team to find out that the comms were being flooded with calls from all over the Mountains all reporting the same thing. Believing the worst had happened to the weather station on the other side of the region, Jacob tried to establish a line with the station as only they had the ability to pull this off, but the line croaked dead, leaving Jacob to do nothing, and since there was nothing that was able to be done, Jacob returned to office within the veterans center and stood on one of the many balconies that lined the building, the once confident Staci Pratt, now almost cowering at his side. The two listened to the hard rock that played in the distance, Jacob couldn't help but let a small smile creep across his face, he had never seen such boldness from his opposition, Eli and his Whitetails were never this brazen, but of course Jacob knew that, it was the Junior Deputy, he was calling him out personally, a region wide challenge for all to here.

Benjamin Rook was much more interesting then he originally anticipated, he could start to see why John had such an interest in him. He was surpassing all expectations, Jacob almost respected Rook in a way, he liked his moxy, people like that were the most fascinating to break.

A single mirthless chuckle escaped Jacob's lips, he answered Rook's challenge as if he could hear it.

"Challenge accepted" he said.


	52. Chapter 52

"Redd was… he was a good man" Rook said as he stood atop the very same box Redd did hours ago, looking down at his hands.

After the whole music fiasco was done with, Eli used the opportunity to inform the drawn crowd the unfortunate news of Redd's demise, while quickly led to everyone asking Rook to give a eulogy since he was with Redd in his final moments. Rook only agreed because he internally believed it would be the best way to spread his doctrine, the one where Redd was killed by peggies and was not in fact straggled to death by the very hands Rook was looking at with zero remorse or guilt. And now as he forced his hands to his sides in balled fists, he looked down over the many who had gathered to hear his words, the few Rookists that still existed in the bunker were completely stone faced as they also despised Redd simply for undermining Rook for so long while the Whitetails were either downtrodden or teary eyed, despite Redd's general attitude, he actually got things done, but soon he would be replaced, by Rook's hopes it would be by someone more competent, and somewhat influenceable.

Meanwhile, far back behind the crowd was Eli and Tammy, the latter had her arms crossed in a tight hug as if it kept her emotions inward, while the former was off to the side, sitting on a stool, leaning in on himself, listening to the eulogy, he was taking the whole thing hard, but he tried to not let it show. He was doing a bad job at it.

The only reason why Eli was not the one giving the speech was because his worth as a leader had dropped precipitously, withholding the fact that there was unknown informant was feeding him info did not inspire trust, neither did sitting around watching Rook and Redd go at it time after time, victory was only achieved whenever Rook had full control of the situation, and with every Whitetail that converted to a Rookist, his authority dropped even further.

"I know I never really saw eye to eye with him on a lot" Rook said, clearing his throat and continuing with his eulogy.

"But that doesn't dilute his worth as a friend, freedom fighter or a man, time and time again I saw the great compassion he carried for his home and those he fought with, never once did he but himself above his comrades and I will miss him greatly, it was people like him that I believed to be what is necessary to stopping the cult that plagues us, Redd was a shining beacon of hope for us all, and now that he is gone, I will try my damnest to fill his shoes and lead us towards are best possibly future" Rook said calmly.

He went on for a dew more minutes, going on about how he would miss Redd and that he wouldn't let his passing slow them down, once he finished the many that stood before him broke out into a chorus of cheers, grateful for his kind words, meanwhile in the back Tammy felt differently, she just silently watched Rook, thinking on what he had said, Eli just sitting there absentmindedly.

"He's full of shit" Tammy finally said somberly.

Eli only replied with a hum of confusion as he looked up at her, he was not fully listening to her as he was too lost in his own thoughts.

Tammy turned to Eli and tried to speak quietly, she dared not speak at normal volume as she feared someone would hear her, but her emotion drove her to be a little louder.

"Listen to him! He was really laying it on thick that he's sad that Redd's gone! You and I both know that's a bull faced lie, they hated each other, why would he be so blue about him dying!" Tammy cried defiantly.

"And what are you suggesting? Why would he lie? Sure it doesn't line up, by so what, nothing makes sense these days" Eli asked, he really didn't want to go down this road, even if she was right, it hurt his heart too much to think that one of his longest friend's was murdered by the person everyone was looking up to these days.

"I… I don't know, I don't think Redd would actually provoke a fight, Urgh! I'm such a fucking idiot, I was too distracted with being told he was dead and getting control of the air waves to make me think about the bigger picture!" Tammy groaned indigently as she pressed her hand against her brow.

"Does Rook really seem like the type to kill his own?" Eli asked.

"But that's the thing!" Tammy cried a bit louder than she wanted.

"Redd wasn't one of Rook's… he was ours…" Tammy

"We can't go around accusing each other with crimes with no evidence, we can't have that paranoia down here" Eli said after sighing.

"But you _know _something is wrong here, rook is lying"

"Tell you what, Tam" Eli sighed as he stood up from his spot.

"I'll go talk to him, see what I can dig up" he said, walking over to Rook's general area.

He orbited around the room for a few minutes as he waited for what was left of the crowd slowly dispersed, aside from a few Whitetails thanking him for his kind speech and or asking to fully join his cause, the room was relatively empty, empty enough for Eli to make his move, approaching Rook.

"Hey Bud, can I talk to you for a sec?" Eli asked, nodding over to a near by bench.

"Yeah sure" Rook shrugged casually, following Eli over to the bench and sat down with him, as soon as they did, Rook expected Eli to start talking, but he didn't, instead he just sat there, anxiously rubbing his hands together.

"So, what's up?" Rook asked, looking at the man.

Still, Eli was silent for a few more seconds before sighing deeply.

"You really know how to talk to these people, I haven't seen these people this willing to listen in quite awhile, and I see the way Jess looks at you, I'll give you credit, I've never seen anyone reach her like you have" Eli said.

"Well I don't know about that second part" Rook said defiantly, feeling his cheeks heated up a little.

Eli made some small noise to denote he found Rook reaction humorous, but then he cleared his throat.

"But listen, the main reason I asked you to come with me was because I understand that right now I don't really have everyone's trust and I have no one to blame but myself for that, I shouldn't've kept my informant a secret from everyone, and now I'm paying for it… that being said, now before any more of my past leaks out among our groups, I wish it to be of my own accord, and I wish to tell you first of all" Eli said dryly.

"What do you mean?" Rook asked as his once flustered voice turned serious and swiveling himself towards Eli.

Eli swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing.

"A long time ago… I worked and was actually friends with Jacob"

"Wait what?!" Rook guffawed, shocked at such news.

"You see" Eli sighed, leaning back in his seat, it was clear he had a lot on his mind and found it hard to get it all out.

"I first met him at one of those shitty veterans support groups years and years ago at the veterans center Jacob is staying at now, he came trying to blend in with me and the rest of us for a bit before selling us the pitch about Eden's Gate… and well I bought into a bit, I mean why not, I was recently divorced too so I heard him out, and after the meeting he hung around and so to did I and talked to him, and I don't know, I guess we just… clicked, we had the same mind sets at the time, same views on life, same… desires, that and well I was in a bad place at the time, as I said I was at a support group and I had some… other personal reasons, had over time we became pretty good friends, we did it all, we hung out a lot, had drinks at bars, went on hunting trips, shared the very rare smoking of a joint, the works" he said.

"And when he started ramping up the cult shit, but I rolled with it, just like friends do and as Eden's Gate started picking up speed here, he came to me for help, and with nothing but time and silence on my hands, I helped him, the two of us worked together to construct the bunkers the Seeds use"

Rook remained silent, he was still wide eyed as listened to Eli's tale, he had no idea he had such a close connection with Jacob.

"Then on the afternoon before you showed up and everything kicked off, Jacob called me and asked me to get all the doomsday preppers friends that would go on to be the Whitetail Militia, to join him in his little commune, even me, but when he asked to hand over my Whitetails… I just couldn't, I do not know why, maybe it was the way he said it, I was always good at telling when he was lying, but just couldn't get over the way I asked, it was to sinister, so I told him no, and he was OK with that, no backtalk, no anything, he just hung up, then night fell and you came, now here we are months later" Eli finished.

Rook sat in stunned silence, thinking what he should say or do, a part of him wanted to lunge at Eli and strangle him for helping the Seeds make their bunkers, if they didn't have such well fortified underground bunkers, then maybe it would have been easier to storm their gates at get them. But he did have a point at the start of his speech, he should get all of that out into the public by his own volition, he'd be torn apart if people just found out, out of the blue he was on ground zero for so long and didn't do a Goddamned thing.

"I uh, I really think you should tell everyone" Rook stuttered, nodding his head.

The story caught him off guard, he still didn't know what to say to it, should he damn the man?

"Thanks for hearing me out Deputy, y'know I kind of expected you to get a little heated for something due to Jess's blanket opinion of those who help peggies possibly being embedded in you from proximity" Eli offered.

"Nawh, it's all good, I'm pretty stubborn in my ways" Rook replied numbly.

"Yeah I guess your right" Eli chuckled to himself.

"But since I'm telling you all this, I was hoping this would be a two street, and by that I mean, if there is anything on your mind, morally good bad or otherwise, I'm all ears" Eli added.

This time, it was Rook's turn to fall silent, what Eli was offering made him freeze in sudden panic, why of all times was he offering to hear out anything unsavory that might have been done, was he up to something, was he trying to him to admit he killed Redd? Did he think something was up?

And with each second that Rook spent trying desperately to figure out what was going on.

"Kid?" Eli poked, still waiting for a response.

"Sorry Eli, I got nothing weighing me down" Rook shrugged, trying his best to play off the casualness he had going into this conversation.

Internally, Rook was getting more and more anxious by the second.

"Well that's good to hear at least… I'm uh, going to package this whole story better before telling everyone else" Eli swallowed before standing up, his old joints cracking.

Rook said nothing again as he watched Eli leave, shuffling of deeper into the bunker, the second he was out of view, Rook shot up from his seat and nearly sped walked to the bunker's exit. His head felt like it was about to start spinning and his chest was getting tighter, he needed to get some fresh air,

As he quickly moved through the Wolves Den, he was very careful not to let it show but he was very anxious, the last thing he needed was to draw even more attention to himself. Before his unprecedented fears and thoughts overwhelmed him, Rook finally broke to the surface, heaving in all the fresh air he could, feeling the gentle summer air breeze wash over him, he wandered a few meters away from the entry way, his mind racing to figure out what Eli was trying to do.

Something about what he said felt off, could it be that, his version of Redd's death could already cracking, Eli might have just subtly poked around for hints to the truth, or he was just trying to be helpful since his image wasn't doing so well, but if he really is wary of him then that must mean Tammy was too, and then who knows who else at this point, Rook had to be on his toes this point further, he had to go over every detail in his head and destroy any evidence, if there was any. The whole nervous scheming Rook was going through made him feel like the criminals he had once arrested, but he wasn't a criminal, he was the good guy, the hero, people believed in him and told him he was doing the right thing, so how could he be in the wrong?

"Uhhh, hey there, Mister Deputy, Sir…" the Whitetail said, his voice shaking as he spoke.

Surprised and caught off guard, Rook quickly spun around, expecting to be accused of something, but instead he was met with a single Whitetail, their features were completely irrelevant to Rook, as he didn't him as someone who had recently joined up with him, the only things the stood out was the metal pipe he held fretfully in his hand, that and the Whitetail was clearly terrified of the Junior Deputy for some unknown reason.

Rook stared at him with an intense gaze, perhaps that was why the militiaman was like that, or maybe he was sent up here by Eli?

"What do you need?" Rook said quickly.

His words made the militiaman flinch, maybe his fears were making his words to sharp.

"I uhhhh, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done, t-thank you" the militiaman stuttered.

"Yeah, don't worry about it" Rook offered as he still carefully analyzed the man, he wasn't sure if he was still freaked out over Eli, but he still felt like something was still off.

The whitetail stood around for a little bit as if he was uncertain with his footing, clutching the curious metal pipe in his grasp, eyes rolling around, looking for something, then his eyes looked up to the sky.

"You see those clouds up there?" the man asked, pointing up at the sky behind Rook.

Rook turned around and looked up at said clouds, unsurprisingly, they were run of the mill clouds, white, fluffy, cotton shaped.

"What about them?" Rook asked, still looking up.

"They're rain clouds, it will rain soon" the man chirped.

"What are you talking about, those look like generic clouds, I don't think it's going to rain" Rook scoffed, not believing what he was hearing.

But as seconds ticked by the scared man offered no response, curious, he turned around once more to look at the man, but he had just enough time to turn just enough to see the man had lunged at him, metal pipe raised, ready to strike, before Rook could do anything, the pipe collided with his head, knocking the consciousness out off him and fell to the ground wordlessly.

With the Junior Deputy now out of the commission, the man was panting and scared out of his mind, he was barely keeping himself together as he looked down at the unconscious Junior Deputy, he knew what he had to do, but he didn't know if he had the strength to do it.

"God help me" he whimpered to himself.

* * *

Jacob Seed steadily exited his heavily armored jeep, everything had gone according to his plan.

He walked around the hood of his jeep, as a few men quickly clambered out as well before taking their places just as planned, before for standing erect and motionless, like guards at the Buckingham palace. He sauntered a few feet ahead of his jeep. Before him stood a trembling, helpless member of the Whitetail Militia, next to him lay the still unconscious Junior Deputy, clothes stained with dirt as he was dragged to their meeting spot.

"I've done everything you asked, I'm done pretending to be some informant, feeding Eli info over the radio to manipulate everyone, Eli's been telling everyone about who he thinks I am, I brought you the Deputy just as you asked, so please… just let me leave the County, I won' tell anyone, I swear!" the man begged passionately, almost bursting into tears as he brought his hands together.

But Jacob just stared at the man, it almost disgusted him how pathetic he was, as much as he respected Eli for everything he had accomplished thus far, his standards for trusted associates were embarrassingly low, he didn't even need to infiltrate little hole in the ground that was the Wolves Den to get an ear on the inside, the training Jacob's men endured bred strength, and in that strength, the opposition weakness was revealed in the form of cowardice. Ever since Joseph began his holy crusade, every now and again, a few people would wander their way into Jacob's men, begging and crying over how terrified that they could not handle the new norms of their world, so they came, crawling, begging to desperately cut deals and offer what little they had, be it info, possessions, money, or even their own friends in hopes of escaping the county or securing some relative safety. Of course, they were swept up and slated to be culled, but on one such day, one certain Whitetail militiaman approached Jacob's soldiers, crying and begging, offering to sell out the militia in it's entirety, and Jacob happily preyed on it.

But as much as Jacob was ready to pull all he could from the traitor, he could not, Joseph instructed him to apprehend the Deputy first and foremost, and everyone know you catch more flies with honey then vinegar. He needed to wait until he knew the Deputy had partnered with the militia before he struck. So until then, Jacob gave the traitorous Militiaman with a simple walkie talkie and control over the air waves, Jacob could have it manipulated so it appeared that the traitor was calling the Wolves Den from the outside when he was actually inside, from there Jacob could implant whatever info he wanted into Eli, believing it to be helpful knowledge from a third party that hid somewhere in the mountains; Eli's informant.

And then Rook came back into the picture, and plans moved forward, and the traitor did everything he was told, sure, he did it to a tee, but he was still a turncoat, nonetheless.

He was another pathetic maggot.

Jacob raised his hand and signaled for his men to take the Deputy and prepare him to be taken back to headquarters,

"I know I said what I said, but… plans have changed, your coming with me" Jacob smirked as he signaled for two more of his men to also take the traitor.

Upon hearing Jacob, the man preceded to beg and wail as the two peggies tried to haul him away, seeing as begging didn't work, he turned to run away, but he did not get far before he was caught and dragged back to the jeep, he was dumb enough to not bring a weapon of any kind despite what he was walking into, for some reason, at some point he started being for Rook to miraculously wake up and save him. But all was for not, Rook was a limp bag of meat that was easily manhandled into the jeep's trunk, soon to be tied and gagged.

And before anyone knew what was happening out in a clearing in the northern region, the two men were in the jeep and were disappeared.

* * *

Rook's eyes slowly cracked open, groaned as he did, his head far more then it usually did, he did not remember what had happened prior to him waking up, sitting up, he rubbed the side of his head, finding it swollen and bruised, he had taken a hit he did not remember, which made him all the more scared as the last thing he remembered was fearing people were on to him about the truth of Redd's fate.

As his senses returned to him, he found himself to be locked in a large cage, big enough to hold a tiger, what was more, Jacob sat before him, he sat in a wooden chair, lazily leaning forward, in his hands were a large combat knife, he scraped it up and down on a flat rock that sat perfectly in his hand, sharpening it.

"Mornin' Deputy" Jacob greeted, not taking his eyes off the knife.

Rook recoiled in fear, he had leapt out of the frying pan and right into the fires of hell, the puzzle pieces in his head painfully clicked together, he had been attacked and kidnapped by Jacob, he was completely trapped, a fly caught in a spider's web, there was nothing he could do. Feeling to nauseous for one reason or another, he decided not to stand up, but instead he crawled on all fours up to the bars that faced Jacob, and stood up on his knees, wrapping his hands on the bars and rested his head in the space in between the bars.

"So, let's get this over with, yeah?" Rook asked with unsteady breath, he was psyching himself out with the fears that came from the clam before the storm, his imagination was getting the best of him when it came to what was going to happen to him.

"It's been a while hmm, how long has it been since we last spoke, three weeks? Four?" Jacob asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I really don't know, I've been busy" Rook replied somberly.

"You know, you are right, you have been busy" Jacob agreed, pointing his knife at Rook.

"You've been fighting and killing and causing quite a stir since you showed here a while ago, and I got to say, I'm rather impressed with what you've done so far all things considered" Jacob supposed, eyeing the defeated man in the cage.

Rook wasn't sure what to say to Jacob's words, it felt very out of place to actually be complimented by a Seed, Faith was an anomaly, and John was just aggression, aggression, aggression, all day everyday, this was weird, really weird.

"When I saw you for the first time in the Father's church when you came to arrest him, I looked at you and I saw you as cattle, to be used and mined of your resources, your meat used before being cast aside, but here you are, still alive… with my brother's blood on your hands" Jacob said coldly, blade trembling in his grip.

Rook felt his entire body tighten up at hearing John's name, he had honestly completely forgotten about that and now that Jacob brought it up, it was probably going to be a heavy factor in how much pain he was going to endure before he manages to escape or die.

"But as much as I should be angry at you for killing John, I'm not, but don't get me wrong, I am angry... What I'm trying to say is I'm not surprised you killed my brother" Jacob spoke.

"He always need this shampoo or that brand of clothes, even before the Project got off the ground, John always needed... What he believed were the finer things in life… like he deserved it, like it was owed to him, he just made so much money as a lawyer and opened the door to the high life... And it made him weak, really, always throwing money or grunts or threats at his problems, never actually facing and dealing with it, he never knew how" Jacob sighed, before he pocketed the stone and pointed the knife at Rook, narrowing his eyes at him.

"But I can promise you, I am nothing like my brother" he said as he pulled the knife back and pinched the tip of the blade with his free hand, looking at his reflection in the polished steel.

"Do you know what the universe's greatest joke is?" Jacob asked.

"I feel no matter what I say, you'll tell me anyways" Rook offered, he knew he was going to die, the way Jacob looked at the knife in his hands made it clear, at this point what was the point of being the big tough guy, but then again it could lower Jacob's guard just enough to fight his way out, if he could get away from John three times and Jacob once, he could do it again, but unbeknownst to Rook, his body trembled in abject fear his life was going to painfully end shortly.

"It's that we believe that we are all owed something, we expect to get special treatment, just because we believe ourselves to be a certain gender or sexuality or religion or political standing or for simply just existing, we believe in participation trophies and pats on the back when we fail, we believe life should bend the knee to us because we are the protagonist in our own stories… surely you can find some humor in that?" Jacob explained with a taunting smirk on his face.

"It sounds like you didn't get enough love as a child" Rook spat, internally disagreeing.

But Jacob simply ignored it, he clearly prepared for this encounter, and he was going to say what he wanted to.

"Do you know what the universe's greatest tragedy is?" Jacob asked again, putting away the knife and grabbed the edge of his chair and scooted towards Rook, sitting a few inches from the bars.

"To get to the other side?" Rook asked, quietly chocking up.

"It's that nobody laughs at the universe's joke" Jacob stated.

Then Jacob suddenly leaned forward and his arm shot through the bars and grabbed a hold of Rook shirt and pulled back, slamming Rook's face into the bars, a hollow rattled creaked out as the bars shook from impact, he didn't let go of Rooms shirt, keeping him almost pinned to the bars, tears dotting his eyes.

"You flew in here, claiming you were on a mission of peace, to arrest Joseph for some ludicrous crime, and now hear you are, playing solider, killing Joseph's men and woman, _my_ men and woman who have worked so hard to get us where we are now, and after all the lives you have taken, all the personal rules you've broken, the promises you kept and didn't, look where it got you, so I got to ask, do you feel like a hero yet? Jacob as with a rough voice, his anger bubbling up slightly, his hot breath running down Rook's his cheek and neck.

"If your going to kill me, let's just get it over with, huh?" Rook wheezed due to tautness of Jacob's arm, keeping him perpetually and painfully pulled against the metal bars.

"Oh no, fear not, I'm not going to kill you, I need you, your something special" Jacob scoffed, releasing Rook, allowing him to fall back into the center of the cage.

Rook merely grunted as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, he looked up and glared at his capture, panting lightly, Jacob was right, they first met within Joseph's church, albeit Rook's memory was hazy from how long ago that was, but he did remember one fact, when his eyes drifted off the Father and onto the veteran, even to this very day, Jacob was quite intimidating, in a completely different regard the John.

"Let's have a little test before we really kick things off" Jacob stated, refocusing rook's attention as he fished around for something in his pocket before producing a small wooden box.

Rook wasn't sure what it was exactly, but he didn't have a chance to even ask about for Jacob proceeded to open the box and the haunting melody that he quietly fear so much leapt out and filled his ear canals.

_Onlyyyyyyy Yooooooooooooooooou_

* * *

Jacob looked down at the twitching, writhing mess that a few moments ago was Benjamin Rook, soon he would be Joseph's messiah, but until then, he was Jacob's new pet project, like a frog to dissect, a car crash to examine, a cadaver to emptied and sewn up. Jacob was ready to roll up his sleeves and get dirty, more so then he did with the usuals he culled, Rook was different, he was John's killer, after all.

But that would come at a later time, firstly he needed to make sure his classical conditioning stuck when it was first installed, and clearly it did. As the foam frothed from Rook's mouth, Jacob simply turned and walked away, secondly, he needed to inform Joseph of the fortuitous turn of events, he had been quite dejected since John passed, surly this would brighten his mood

As Jacob calmly left where the numerous holding cells the skirted the veterans center and headed into the main building, to his office, as he went no matter what his many soldiers were doing, as we walked passed them, the soldiers abruptly stopped, stood up straight and saluted him, they did this until he fully went by them before returning to what they were doing before hand.

Silently, he climbed the many stairs to the fourth floor, and entered his office, at one point it belonged to the head physician, a man Jacob knew well, but it didn't matter now, the physician was dead, by Jacob's hand when they took the center.

he walked around his large desk, littered with many, many papers at his request, and grabbed the old corded that teetered at it's edge, he quickly picked up the receiver and placed it to his ear before moved to dial Joseph's number, but before he could, his finger stopped, milometers from the first button he would have to press in order to call his brother, for the first time, in a very long time, he hesitated, his soldier's intuitions told him to pursue the hidden truth, He looked over the pile of papers that layered his desk, the many, many papers was the documentation of every word Rook and Faith said to one another over the passed few weeks, even before John's death.

Why had Faith not said anything about this? Why was she speaking to him so often despite him being in the mountain region?

Against his better judgment and given orders, instead of calling Joseph like he was supposed too, he called his _sister_, Faith. The phone rang a few times before she finally picking up.

"Hello?" her voice squeaked through the phone's receiver, not expecting a call from him.

"Hello _Faith_, I'm calling for your status report on the Henbane River" Jacob asked, a bit of disgust coming out when he said her name.

He couldn't help it, it just wasn't fair, why did she get to live, and this brother didn't?

"Has the Henbane resistance been dealt with yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet, but everything is going just fine here, all things considered" Faith said, trying to placate him, deep down, Jacob scared her, she could hear the way he said her name.

"Really? Your adversaries have been that unwilling to fight?" Jacob questioned, finding it hard to believe.

"No, they are just slow to act, they fear the bliss" Faith reaffirmed.

"Faith, despite the men I have left with you to help keep your hold on the region, your nothing more then the honeyed voice that draws the wayward in for John, I highly doubt that everything is just fine" Jacob deadpanned.

"What more would you have me do? The prison that the resistance resides in is doing it's purpose and they are confined within its thick walls, the Deputy is in your region and not my responsibility at the moment?" Faith asked, there was a subtle lift in her voice as if she was offended.

Jacob cast his gaze back down at the large pile of papers that contradicted her words.

"Speaking of the Deputy, have you heard from him recently, and I don't mean his usual exploits, I mean anything specific?" Jacob asked.

Faith was silent for a half second, and Jacob picked up on it.

"No, I have not" Faith said, a little to quickly.

"So, you have been wholly busy with bliss production and the resistance that fights you?" Jacob asked again, he wanted to double down on Faith's lies, each on was another nail in her coffin.

"Yes of course, it's what the Father asked of me" Faith reassured the vet.

Jacob made some noise of faux agreement as he grabbed a random paper out of the pile and read it, quickly, it detailed some dull and lengthy conversation about their favorite bands and the best ways to get stains out of clothes, in this case it was blood.

Rolling his eyes, Jacob folded the paper and tossed it back onto the desk.

"You know that's quite interesting, really" Jacob hummed, he had her where he wanted.

"What do you mean?" Faith asked.

"You see _Faith,_ unlike some people, I take my work very seriously, working endlessly to ensure there to minimize every possible loss while planning every possible victory, and one of the ways I do that, is to listen in on the air waves for anything of interest, and keep documentation on it" Jacob explained.

"I see" Faith replied, a nervous tither could be heard in her voice.

"And as we speak, on my desk is a mountain of papers, showing that the two of you chittering away, almost daily, chatting about the most mundane of topics, none related to our cause" Jacob said sternly.

"What of it? The Father asked me to sway him with my words, to see the light of reason peacefully" Faith countered, trying to put on a brave voice.

"I have papers stating _everything_ you two said to each other, to me, this reads like a sappy romance novel, you've been talking about everything under the sun, like gossiping housewives, giggling at each others' words, I highly doubt Joseph asked you to seduce the Deputy, or to fall in love with the man" Jacob disappointed.

"I think your misinterpreting my work, the Father asked me and me alone to deal with B- The Deputy as I saw fit, She said, offended.

"You know, previous Faith's have been replaced for less" Jacob breathed, no emotion in his voice, just coldness.

"Are you threatening me, Jacob?" Faith accused, trying to put on a brave voice, she knew she couldn't in against him.

"No threats are being made, just incentivizing you to do what you should be doing, and to get what I need" Jacob hissed.

"What do you want, Jacob?" Faith scowled, she felt like her arm was being twisted behind her.

"I want you to send down a dozen barrels of bliss right now, and in the coming days, when the Father speaks to both of us, I will offer too take back the Holland Valley, with the Deputy out of the way it should be easy, without any of our forces in the region, the Falls End resistance are growing fat and lazy with nothing to do, I want you to push for it's recapture with me" Jacob explained.

"So, you're just using this to extort me?" Faith scoffed.

"Were at war here, Sunshine, tyrants are overthrown with overwhelming force or an assassin in the shadows, I try to be both" Jacob sighed, getting tired of her incessant back talk.

Faith was silent as she weighed her odds,

"Fine, you'll get what you want" Faith pouted.

"now that's what I like to here, it's not often a Faith does what she's told" Jacob said condescendingly, he looked at another paper and read it quickly.

"Before I let you go, do you know anything about a Jess Black?" he asked.

"She's a friend of his, some archer woman" Faith replied, Jacob could tell she was telling the truth as her voice was as flat as ever.

"Hm, interesting, she seems familiar for some reason" Jacob muttered to himself as he continued to scan the paper.

"Are you planning to use our talks against him?" Faith asked.

"It doesn't matter what I say to him now, I have the Deputy in my care, and I am making him into what we need"

"What?!" Faith uncharacteristically cried.

"Something wrong with that?" Jacob offered, noticing the implications of her sudden outcry.

"No, no everything, everything is fine, carry on as you are, may the Father guide you" Faith said, clearing her throat and regaining her composure.

"Hu-uh, that's what I thought" Jacob sneered, finding her response humorous.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then, you got some work to do sending me what I require" Jacob said before hanging up the phone.

Even though Faith heard Jacob bid his dues and hang up, leaving her all alone on her end of the line, she did not immediately hang up, she was to busy thinking, working out possibilities, the rebellious idea to assist Ben in some way crossed her mind, but that would break so many rules, but the Father asked her to talk to him, to get him to see the light of truth on his own, he cant do that as Jacob's thrall.

Something needed to be done.

But how?

* * *

With Faith out of the way, Jacob turned his attention back to matters within his own region, despite Rook himself behind lock and key, there was still his gang of miscreants to deal with, especially the Jess Black, she seemed to be the Deputy's number two in the matter, regardless of how well put together they are, they still had enough wit among their band of rebels to take the out of the way weather station.

The weather station.

It still bothered Jacob that the weather station had been recently lost, it had so much worth, it was even where Joseph gave his speech to the county following John's death, he wanted more grunts guarding it day by day but Joseph wanted more men on the borders, he had disagreed with the sentiment, but he couldn't abjectly say no to the Father.

But thinking about Joseph reminded of him what he had to do, he still needed to call his brother. He dialed his numbered and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello Father" Jacob said after Joseph finally picked up.

"What can I do for you, Brother?" Joseph asked quietly.

"I have the deputy here, with me right now" Jacob replied.

"Really now? Is he well?" Joseph asked, surprised at what he was hearing.

"He's in a cage, starving, dehydrated and delirious, he's not going anywhere" Jacob spoke.

"Is he coherent enough to hold conversation?" the cult leader asked.

"I can make him" Jacob sneered.

"Please do, I am on my way over, please have him ready by then, I should be there by night" Joseph said.

"Will you be here long" Jacob asked.

"No, I must speak with Faith later tonight, her weekly review is coming up, there is much to discuss tonight" Joseph sighed.

"Then let me secure a convoy for your security an-"

Jacob said before getting interrupted Joseph bidding his goodbyes before hanging up.

The sudden hanging up frustrated Jacob, it was the one thing he could tolerate from his brother, he wanted to let him know but Joseph would always brush it off before rambling on about the Lord or other such nonsense.

It made Jacob want to scream.

* * *

When Rook awoke, it was pain that first greeted him, it made him groan and wince at his body twitched at the unknown he had awoken too. His body was twisted and contorted, his joints bent at odd, uncomfortable angles, nothing broken or ripped, just painfully contorted, he was like an action figure thrown to the floor, groaning and wincing painfully, Rook pulled himself together, his limbs returning to their natural positions and sat up, like a vampire rising from it's coffin, as his eyes warily refocused he found that he was still in the same cage, the only change was that it was night, he wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it looked like the middle of the night, the only source of light he could see was from a nearby barrel fire off to the side somewhere, coughing and sputtering, Rook feel onto his hands and knees and crawled to the cage's edge, hoping to see anything that could be used to engineer his escape, but as his eyes adjusted to the light he saw that Jacob stood feet from the cage, watching Rook intently.

"Ah there you are, evening Sunshine" he said.

Shocked to see the man just lazily hanging around, Rook tried to say something, but he could only produce some cross between a squeak and a wheeze. Jacob must have found the noise amusing as he let out a small chuckle before taking a few steps backwards, almost disappearing into the night, Rook wanted to yell at the man to let him out so they could settle their problems like men, but every time he did, more wheeze squeaks squeezed out of his mouth, whatever conditioning that had be done to him, it was making him slow to regain his functions.

And as Jacob took a few steps back, Joseph Seed stepped out of the shadows and walked right up to the cage.

Rook would have responded with cries of anger and threats of being arrested the second he was freed from his confinement, but his body still had yet to fully reawaken from its forced shutdown, all he could do was watch Joseph casually walk right up to the cage and knelt down before carefully wrapping his hands around the bars that caged Rook, leaning in close so he could gently speak to him without anyone else hearing, the light of the nearby crackling fire illuminated the left side of his face.

"I know you're in pain, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, hm? But you're not the only one to be tested…" Joseph said before letting go of the bars and began rolling up his long white shirt sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a woman's face that wrapped around his left forearm, flowers dotting the edge of her visage, he held his arm out through the bars so Rook could see despite the nighttime lighting.

"Did you know I had a wife? So beautiful, isn't she?" Joseph asked before retracting his arm and returning both to the bars once more.

"We were expecting our first child, and we were just babies ourselves, really, I was terrified" Joseph almost muttered before pausing, his eyes dropping off Rook, his brow furrowed as if the memory pained him, then he looked back up at Rook and continued.

"Becoming a father, mostly about money, she wasn't worried, she had faith that things would magically work out, she always had faith… hen one day she was going to visit a friend… There was an accident…. And the Lord taketh" he explained as his voice got quieter and quieter as he stared off into the distance behind Rook, his eyes were empty and lifeless, so too were his words as they dropped below a whisper and stayed silent again for a few seconds, it almost looked like he was about to start crying right then and there.

Jacob who still stood off to the side, waiting patiently, brought a fist up to his mouth and loudly cleared his throat, making Joseph flinch ever so slightly, his eyes jumped to Rook for a second, panic dotting his pupils, to hide it, he started up his story again, his voice a little shaky.

"And they rushed me to the hospital and put me in a room with this little pink bundle stuffed with tubes and they had to be strong because my little girl was going to live, God was looking out for our daughter" he explained, his brow furrowing once again, but this time it wasn't out of sorrow or pain, he was getting serious, how could he not? He was talking about the miraculous survival of his only flesh and blood, they left me alone in a room with her, I just… stared… at my daughter, so helpless, so innocent… and all she had in the world was me, a nobody, from nowhere with nothing, and in that moment I knew that God was testing me, he was laying out a path before me and all I had to do was choose" Joseph said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"So, I put my hand on my little girl's hand and I leaned in and we prayed together, prayed for wisdom, prayed for strength… then I knew, I heard God's plan for me and I took my fingers and put them on that little plastic tube that was taped to her angelic face and I pinched it shut, Mmm, and after a little while, her little legs began to kick and kick… and then nothing, stillness, release" Joseph finally finished.

This time Rook did not try to speak, instead he thought on the story he had just been told, it made so much sense and gave so much context to what was going on in the Valley, Joseph Seed had slipped into a psychosis from the loss of his wife and believed God had a higher purpose for him as a coping mechanism, he wasn't directly aggressive or confrontational like John or Jacob, instead he was the developed silent mental sickness and had no one to monitor him, and with no one there, he ran rampant, manipulating others in his situation into doing whatever he wanted. Not only was he a God forsaken cult leader, he was a literal child murderer. A monster.

Before Rook could ponder the depths of Joseph's shock insanity any further, Joseph's hand shot through the bars and grabbed Rook by the scruff of his shirt and stood up, pulling the Deputy up with him, rising with him on weak, barely functioning legs, just like Jacob, Joseph pulled Rook close to the bars, but not enough to smash him against the bars, still it made Rook choke, his fragile state could not hold on.

"These are all part of his test, only to prove that we can serve God… no matter what He asks" Joseph said seriously, his face a grim mask of discipline.

Then he released the Deputy, dropping him to the floor like an uninteresting toy, Rook producing another wheeze squeak as he hit the hard steel floor. As Rook twitched in dulled pain on the floor, his head now spinning, Joseph brushed some dust off his lapel before turning to his brother, who had walked up to him, in response, Joseph reached out and gave his brother a hug.

"You've done well… John would be proud of you, please continue your craft" he said, releasing his brother.

"It will be done, Father" Jacob replied with a nod.

And with that, Joseph departed, walking off and disappearing into the darkness, all the while Rook was unaware of what was happening, then Jacob approached the cage and looked down at the defenseless, fragile, baby deer that was the brother killing Junior Deputy.

"You heard the Father" He muttered haughtily as he pulled a little box out of his pocket and opened it.

And the next thing Rook knew was his world had suddenly melted into one of agony and color.

* * *

Rook awoke with a start, horribly coughing and gagging as his body and mind were jump started yet again, as his body wretched to get itself in order again, he found that the world looked wrong, he wasn't sure what was happening but the edges of objects melted into edges of other objects, anchoring them together, colors seemed to bleed together in a kaleidoscope effect, the blue sky in between the grey bars mixed together into some indiscernible color, like they were both in his foreground, the ground seemed to sway back and forth like a rocking ship and the sun itself seemed the exude orange rays despite it being midday, the orange mixing with the blue, making otherworldly colors.

It was like he was in an alternate universe where everything was slightly different.

Rook tried to move again but found his legs were weaker than before, he could no longer crawl on his hands and knees, this time he could only move forward by crawling on his hands and dragging the rest of his pathetic body along.

He knew where he was, he remembered being caged by Jacob, he remembered their talks through the bars despite pieces of those memories were broken like a jigsaw puzzle, how he was just always there, to ogle Rook through the bars like an animal at the zoo, smirking fiendishly, it pissed Rook off to know end, just like Redd, just like how all the Whitetails eye him with such resentment since he doesn't fall in line with the rest of them.

Fuck them.

Fuck everything.

Rook growled and choked as he looked up to see if Jacob was still watching him, and sure enough Jacob was inexplicably sitting in the same wooden chair from who knows how long ago, it was like he never left the cage's side, he was leaning back as Staci Pratt stood behind him, straight razor in hand a very delicately tending to the Seed's facial hair. Pratt's face looked raw, several slowly healing cuts lined his jaws and brow, it looked like he was slashed by a knife, not enough to require stitches, but enough to bleed and hurt like a son of a bitch. Rook desperately wanted to yell, to beg for Pratt to slice Jacob's throat open and free him, but every time he did, only bile came out. The continuous vomiting of bile had grabbed Jacob's attention.

"Seven days, huh, you must be hungry" he said as his right arm limply fell away from his side and pointed at the cage's floor where a little plastic doggie bowl full of unknown meat awaited Rook.

Jacob's voice rang as if he was speaking into a tin can, but Rook did not seem to care much, he was far to interested in that bowl of scrapes he was staring at it, he was not even sure if the slop was even cooked enough to be consumed by humans. But he did not care, just the sight of _food _made is stomach roar like a plane engine, his body demanded food as his body felt impossibly weak, lit it was made of matchsticks. Before he could even weigh his options, much less think, Rook's hand shot out and grabbed handfuls of the meat before shoving it hungrily into his mouth, swallowing the now horrible tasting substance with no reservation.

"Yeah that's what I thought" he slurred as he watched Rook dig in, he almost found it funny that Rook had follow so low, if only John could see him now.

Jacob silently watched the once intimidating Junior Deputy greedily stuff his face with what was once living weakness, after what he had done in the past seven days, he earned it, once Rook emptied the bowl, he looked up at him, breathing heavily, chunks of the meat staining his jowls, looking disgusted in himself as the meat was just as awful as the way he ate it.

"Did you know it takes ten days of civilization to collapse?" Jacob asked.

Rook didn't respond, he just stared up at Jacob with angry animal eyes.

"You take away a man's basic needs and he'll revert to his primordial instincts, in just ten days, ah it's a difficult thing to understand unless you've lived it… I was in Iraq during the Gulf War, eighty-second airborne, All-Americans, Hoo-Rah, am I right?" Jacob said with a small nostalgic grin before sitting up, shaking a hand at Pratt, signalling for him to stop, and of course, like a trained pup, he stopped and took a few steps back, before handing Jacob a metal canteen to drink from.

"You see, one night, there was an ambush, me and this guy, Miller got separated from the rest of the unit, no food or radio, the nearest base was two hundred clicks to the south, so we just start walking, what else was there to do? Well by the third day I knew were lost, day six… ran out of water, you know what that is like, dontcha?" Jacob smirked, shaking the canteen a few times, what little water inside sloshing around.

It was then Rook took note of how dry his body was, his throat felt like sandpaper and his mouth tasted like dirt, it was very hard to swallow, if he could he'd drink his own urine.

"On the seventh day, Miller's legs started going all wonky, did you know your brain starts to eat your muscles in order to survive? That's why your so goddamn skinny… and by the eighth day, the wolves were closing in and I looked at Miller and I could tell we're good as dead, and I accepted that, and in that acceptance, came clarity" Jacob said before closing his eyes and breathing in deeply, as if it gave him enlightenment.

"You see, I wasn't looking at just Miller, I was looking at an opportunity" he said, opening his eyes before his muscled arm snaked through the bars and calmly grabbed the scruff of Rook's shirt, and lifted him off the ground with a single hand, Jacob had done this to him so many times over the last week now, lifting the Deputy was like lifting a helpless kitten.

"It wasn't something I wanted… it was something I had to do, it was my test, now you see, Miller's sacrifice wasn't about me walking out of that dessert, it was about bringing me here" he smirked, as Rook did absolutely nothing and allowed his limp body to be lifted up.

"The weak have a purpose, you'll understand that soon enough" Jacob said before throwing Rook back, slamming him against the metal floor.

Rook was soundless as he tumbled back like a thrown doll, he lay there for a few seconds before his body slowly realigned himself, pulling itself back into a normal resting position, before trying to unnaturally rise, be it sitting or standing, but realistically it was like a marionette being lifted by its knotted strings.

And of course, it was a failure, he just limply flopped like a fish, spinning and writhing, but as he did, his head eventually oriented so he could see behind him, towards the back the cage, and there he discovered he wasn't the only one in the cage, this entire time, he was sharing his cage with corpse, it looked like a sick animal got to the person, bite and claw marks, lined the body and was topped off with a broken neck, staring jadedly at the body, he noticed that the teeth and claw marks were not normal, they were clearly down by a human, both confused and interested yet bored and uncaring, Rook stared at it, and then after a few moments, something fell free from rook's mind and his memory clicked into place.

The poor corpse was that guy he talked to before he wound up in Jacob's cage.

"Nasty piece of work you did there, good job" Jacob's voice came.

"It's OK he served his purpose anyways, besides, you would have killed him regardless if you found out what he did" he said.

While Rook stared at the body, behind him Jacob was fiddling with something, in his hands was a small wooden box, small enough to hold an engagement ring, a small metal tab stuck out the side, he constantly moved his fingers along the grooves and edges of the box as if to feel every inch of the cube.

"Now I don't think you remember Deputy but the last had a face to face outside of here, I had you in one of my conditioning centers, not only that, but I was telling you about the big plans I had in store for you" Jacob explained.

He then tentatively grabbed the metal tab and began twisting it, a faint whirling could be heard within the box.

"You see Benjamin, the end is coming, but I'm sure you already know that, and in whatever will come after the end... It will hard... It will be cruel... It will be nothing we have seen, only the best of the best of the best will be able to have a chance at life, and when life starts to regrow, someone will have to be there to train that new life, to lead it, and seeing as you rallied a group of misfits nobodies and got them into fighting shape in a matter of weeks, that's quite impressive if I do say so myself, Joseph will need a left and right hand man to maintain order and strength, the teachers to show how to live of the land... The Judge that will punish the wicked" he said as he lifted open the box's top and a song crept out.

_Onlyyyyyyyyyy Yooooooooooooou_

When Rook heard the music didn't make him topple over or froth at the mouth like usual, he didn't even twitch, instead he froze, not moving a muscle, like a predator stalking unseen prey.

"From this point on, Benjamin Rook is dead, you are now the Judge" Jacob said triumphantly, he had won.

_Onlyyyyyyyyyy Yooooooooooooou_

* * *

Rook awoke to thunderous banging and screaming, as his senses returned to him, he found himself inexplicably running, a gun was in his hands and people were shouting orders around him, he could quite make out what was being said but he could not help but follow them, to obey such orders. He banked of to the left, regrouping with a few people who he could not quite make out, they were just constantly shifting beings with the ability to make noise. It was almost like looking at an eldritch abomination, he couldn't decern where their eyes mouths or any distinguishable features were, if they even had any.

Despite them looking like fourth dimensional beings at could not be perceived, Rook could tell they had firearms and they were firing at the people with him, they were shooting _at _him as well, not wanting to get shot, Rook naturally returned fire, causing his corrupted foes to scatter, not wanting them to get away, Rook barked out some orders to his allies to keep the pressure on, he needed to win this fight, for some reason he felt like there were huge rewards to winning the fight, every fight felt like that, but this one was especially important, he didn't know why, but he just knew.

He had no idea where he was, everything that wasn't his _allies _and _foes_ were grey, devoid of color, it made him question everything, for some reason he couldn't think of anything other then killing the enemies, he didn't even know who he was or what was going on, all he knew was if he didn't kill, he would be killed.

As the fight went on for some reason a pressure began squeezing his head like it was in a vice, so much so that after what he perceived as minutes, it felt like his head was going to explode, and he just couldn't take it.

Now panting heavily, he dropped his guns and brought his hands to his head, as if it would help him, but when he did, he found that something had been affixed to his face, wanting it off as soon as humanly possible, he feverishly clawed at the thing on his head before finally being able to wrench it from his skull and throwing it down on the floor, allowing him to see the thing that clung to him like a parasite was a hockey mask, stained with dried blood on one side and an Eden's Gate logo on the forehead.

Seeing the mask made Rook want to vomit up his insides as it felt like is bones were unnaturally scraping together and his brain tried to free itself from his skull, everything about what was going on was not right and nothing was OK, the world as he knew if was collapsing in on itself. Before Rook could throw up or scream in abject horror or even piss himself in lieu of having an actual response, that cursed music the dredged up a guttural, primal fear started to play and dragged him into some imaginably deep hole again.

_Onlyyyyyy Yoooooooooou_

Then everything shifted, the world bent and folded, everything passing by him at impossible speeds, like he was moving with superhuman speed, and then a Whitetail appeared in front of him anger on his face and gun in their hands, pointed at him, seeing the Whitetail flooded Rook's mind with memories of how they treated him, cursing his name, banishing from the Wolves Den, and treating him like the enemy, a leper, a pariah. It filled him with a hate, a deep seeded rage he did not know he had, he was supposed to help them, but they were too stupid and arrogant to see the help he would bring.

"Shoot" a voice boomed through Rook's head.

It was so powerful and booming, it could have well come from God himself.

And Rook had to comply.

As if he was born to do it, Rook raised his gun that he some how still had with such a natural level of fluidity and calmness, pointing it right at the Whitetail and fired before they had a chance to do anything. As the Whitetail fell back, lifeless, so to did Rook's world, everything dissolved into colors and formless shapes, the world became a spinning kaleidoscope of light, shapes, and noise, the world itself ceased to exist.

_Onlyyyyyyyy Yoooooooooou_


End file.
